时代周刊:国际社会刚准备好直面气候问题 2020就来了(1)

THE DEFINING YEAR

决定性的一年

The world was ready to tackle climate change.

国际社会刚准备好直面气候问题。

Then 2020 happened.

2020就来了。

BY JUSTIN WORLAND

文/贾斯汀·沃兰

From our vantage point today, 2020 looks like the year when an unknown virus spun¹ out of control,

从当前形势来看，2020年似乎是一种前所未见的病毒逐渐失控

killed hundreds of thousands and altered the way we live day to day.

扼杀千万人性命，并一举改变了我们所有人的日常生活的一年。

In the future, we may look back at 2020 as the year we decided² to keep driving off the climate cliff—or to take the last exit.

等到未来我们再回头看2020年，这一年或许也是我们决定冲下气候悬崖——或走向最后一个出口的一年。

Taking the threat seriously would mean using the opportunity presented by this crisis to spend on solar panels and wind farms,

认真对待气候威胁就意味着要转危为机，投资太阳能电池板和风力发电场，

push companies being bailed³ out to cut emissions⁴ and foster greener forms of transport in cities.

推动正在接受救助的公司减排，意味着要在城市推行更绿色的交通出行方式。

If we instead choose to fund new coal-fired power plants and oil wells and thoughtlessly fire up factories to urge growth,

如果我们反其道而行之，选择出资建设新的煤电厂和油井，为了推动增长轻率地启动工厂，

we will lock in a pathway toward climate catastrophe⁵.

我们就会被锁死在一条通往气候灾难的道路上。

There’s a divide about which way to go.

至于究竟走那条路，国际社会并未达成一致。

In early April, as COVID-19 spread across the U.S. and doctors urgently warned

4月初，也即新冠肺炎就已经在全美蔓延开来，医生纷纷发出紧急告诫，

that New York City might soon run out of ventilators and hospital beds,

纽约市的呼吸机和病床或许很快就会耗尽的时候，

President Donald Trump⁶ gathered CEOs from some of the country’s biggest oil and gas companies

特朗普总统召集美国最大的石油和天然气公司的CEO们，

for a closed-door meeting in the White House Cabinet Room.

在白宫内阁会议室召开了一次闭门会议。

The industry faced its biggest disruption in decades,

该行业陷入了数十年未见的业务中断的困境，

and Trump wanted to help the companies secure their place at the center of the 21st century American economy.

特朗普希望帮助这些公司巩固他们在21世纪的美国占有的经济支柱地位。

Everything was on the table, from a tariff⁸ on imports to the U.S. government itself purchasing excess oil.

从进口关税到美国政府自己购买过剩的石油，所有的方案都摆到了台面上。

"We’ll work this out, and we’ll get our energy business back," Trump told the CEOs.

“我们会想到办法的，我们会夺回我们的能源业务。”特朗普对CEO们说道。

"I’m with you 1,000%."

“我1000%支持你们。”

A few days later, he announced he had brokered⁹ a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin

没过几天，特朗普就宣布他已经牵头俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京

and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin⁷ Salman to cut oil production and rescue the industry.

沙特王储穆罕默德·本·萨勒曼达成了一项削减石油产量，拯救该行业的协议。

Later in April, Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission,

4月晚些时候，欧盟委员会主席乌苏拉·冯·德·莱恩在从大西洋彼岸发布的一段视频中

in a video message from across the Atlantic, offered a different approach for the continent’s economic future.

为欧洲大陆的经济未来规划了一条不一样的道路。

A European Green Deal, she said, would be the E.U.'s "motor for the recovery."

欧盟“复苏的发动机”，她说，是一份具有欧洲特色的绿色协议。

"We can turn the crisis of this pandemic into an opportunity to rebuild our economies differently," she said.

“我们可以将这场大流行危机转化为以另一种方式重建我们的经济的机会，”她说。

On May 27, she pledged more than $800 billion to the initiative, promising¹⁰ to transform the way Europeans live.

5月27日，她承诺为该倡议提供逾8000亿美元的资金，以改变欧洲人的生活方式。

1 spun   

v.纺，杜撰，急转身

参考例句：

• His grandmother spun him a yarn at the fire.他奶奶在火炉边给他讲故事。
• Her skilful fingers spun the wool out to a fine thread.她那灵巧的手指把羊毛纺成了细毛线。

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 bailed   

保释，帮助脱离困境( bail的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Fortunately the pilot bailed out before the plane crashed. 飞机坠毁之前，驾驶员幸运地跳伞了。
• Some water had been shipped and the cook bailed it out. 船里进了些水，厨师把水舀了出去。

4 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。

5 catastrophe   

n.大灾难，大祸

参考例句：

• I owe it to you that I survived the catastrophe.亏得你我才大难不死。
• This is a catastrophe beyond human control.这是一场人类无法控制的灾难。

6 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

7 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

8 tariff   

n.关税，税率；(旅馆、饭店等)价目表，收费表

参考例句：

• There is a very high tariff on jewelry.宝石类的关税率很高。
• The government is going to lower the tariff on importing cars.政府打算降低进口汽车的关税。

9 brokered   

adj.由权力经纪人安排（或控制）的v.做掮客（或中人等）( broker的过去式和过去分词 )；作为权力经纪人进行谈判；以中间人等身份安排…

参考例句：

• a peace plan brokered by the UN 由联合国出面协商的和平计划
• Your husband brokered the deal to go in, transfrer the assets and get our man out. 你丈夫后来插了一脚，把生意都抢了过去，我们的人也被挤了出来。 来自电影对白

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。