VOA标准英语2009年-US Conservatives Wary of Climate Chang

Some Americans feel cost of climate change legislation is greater than benefit

Laurel Bowman | Washington, DC 04 December 2009

 
Some Americans feel cost of climate change legislation is greater than benefit

Climate change legislation, passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, appears stalled in the Senate.  Many conservatives in America simply don't want it. 

"No country is more important than the United States in resolving these climate change issues," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said. 

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee hosted an important guest some weeks back.  Moon is a strong voice on the need for mandated¹ changes in greenhouse gas emissions².

But climate change legislation, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives, appears stalled in the Senate, in line behind healthcare and financial services reform.  The bills would require cuts in U.S CO2 emissions.

Democratic Senator John Kerry says passage before Copenhagen won't happen. "We hope to be headed to Copenhagen with an outline at least of where our legislation is going at least on the floor of the Senate," he said.

Climate policy analyst³ Jake Schmidt says passing strong legislation promptly⁴ is crucial if the U.S. is to be a leader on the environment. "Well clearly before we are really credible⁵ players in international eyes, we have to have domestic legislation that enforces our commitments," he said.

The White House says the president will propose at Copenhagen a U.S. emissions target of 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020.

David Kreutzer is an economist⁶ who tracks climate change for the conservative Heritage Foundation. He says the Senate bill faces hurdles⁷, much like the bill in the House did.

"One of the problems is that the Waxman-Markey bill, the one in the House, passed only by 7 votes after a lot of wheeling and dealing⁸ and horse-trading and so on and that was right before the 4th of July break and it turned out it was fairly unpopular when legislators went home," he said.

Kreutzer and other conservatives insist that legislation curbing⁹ C02 emissions will cost the U.S. economy trillions of dollars and do little to bring down global temperature.

Kreutzer urges President Obama to just say no in Copenhagen to binding  mandates¹⁰. "The real leadership that we should offer is to say this is a bad deal," he said. "This cutting carbon imposes a cost on the world economy that far exceeds any benefits."

Kreutzer is also against proposals for developed countries to help fund the clean up of developing nations.   "The citizens of the United States aren't at all convinced that we have a global warming problem that is severe enough for a blank check solution," he stated.

Environmentalists like the Earth Policy Institute's Janet Larsen say this is dangerous talk. She's attending the conference in Copenhagen.

"The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is at about 387 parts per million.  That's a level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere the world may not have seen in the last 50 million years, so we are clearly moving into un-charted territory," she said.

One of the goals of Copenhagen is to lay the groundwork for an international treaty that binds¹¹ nations in the area of climate change.  The Senate would have to ratify¹² the treaty for it to take effect in the U.S.

 

1 mandated   

adj. 委托统治的

参考例句：

• Mandated desegregation of public schools. 命令解除公立学校中的种族隔离
• Britain was mandated to govern the former colony of German East Africa. 英国受权代管德国在东非的前殖民地。

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 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

4 promptly   

adv.及时地，敏捷地

参考例句：

• He paid the money back promptly.他立即还了钱。
• She promptly seized the opportunity his absence gave her.她立即抓住了因他不在场给她创造的机会。

5 credible   

adj.可信任的，可靠的

参考例句：

• The news report is hardly credible.这则新闻报道令人难以置信。
• Is there a credible alternative to the nuclear deterrent?是否有可以取代核威慑力量的可靠办法？

6 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

7 hurdles   

n.障碍( hurdle的名词复数 )；跳栏；（供人或马跳跃的）栏架；跨栏赛

参考例句：

• In starting a new company, many hurdles must be crossed. 刚开办一个公司时，必须克服许多障碍。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• There are several hurdles to be got over in this project. 在这项工程中有一些困难要克服。 来自辞典例句

8 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。

9 curbing   

n.边石，边石的材料v.限制，克制，抑制( curb的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Progress has been made in curbing inflation. 在控制通货膨胀方面已取得了进展。
• A range of policies have been introduced aimed at curbing inflation. 为了抑制通货膨胀实施了一系列的政策。

10 mandates   

托管（mandate的第三人称单数形式）

参考例句：

• Individual mandates would require all people to purchase health insurance. 个人托管要求所有人都要购买健康保险。
• While I agree with those benefits, I'm not a supporter of mandates. 我同意上述好处，我不是授权软件的支持者。

11 binds   

v.约束( bind的第三人称单数 )；装订；捆绑；（用长布条）缠绕

参考例句：

• Frost binds the soil. 霜使土壤凝结。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Stones and cement binds strongly. 石头和水泥凝固得很牢。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 ratify   

v.批准，认可，追认

参考例句：

• The heads of two governments met to ratify the peace treaty.两国政府首脑会晤批准和平条约。
• The agreement have to be ratify by the board.该协议必须由董事会批准。