英语第7单元翻译
英语第7单元翻译
【1】No one can say exactly (what it looks like) when a planet takes ill, but it probably looks a lot like earth.
?当一个星球突然生病的时候没有人可以准确地说出它看起来像什么，但是它可能看起来很像地球。
Never mind what you?ve heard about global warming as a slow-motion emergency (t hat would take decades to play out).
不用担心，你所听到的全球变暖是一个缓慢的过程，需要几十年才能结束。
Suddenly and unexpectedly, the crisis is upon us
?突然和意外的是，这场危机正在接近我们。
【2】It certainly looked that way last week as the atmospheric bomb that was Cyclone Larry—a Category 4 storm with wind bursts that reached 125 m.p.h (mile per hour) –exploded through northeastern Australia.
（这个现象）的确看起来是这样的：上周的大气炸弹也就是赖瑞飓风——一种伴随着每小时125英里的风暴风阵——引爆了澳大利亚的东北部
It certainly looked that way last year as curtains of fire and dust turned the skies of Indonesia orange, thanks to drought-fueled blazes sweeping the island nation.
（这个现象）的确看起来是这样的：去年由于燃料猛烈地燃烧席卷了印尼这个岛国，火灾和灰尘将印尼的天空变成了橘黄色。
It certainly looks that way as sections of ice the size of small states calve from the disintegrating Arctic and Antarctic.
（这个现象）的确看起来是这样的：一些体积较小的冰川地区从碎裂的南北极地区继续崩解。And it certainly looks that way as the sodden wreckage of New Orleans continues to molder, while the waters of the Atlantic gather themselves for a new hurricane season just two months away.
（这个现象）也的确看起来是这样：新奥尔良失事的飞机残骸持续崩坏，当大西洋海域为了一个刚过去两个月的新飓风而聚集在一起。
Disasters have always been with us and surely always will be. But when they hit this hard and come this fast—when the
emergency becomes commonplace—something has gone grievously wrong.
That something is global warming
灾难始终伴随着我们，永远都是。但当他们的冲击如此巨大，速度如此之快——当这些紧急情况变得再平常不过——一些严重的事情已经发生。这就是全球变暖。
【3】The image of Earth organism—famously dubbed Gaia by environmentalist James Lovelock —has probably been overworked,but that`s not to say the planet can`t behave like a living thing,and these days,it`s a living thing fighting a fever.From heat waves to storms to floods to fires to massive glacial melts,the global climate seems to be crashing around us.Scientists have been calling this shot for decades.This is precisely what they have been warning would happen if we continued pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere,trapping the heat that flows in from the sun and raising global temperatures.
【4】Environmentalists and lawmakers spent years shouting at one another about whether the grim forecasts were true, but in the past five years or so, the serious debate has quietly ended.
环保人士和立法者花了多年时间彼此大声呼喊这个严峻的预测是否是正确的，但在过去的五年左右，这个严肃的辩论悄悄的结束了。
Global warming, even most skeptics have concluded, is the real deal, and human activity has been causing it.
?即使是最持怀疑态度的人也已经推断出，全球变暖是真实的而且是人类的活动所造成的。
If there was any consolation, it was that the glacial pace of nature would gives us decades or even centuries to sort out the problem.
?如果有任何的安慰的话，那就是自然的缓慢速度会给我们几十年甚至几百年去解决这个问题。
【5】But glaciers, （it turns out, )插入语can move with surprising speed, and so can nature.
?但是结果显示，冰川会以惊人的速度移动，大自然也是。
?What （what用作关系代词，引导主语从句,）few people reckoned on是名词性从句，做主语从句，即一个句子做了主语was 系表结构，做谓语（that global climate systems are booby-trapped with tipping points and feedback loops, thresholds past which the slow creep of environmental decay gives way to sudden and self-perpetuating collapse. ）表语从句
?很少有人预料到全球气候系统是饵临界点和反馈循环，突然过去的环境缓慢蠕变方式和能够自我维持的阈值崩溃。
（Pump enough CO2 into the sky, ）and （that last part per million of greenhouse gas behaves like 、
the 212th degree Fahrenheit that）两个并列成分主语turns谓语（ a pot of hot water into a plume of billowing steam.）宾语
排放大量的二氧化碳到空中，最后的温室气体可达到212华氏度，能使一壶热水变成一缕蒸汽
?Melt enough Greenland ice,and you reach the point at【which you are not simply dripping meltwater into the sea but dumping whole glaciers】（定语从句修饰说明point）.
?足够融化格陵兰岛的冰，不仅仅是把融化的水排入海里，而且会使整个冰川变成水。
?By one recent measure,several Greenland ice sheets have double (谓语)their rate of slide,and just week the journal Science published a study 【suggesting that by the end of the century,the world could be locked in to an eventual rise in sea levels of as much as 20 ft（作为suggest的宾语）】(非谓语动词suggesting引导的一个句子用来解释说明study). Nature,it seems(插入语),has finally got a bellyful of us.
?从这一点来看，根据最近的测量，格林兰岛的几个冰山以加倍的速度在下滑。仅上周期刊<<科学>> 发表了一篇文章，上面就提到到本世纪末为止，世界有可能被固定在海平面20英寸那么高。大自然可能最终会厌倦我们人类。
【6】“Things are happening a lot faster than anyone predicted,”says Bill Chameides, chief scientist for the advocacy group of Environmental Defense and a former professor of atmospheric chemistry，“The last 12 months have been alarming.”
环境防御宣传组的首席科学家以及大气化学反应方面的前教授说道：“过去的一年一直在警告我们，事情发生的比任何人的预计都快了许多。”
Adds Ruth Curry of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts: “T he ripple through the scientific community is palpable.”
马萨诸塞州的伍兹霍尔研究所的鲁斯·库里补充道：“科学界的波动是显而易见的。”
【7】And it's not just scientists who are taking notice.
不仅仅是科学家们在关注
Even as nature crosses its tipping points ,the public seems to have reached its own.
即使性质跨越临界点，公众似乎已经达到了自己临界点。
For years ,popular skepticism about climatological science stood in the way of addressing the
problem ,but the naysayers-many of whom were on the payroll of energy companies-have become
an increasingly marginalized breed.
多年来，受到质疑的气候科学成了解决问题的方法，但是很多受雇于能源公司的否定者已经成为一个日益边缘化的群体。
In a new TIME/ABC News /Stanford University poll, 85% of respondents agree that global warming probably is happening.
在《时代》周刊、美国广播公司新闻网和斯坦福大学组织的一个民意调查中显示，85%的受访者认为全球变暖可能发Moreover, most respondents say they want some action taken.
此外,大多数受访者说他们想要采取一些行动。
?Of those polled, 87% believe the government should either encourage or require lowering of power-plant emissions, and 85% think something should be done to get cars to use less
gasoline.
?那些参加民意调查的87%的人认为政府应该要么鼓励或要求降低发电站二氧化碳的排放,85%的人认为应该做点什么让汽车减少汽油使用量。
?Even Evangelical Christans, once one of the most reliable columns in the conservative base, are demanding action, most notably in February, when 86 Christian leaders formed the Evangelical Climate Initiative, demanding that Congress regulate greenhouse gases.
?甚至福音派基督教徒都要求采取行动，最明显的就是在二月份86个基督教的领袖达成了福音派气候行动倡议，并要求国会控制温室气体。
?【8】A collection of new global-warming books is hitting the shelves in response to that
awakening interest ,followed closely by TV and theatrical documentaries .
?关于全球变暖方面的书的收集正在触及这个暗礁（冰川融化，海平面将会升高），对人们的觉醒做出了反应，紧接着就是电视和戏剧纪录片。
?The most notable of them is An Inconvenient Truth18 , (非限制性定语从句)due out in May, a profile of former Vice Presiden t Al Gore19 and his climate-change work, which （非限制定语从句）is generating a lot of prerelease buzz over an unlikely topic and an equally unlikely star.
?翻译：其中最著名的是五月首映的《难以忽视的真相》，这部电影的概要讲的是美国前副总统戈尔和他做的关于气候变迁工作，
人们对这个这个不太可能的话题和这个不像明星的明星，产生了很多的异议。
?For all its lack of Hollywood flash, the film compensates by conveying both the hard
science of global warming and Gore?s particular passion.
?翻译：尽管缺少好莱坞电影那样的灯光效果，作为弥补，这部电影传播了全球变暖科学的艰难和戈尔非凡的激情。
【9】Such public stirrings are at last getting the attention of politicians and business leaders, who
may not always respond to science but have a keen nose for where votes and profits lie.
这样的公众激动的情绪终于得到了政治家和商业领袖的注意,他们可能不总是应对科学但他们对那里的选票和利润的谎言有敏锐的鼻子。
State and local lawmakers have started taking action to curb emissions , and m ajor corporations are doing the same.
州和地方议员已经开始采取行动遏制温室气体排放,同时一些大公司也在做着同样的事情。Wal-Mart has begun installing wind turbines on its stores to generate electricity and is talking
about putting solar reflectors over its parking lots.
沃尔玛已经开始在其商店安装用于发电的风力涡轮机而且也正在谈论在停车场安放太阳能反射镜。
HSBC, the world?s second largest bank , has pledged to neutralize its carbon output by investing in wind farms and other green projects .
pledged
世界的第二大银行，汇丰银行已承诺在风力发电场和其他绿色环保项目上中和其碳排放的投资。
Even president Bush , hardly a favorite of greens , now acknowledges climate change and boasts of the steps he is taking to fight it .
?甚至是几乎没有一个最喜欢的绿色植物的布什总统，现在承认气候的变化并且自夸正在采取措施对抗它。
?Most of those steps , however , involve research and voluntary emissions controls ,
not exactly the laws with teeth scientists are
calling for .
然而，包括研究和排放物的自愿控制，大多数的这些步骤，都不完全是那些有良好口才的科学家从法律上正在呼吁的结果。
【10】1. Is it too late to reverse the changes global warming has wrought?
2. That's still not clear.
全球变暖引起的变化已经来不及扭转了吗？
这还不清楚。
3. Reducing our emissions output year to year is hard enough.
减少我们年复一年的排放是相当困难的。
4. Getting it low enough so that the atmosphere can heal is a multigenerational commitment.
使得排放量足够低，大气层（空气）才可以变得更好，这应是几代人的责任（承诺）。
5. "Ecosystems are usually able to maintain themselves," says Terry Chapin, a biologist and professor of ecology at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks.
来自阿拉斯加州费尔班克斯大学的生物学家和生态学教授特里查宾说“生态系统通常能够自我调节”。
6. “But eventually they get pushed to the limit of tolerance.”
“但最终他们只得被推向了忍耐的极限。”
□【11】It is fitting, perhaps, （that ）as the species causing all the problems, we…re suffering the destruction of our habitat too, and we have experienced that loss in terrible ways.
□翻译：或许，它是恰当的，随着物种不断造成的各种问题，我们也正在遭受自身栖息地的破坏。当然，我们已经以种种可怕的方式经历过这种损失。
□Ocean waters have warmed by a full degree Fahrenheit since 1970, and warmer water is like rocket fuel for typhoons and hurricanes.
□翻译：自1970年以来，海洋温度提高了整整一华氏温度。温暖的海水对于台风和飓风来说，就像是火箭燃料。
□Two studies last year found that in the past 35 years the number of Category 4 and 5 hurricane s worldwide has doubled while the wind speed and duration of all hurricanes has jumped 50%.
□翻译：去年的两项研究发现，在过去的35年里，全球范围内，四级飓风和五级飓
风的数量增长了一倍，与此同时，所有飓风的风速和持续时间都猛增了50%。
□Since atmospheric heat is not choosy about the water it warms, tropical storms could start turning up in some decidedly non-tropical places.
□翻译：既然大气热量对于它所温暖的水域并不挑剔，热带风暴很有可能开始在一些很明显非热带地区出现。
□"There's a school of thought that sea surface temperatures are warming up toward Canada," says Greg Holland, senior scientist for NC AR in Boulder. "If so, you're likely to get t ropical cyclones there, but we honestly don't know."
□翻译：“有一种观点认为，海洋表面温度正在变暖趋向于加拿大的气候”，NC AR 在科罗拉多州博尔德的资深科学家格雷戈说。“如果这样的话，你将有可能在那儿面临热带气旋，但是具体情况还不清楚。”
□【12】There are a whole series of things that （定语从句）d emonstrate that （宾语从句）people want to act and want their government to act.
有一系列的事情证明,人们想要采取行动,也希望他们的政府采取行动。
?Krupp and others believe that（宾语从句）we should probably accept that （宾语从句）it?s too late to prevent CO2 concentrations from climbing to 450 p.p.m .
克虏伯和其他人认为我们应该接受这个事实：阻止二氧化碳浓度攀升到450（百万分之一）已经太晚了。
?From there,however,we should be able to stabilize them and start to dial them back down.
然而，我们可以从那个数值让它稳定下来，并让它们减少回去。
?【13】The goal should be attainable.
?目标应该是可以达到的。
?Curbing global warming may be an order of magnitude harde r than,say,eradicating
smallpox or putting a man on the moon.
?遏制全球变暖可能与根除天花或把人送上月球是一个数量级的难度。
?But is it moral not to try ?
?但遏制全球变暖是道德，不试试遏制么？（但它是道德不试试呢？）
?We did not so much march toward the environmental precipice as drunkenly reel there,
snapping at the scientific scolds who told us we had a problem.
?我们过去没有到达环境最危险的境地，没有在此失去平衡，也没有对那些说我们有
问题的人的（自以为是）科学的斥责死死咬住不放
?【14】The scolds, however, knew what they were talking about. In a solar system
crowded with sister worlds that either emerged stillborn like Mercury and V enus or died in infancy like Mars, we’re finally coming up to appreciate the knife-blade margin within life can thrive.
?然而，那些苛责的人明白他们真正谈论的是什么。在太阳系存在着姊妹系统，有出
生即死的水星和金星，也有幼期夭折的火星。我们最终明白感谢那些能让生命繁荣
的刀刃大小的余地。
?For more than a century we’ve been monkeying with those margin. It’s long past time
w e set them right.
?一个多世纪以来，我们一直都在嘲笑那些余地。我们花费了很久才为他们正身。