公众人物毕业演讲第160期:比尔·奈马萨诸塞大学2014(7)

 　　We will never run out of fossil fuels we'll never use it all up, not for centuries

　　化石燃料将永远烧不完几个世纪都用不完

　　Sure, there is less oil and less especially of that really sweet Appalachian crude than there ever used to be

　　没错 石油越来越少了特别是阿帕拉契山脉原油的数量正在减少

　　but there is also oil sand and tar¹ sand and oil shale² and they may be called by some new euphemism³ like shale tar

　　但我们还有油砂焦油砂 油页岩也许以后还会有人起新的名字 例如页岩焦油

　　and of course there are enormous quantities of coal, coal, coal nothing but coal, everywhere all over the world

　　当然还有大量的煤炭 煤炭 煤炭全世界各地都有煤炭

　　And it was left herewhen there were no termites⁴ to chew it all up

　　煤炭还有很多而且没有白蚁能够将它们吃完

　　Right now no one pays for the smoke and the gas that burning coal creates

　　现在 没人为燃烧煤炭产生的烟尘和废气付出代价

　　So people worldwide will just keep digging it up, keep burning it

　　世界各地的人只会不断将其挖起 然后燃烧使用

　　Now when I rode my bicycle to the first Earth Day on the National Mall in 1970

　　1970年 我骑自行车去参加国家广场的第一届地球日

　　I locked my bike to a US flag pole at the Washington Monument and Washington was a small town back then

　　我将自行车锁在华盛顿纪念碑的国旗杆上 当时华盛顿还是个小地方

　　and I celebrated⁵ that I had not produced any pollution because I had not driven a car

　　我庆祝自己没有对环境成任何污染因为我没有开车

　　It seems a little hard to believe now but here in United States along with rivers that caught on fire

　　现在看来可能有些难以置信原来在美国河流沿岸燃烧产生的有害物质

　　we had air pollution so thick, how thick was it?

　　让空气污染非常严重 有多严重呢

　　It was so thick that it killed people in their sleep

　　严重到甚至能让人死于睡梦之中

　　That would still be happening and it would almost certainly be a great deal worse now

　　如果不是那些为改变世界而奋斗的人

　　if we were not for the people who fought for change but with the air quality regulations in place lethal clouds of pollution don't happen here anymore

　　这种情况肯定还在发生 甚至可能更糟还好 得益于空气质量监管这里不再有致命烟雾污染发生

1 tar   

n.柏油，焦油；vt.涂或浇柏油/焦油于

参考例句：

• The roof was covered with tar.屋顶涂抹了一层沥青。
• We use tar to make roads.我们用沥青铺路。

2 shale   

n.页岩，泥板岩

参考例句：

• We can extract oil from shale.我们可以从页岩中提取石油。
• Most of the rock in this mountain is shale.这座山上大部分的岩石都是页岩。

3 euphemism   

n.婉言，委婉的说法

参考例句：

• Language reflects culture and euphemism is a mirror of culture.语言反映文化,而婉语则是各种文化的一面镜子。
• Euphemism is a very common and complicated linguistic phenomenon.委婉语是一种十分常见而又非常复杂的语言现象。

4 termites   

n.白蚁( termite的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Termites are principally tropical in distribution. 白蚁主要分布在热带地区。 来自辞典例句
• This spray will exterminate the termites. 这种喷剂能消灭白蚁。 来自辞典例句

5 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。