VOA慢速英语2009年-IN THE NEWS - Aiming for a Deal on Cli

This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

Demonstrators marching Saturday from the Danish parliament in the center of Copenhagen to the site of the climate change conference

In Copenhagen, Denmark, the United Nations Climate Change Conference opened this week. Around fifteen thousand delegates and observers from nearly two hundred countries are there. Some call it "the last best chance" for an agreement to fight climate change.

Yvo de Boer is the top climate official at the United Nations.

YVO DE BOER: "The time for formal statements is over. The time for restating well known positions is past. The time has come to reach out to each other. I urge you to build on your achievements, take up the work that has already been done and turn it into real action."

But there are questions about how much can be done, and how an agreement would be put into action.

A "Global Day of Action" was also observed in other cities, including Sydney, Australia

The twelve-day conference ends next Friday. Late next week, leaders from more than one hundred countries are expected at the talks, including President Obama.

Delegates hope to set new targets to reduce greenhouse gases -- the pollution blamed for trapping extra heat in the atmosphere. An existing agreement, the Kyoto Protocol¹, ends in two thousand twelve. Many countries have offered new proposals for cuts, including the United States and China.

China is now the leading producer of greenhouse gases. But the United States and other industrialized nations were the top polluters for years. So they are under extra pressure to reduce emissions² from cars, factories and other sources.

Summit delegates look at a display showing the warming of the world's oceans

In Washington, the Environmental Protection Agency on Monday declared carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases a threat to public health. That clears the way for the administration to set limits, unless Congress acts first.

But developing countries are also being urged to do more. And they, in turn, want help. They criticized a proposal for industrialized nations to pay developing countries ten billion dollars a year over three years. The World Bank says dealing³ with climate change will require hundreds of billions a year in public and private financing.

In New York, the United Nations secretary-general reacted to a dispute over e-mails stolen from the University of East Anglia in England. Critics say the messages show climate change scientists discussing ways to discredit⁴ other theories about global warming. But Ban Ki-Moon said Tuesday that the evidence is "quite clear" that humans are the main cause of temperatures rising faster than expected.

Modern climate records date back to eighteen fifty. The United Nations weather agency says two thousand to two thousand nine was the warmest decade on record. And it said this week that final results will likely show two thousand nine was the fifth-warmest year on record.

Current estimates show record warmth this year in large parts of southern Asia and central Africa. The agency reported that the only parts of the world with cooler than average conditions this year were the United States and Canada.

And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English, written by Brianna Blake. For the latest news from Copenhagen, go to voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

 

1 protocol   

n.议定书，草约，会谈记录，外交礼节

参考例句：

• We must observe the correct protocol.我们必须遵守应有的礼仪。
• The statesmen signed a protocol.那些政治家签了议定书。

2 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。

3 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

4 discredit   

vt.使不可置信；n.丧失信义；不信，怀疑

参考例句：

• Their behaviour has bought discredit on English football.他们的行为败坏了英国足球运动的声誉。
• They no longer try to discredit the technology itself.他们不再试图怀疑这种技术本身。