TED演讲：改变荒漠现状,扭转气候变化(1)

 　　The most massive tsunami¹ perfect storm is bearing down upon us.  这场最强大的、完美海啸风暴正在击垮我们。

　　This perfect storm is mounting a grim reality, increasingly grim reality,  这场完美风暴（指独立发生时没有危险性，但同时发生时会带来灾难性后果的事件组合）正在加剧一个严峻的现实，日趋严峻的现实，

　　and we are facing that reality with the full belief that we can solve our problems with technology, and that's very understandable.  我们满怀着一种信念来面对这个现实，就是我们能够用技术来解决这些问题，这是非常可以理解的。

　　Now, this perfect storm that we are facing is the result of our rising population,  现在，我们面临的完美风暴是我们人口增长的结果，

　　rising towards 10 billion people, land that is turning to desert, and, of course, climate change. 增长到100亿的人，土地在变成沙漠，当然，气候变化了。

　　Now there's no question about it at all: we will only solve the problem of replacing fossil fuels with technology.  对这些，毫无疑问：我们只会用技术来取代化石燃料来解决问题。

　　But fossil fuels, carbon -- coal and gas -- are by no means the only thing that is causing climate change. 化石燃料，碳元素——煤和天然气——绝不是唯一导致气候变化的东西。

　　Desertification is a fancy word for land that is turning to desert, and this happens only when we create too much bare ground.  荒漠化，一个华丽大词是来描述正在变成荒漠的土地，这种情形的产生是因为我们制造了太多的荒地。

　　There's no other cause. And I intend to focus on most of the world's land that is turning to desert. 没有别的原因。我打算把重点放在世界上大部分正在变成沙漠的土地。

　　But I have for you a very simple message that offers more hope than you can imagine.  我有一个非常简单的信息给你们，它提供了比你们想象的更多的希望。

　　We have environments where humidity is guaranteed throughout the year.  我们有些环境，那儿的湿度全年有保证。

　　On those, it is almost impossible to create vast areas of bare ground.  这些地方，几乎不可能形成大面积的裸露的地面。

　　No matter what you do, nature covers it up so quickly.  不管你做什么，大自然会很快盖住这些土地。

　　And we have environments where we have months of humidity followed by months of dryness, and that is where desertification is occurring.  我们有些环境那里有几个月有雨水，接着有几个月的干旱期，在这里就在发生荒漠化。

　　Fortunately, with space technology now, we can look at it from space, and when we do, you can see the proportions fairly well.  幸运的是，借助航天技术的发展，我们能从太空看到地球全貌，你们能很清楚的看到不同地貌的比例。

　　Generally, what you see in green is not desertifying, and what you see in brown is,  总体上，你们看到的绿色是不会荒漠化的，而你们看到的棕色区域会荒漠化，

　　and these are by far the greatest areas of the Earth.  这些区域目前是地球上最大的区域。

　　About two thirds, I would guess, of the world is desertifying. 我猜想，世界有三分之二在荒漠化。

1 tsunami   

n.海啸

参考例句：

• Powerful quake sparks tsunami warning in Japan.大地震触发了日本的海啸预警。
• Coastlines all around the Indian Ocean inundated by a huge tsunami.大海啸把印度洋沿岸地区都淹没了。