纽约时报 气候变化影响着海岛的存亡(1)

 

 

    “We’re on the front lines of vulnerability,” says Tina Stege.

    蒂娜·斯泰奇说:“我们脆弱的不堪一击。”

    She would know: Stege is the climate envoy¹ for the Marshall Islands, a country of roughly 60,000 people spread mostly among coral atolls halfway² between Hawaii and Australia that is facing an imminent³ existential threat from climate change.

    她应该知道:斯泰奇是马绍尔群岛的气候特使。马绍尔群岛这个国家大约有6万人口，主要分布在夏威夷和澳大利亚之间的珊瑚环礁之间，目前正面临着气候变化带来的迫在眉睫的生存威胁。

    In the Marshalls, sea-level rise has already led to increased flooding and the degradation⁴ of water used for drinking and cooking.

    在马绍尔地区，海平面上升已经导致洪水泛滥，污染了饮用水和烹饪用水。

    Ongoing⁵ coral bleaching⁶ affects local fish stocks, which Marshallese rely upon for food as well as for income from nations that apply to fish in the country’s waters.

    持续的珊瑚白化影响了当地的鱼类资源，马绍尔群岛的住民依靠这些鱼类资源获取食物，依靠从本国水域捕鱼的国家那里获取收入。

    And a warmer, wetter world means a greater risk of waterborne disease — the country was hit hard by an outbreak of Dengue fever in 2019.

    更温暖、更潮湿的世界意味着水源传染疾病的风险更大——该国在2019年爆发了登革热传染病。

    The horizon is dark and will only get darker if the rest of the world doesn’t make the changes necessary to stay below 1.5 Celsius⁷ degrees of warming above preindustrial levels (which appears highly unlikely).

    地平线是黑暗的，如果世界其他地区不做出必要的改变，将气温上升幅度保持在较前工业化水平前的1.5摄氏度以下(这似乎极不可能)，地平线只会变得更黑暗。

    While her country’s situation may seem uniquely dire⁸,虽然她所在国家的情况似乎十分糟糕，

    Stege knows that the Marshalls, site of horrific damage caused by U.S. nuclear weapons testing in the 1940s and 1950s,但斯泰奇知道，美国在上世纪40年代和50年代进行的核武器试验造成了可怕的破坏，offers both a window into a possible future of even more widespread uninhabitability as well as a shared opportunity.

    马绍尔地区提供了一扇窗户，让我们看到未来可能出现的更广泛的不适宜居住的情况，同时也提供了一个共同的机会。

    “Climate change is a preventable crisis,” says Stege, who is 45. “There are pathways. But can we achieve what needs to be achieved?”

    “气候变化是一场可以预防的危机，”45岁的斯泰奇说。 “有很多途径。 但我们能实现需要实现的目标吗?”

    I have two questions to start, about power and morality:

    首先，我有两个关于权力和道德的问题:

    Your country’s continued existence is dependent on the decisions of far more powerful, far less at-risk countries.

    贵国能否继续存在，取决于那些远比贵国强大、风险小得多的国家的决定。

    So how has your advocacy work affected⁹ your thinking about global power?

    那么，您的倡导工作如何影响了您对全球权力的看法呢?

    And second: I’ve seen people argue that global warming is likely to wind up at something like 2.2 or 2.7 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels,第二，我看到有人说，全球变暖可能会比工业化前的水平高2.2或2.7摄氏度，and therefore we shouldn’t freak out because at those levels life for us in rich Western countries won’t be all that different.

    因此我们不应该惊慌失措，因为在那样的水平下，我们在富裕的西方国家的生活不会有什么不同。

    How do you view that argument from a moral perspective?

    你从道德的角度如何看待这个论点?

    The way I was raised in my community was with this idea that when you protect those who are the most vulnerable in your community, you are protecting your entire community.

    我在社会中成长的方式是这样的：当你保护社会中最脆弱的人时，你就是在保护整个社会。

    This translates to the message we’ve had for the world on why they should care about the Marshall Islands:

    这就是我们向全世界传达的为什么他们应该关心马绍尔群岛的信息:

    Climate change is going to affect everyone on this planet.

    气候变化将影响地球上的每一个人。

    I think in 2020, 30 million people were displaced by climate change.

    我想在2020年，有3000万人因为气候变化而流离失所。

1 envoy   

n.使节，使者，代表，公使

参考例句：

• Their envoy showed no sign of responding to our proposals.他们的代表对我方的提议毫无回应的迹象。
• The government has not yet appointed an envoy to the area.政府尚未向这一地区派过外交官。

2 halfway   

adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途

参考例句：

• We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路，天就黑了。
• In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上，最忌讳的是有始无终。

3 imminent   

adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的

参考例句：

• The black clounds show that a storm is imminent.乌云预示暴风雨即将来临。
• The country is in imminent danger.国难当头。

4 degradation   

n.降级；低落；退化；陵削；降解；衰变

参考例句：

• There are serious problems of land degradation in some arid zones.在一些干旱地带存在严重的土地退化问题。
• Gambling is always coupled with degradation.赌博总是与堕落相联系。

5 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

6 bleaching   

漂白法，漂白

参考例句：

• Moderately weathered rock showed more intense bleaching and fissuring in the feldspars. 中等风化岩石则是指长石有更为强烈的变白现象和裂纹现象。
• Bleaching effects are very strong and show on air photos. 退色效应非常强烈，并且反映在航空象片上。

7 Celsius   

adj.摄氏温度计的，摄氏的

参考例句：

• The temperature tonight will fall to seven degrees Celsius.今晚气温将下降到七摄氏度。
• The maximum temperature in July may be 36 degrees Celsius.七月份最高温度可能达到36摄氏度。

8 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。

9 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。