华盛顿邮报 谁应该为气候灾难买单？(1)

 

    I am sitting under a table, with my blazer over my head because this conference is, like -- has tens of thousands of people roaming around and airplanes flying overhead.

    我坐在桌子下面，头上顶着西装外套，因为这个会议——有成千上万的人走来走去，而且有飞机在头顶上飞过。

    That's climate reporter Sarah Kaplan.

    以上是气候记者萨拉·卡普兰带来的报道。

    And there's not that many quiet places to record an interview.

    而且没有那么多安静的地方可以记录采访。

    So, Sarah, where are you right now?

    莎拉，你现在在哪?

    I am in the media center at the COP27 venue¹ in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.

    我现在身处埃及沙姆沙伊赫的第27届缔约方会议会场的媒体中心。

    Earth is top-of-mind at COP27, which stands for the 27th meeting of the Conference of Parties.

    COP27代表第27届缔约方会议，地球是该会议上首要考虑的问题。

    It's this big yearly United Nations conference that began this week.

    这次会议是本周开始的联合国年度会议。

    And right now, thousands of government officials and others from all over the world have gathered in Egypt to negotiate the best ways to combat climate change.

    现在，来自世界各地的数千名政府官员和其他人士聚集在埃及，商讨应对气候变化的最佳方法。

    Sarah says it's been chaotic², occasionally inspiring, and also somewhat terrifying.

    萨拉说，会议很混乱，偶尔也鼓舞人心，也有些吓人。

    I mean, this COP happens at a time when the toll³ of climate change and the sort of very dangerous trajectory⁴ that the planet is currently on becomes quite clear.

    我的意思是，这次缔约方会议召开之时正值气候变化的不良影响以及地球目前的危险轨迹变得明显时。

    We are in the fight of our lives, and we are losing.

    我们正在为自己的生命而战，我们也正在经历失败。

    And Secretary-General Antonio Guterres talked about that in his opening remarks at this COP.

    秘书长安东尼奥·古特雷斯在本届缔约方会议的开场白中谈到了这一点。

    He, you know, described how urgent it is that that we shift the direction that we're heading in.

    他描述了我们改变前进方向的紧迫性。

    Greenhouse gas emissions⁵ keep growing, global temperatures keep rising, and our planet is fast approaching tipping points that will make climate chaos⁶ irreversible.

    温室气体排放持续增长，全球气温持续上升，我们的星球正在迅速接近临界点，这个临界点将使气候混乱得不可逆转。

    We are on a highway to climate hell, with our foot still on the accelerator.

    我们正走在通往气候地狱的高速公路上，而我们的脚还踩在油门上。

    Today, we're going inside COP27 with Sarah.

    今天，我们和萨拉一起走进第27届缔约方会议。

    And the big contentious⁷ issue being debated there right now: Should richer countries foot the bill when it comes to climate disasters?

    而现在现场正在辩论的一个巨大的争议问题是：当涉及到气候灾难时，富裕国家应该买单吗？

    Just on Friday, President Joe Biden spoke⁸ at the gathering⁹, promising¹⁰ the U.S. is doing its part to avert¹¹ that "climate hell."就在周五，乔·拜登总统在会议上发表讲话，承诺美国正在尽自己的一份力量避免“气候地狱”。

    We're not ignoring harbingers that are already here.

    我们没有忽视已经存在的气候灾难先兆。

    It's true, so many disasters.

    确实有很多灾难。

    Climate crisis is hitting hardest those countries and communities that have the fewest resources to respond and to recover.

    有些国家和社区拥有应对和恢复灾难的资源最少，对于他们来说，受到的打击最为严重。

    But as Sarah tells us, these hardest-hit countries want financial help from Europe and the United States -- the places responsible for high carbon emissions.

    但正如莎拉告诉我们的，这些受影响最严重的国家希望得到欧洲和美国的财政援助，因为这些国家对高碳排放负有责任。

    Today we explore what that could look like in practice and whether there are any slivers¹² of hope at this climate conference.

    今天，我们将探索在实践中可能出现的情况，以及在这次气候大会上是否还有一丝希望。

1 venue   

n.犯罪地点，审判地，管辖地，发生地点，集合地点

参考例句：

• The hall provided a venue for weddings and other functions.大厅给婚礼和其他社会活动提供了场所。
• The chosen venue caused great controversy among the people.人们就审判地点的问题产生了极大的争议。

2 chaotic   

adj.混沌的，一片混乱的，一团糟的

参考例句：

• Things have been getting chaotic in the office recently.最近办公室的情况越来越乱了。
• The traffic in the city was chaotic.这城市的交通糟透了。

3 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

4 trajectory   

n.弹道，轨道

参考例句：

• It is not difficult to sketch the subsequent trajectory.很容易描绘出它们最终的轨迹。
• The path followed by a projectile is called its trajectory.抛物体所循的路径称为它的轨道。

5 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。

6 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

7 contentious   

adj.好辩的，善争吵的

参考例句：

• She was really not of the contentious fighting sort.她委实不是好吵好闹的人。
• Since then they have tended to steer clear of contentious issues.从那时起，他们总想方设法避开有争议的问题。

8 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

9 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

10 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

11 avert   

v.防止，避免；转移(目光、注意力等)

参考例句：

• He managed to avert suspicion.他设法避嫌。
• I would do what I could to avert it.我会尽力去避免发生这种情况。

12 slivers   

（切割或断裂下来的）薄长条，碎片( sliver的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Margret had eight slivers of glass removed from her cheek. 从玛格列特的脸颊取出了八片碎玻璃。
• Eight slivers are drawn together to produce the drawn sliver. 在末道并条机上，八根棉条并合在一起被牵伸成熟条。