巴西亚马逊雨林正在超速燃烧

巴西亚马逊雨林正在以创纪录的速度燃烧

Fires are raging at a record rate in Brazil's Amazon rainforest, and scientists warn that it could strike a devastating blow to the fight against climate change.

巴西亚马逊雨林大火正以创纪录的速度肆虐，科学家警告称，这可能对应对气候变化造成毁灭性打击。

The fires are burning at the highest rate since the country's space research center, the National Institute for Space Research (known by the abbreviation INPE), began tracking them in 2013, the center said Tuesday.

周二，国家太空研究中心表示，自2013年国家太空研究中心(简称INPE)开始跟踪调查以来，此次火灾的燃烧速度是最高的。

There have been 72,843 fires in Brazil this year, with more than half in the Amazon region, INPE said. That's more than an 80% increase compared with the same period last year.

INPE表示，巴西今年已经发生72,843起火灾，其中一半以上发生在亚马逊地区。这比去年同期增长了80%以上。

The Amazon is often referred to as the planet's lungs, producing 20% of the oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere.

亚马逊河常被称为地球的肺，产生地球大气中20%的氧气。

It is considered vital in slowing global warming, and it is home to uncountable species of fauna and flora. Roughly half the size of the United States, it is the largest rainforest on the planet.

它被认为对减缓全球变暖至关重要，是无数动植物物种的家园。它的面积约为美国的一半，是地球上最大的雨林。

Images and videos on social media show giant plumes of smoke rising from the greenery and leaving blackened waste in their wake.

社交媒体上图片和视频显示，巨大的烟雾从绿色植物中升起，留下烧焦的垃圾。

The smoke has reached all the way to Sao Paulo, more than 1,700 miles away. Images from the city show the sky pitch-black in the middle of the afternoon, the sun blanketed by smoke and ash.

烟雾已经蔓延到1700多英里外的圣保罗。从城市拍摄的照片中可以看到，午后的天空一片漆黑，太阳被烟雾和火山灰笼罩。

The European Union's satellite program, Copernicus, released a map showing smoke from the fires spreading all along Brazil to the east Atlantic coast. The smoke has covered nearly half of the country and is even spilling over into neighboring Peru, Bolivia and Paraguay.

欧盟的卫星项目哥白尼发布了一幅地图，显示大火产生的烟雾沿着巴西蔓延到东大西洋海岸。烟雾几乎覆盖了半个国家，甚至蔓延到邻国秘鲁、玻利维亚和巴拉圭。

The Amazon River stretches across several of these South American countries, but the majority -- more than two-thirds -- of the rainforest lies in Brazil.

亚马逊河横跨了这些南美国家中的几个，但大部分(超过三分之二)的雨林位于巴西。

According to INPE, more than 1½ soccer fields of Amazon rainforest are being destroyed every minute of every day.

据INPE报道，亚马逊雨林每分钟都有超过1个足球场被毁。

Environmental activists and organizations like the World Wildlife Fund warn that if the Amazon reaches a point of no return, the rainforest could become a dry savannah, no longer habitable for much of its wildlife. If this happens, instead of being a source of oxygen, it could start emitting carbon -- the major driver of climate change.

环保人士和世界野生动物基金会等组织警告称，如果亚马逊河达到无法回头的地步，这片雨林可能会变成干燥的大草原，不再适合大部分野生动物生存。如果发生这种情况，它将不再是氧气的来源，而是可能开始排放碳，而碳是气候变化的主要驱动力。