PBS高端访谈:海平面上升对未来几代人意味着什么?

 　　GWEN IFILL: But, first, a trio of new studies provide new alarm about rising sea levels, and the prospect¹ of further flooding along the coasts.

　　Among them, seas rose faster during the past century than at any point in the last 2,800 years.

　　Hari Sreenivasan is here with more on the story.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: Scientists say this is more definitive² proof that human actions are contributing to sea level rise. Already, coastal³ cities like Charleston, South Carolina, and Miami, Florida, for example, are facing more flood days than in decades past.

　　The global climate conversation is working toward keeping temperature rise limited to two degrees Celsius⁴, and even under that scenario⁵, as this animation⁶ shows, cities like Washington, D.C., and its well-known landmarks⁷ could look very different one day, albeit⁸ several hundred years in the future.

　　One study estimated that sea rise level could be as much as four feet higher by the end of this century under more dire⁹ scenarios¹⁰.

　　Benjamin Strauss is with Climate Central, a research organization that worked on some of this.

　　So, Benjamin, when you see your graphs at the very end of it, there's this almost hockey stick effect. What is it that caused that acceleration¹¹ of sea level rise?

　　海平面上升对未来几代人意味着什么?

　　BENJAMIN STRAUSS, Climate Central: The sea level is extremely sensitive to global temperature. And by burning fossil fuels and putting carbon in the atmosphere, we have heated up the planet a great deal over the last century.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: So, how do we know in these models — how do you build these models to figure out what sea level rise was like going back 2,000 years? There wasn't somebody with a stick saying, here it is at 2.5 feet, here it is at three.

　　BENJAMIN STRAUSS: Yes, it's true.

　　So, there was a lot of detective work involved. Scientific teams around the world have been studying coastal marshes¹², taking cores, looking for clues about where things grew, at what times. And this study is special, in that it went beyond each of the individual studies that we have seen in the past, and integrated them all, to put together one picture out of all of that detective work.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: So, let's talk a little bit about impacts.

　　Take a city like Charleston, a low-lying city already that we know is facing some of these floods. What's it likely to be like going forward, say, to the end of this century?

　　BENJAMIN STRAUSS: Well, really, the sharp increase in floods caused by us that we have seen over the last several decades is only just the beginning.

　　We're a few inches into a problem that's going to be measured in feet this century. And I'm afraid to say we can expect floods and flooding to accelerate a great deal more, even in the next two or three decades, than in the — than what we have already seen in the last two or three decades.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: As we mentioned, the climate conferences that happen around the world, they're really trying to figure out this two-degree Celsius target, but your forecasts and your predictions and your models are showing that even at two degrees Celsius, there's a tremendous amount of increase in sea level rise, and a lot of coastal cities are impacted by this.

　　BENJAMIN STRAUSS: Yes.

　　In the long run, two degrees Celsius warming probably is not — a lot of today's coastal cities are probably not compatible with that, whether you're talking about Miami or Shanghai or London.

　　But two degrees is a great deal better than our current path. So there's some solace¹³ in that. And how quickly sea level rises will play a large role in how well we can adapt. I would also say that if we can end up being more ambitious than two degrees Celsius and cut warming down to 1.5 degrees in the long run, the impact there would be about half of what we could expect from two degrees Celsius. So that last half degree makes a big difference.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: This conversation about two degrees or a half-a-degree here or half-a-degree there, often, it gets mired¹⁴ in politics, it gets mired in lifestyle changes, and you start thinking globally and different countries.

　　I mean, reading your data at some point is an incredibly sort of sad and dire prediction. Is there any way through this?

　　BENJAMIN STRAUSS: Yes, well, it is sad, and it's a difficult line of work, in a way.

　　But I take some solace. First of all, there's a lot we can do to adapt and to deal with change over time. And I take some solace in knowing all people are mortal. Right? But we still live our lives. We still have meaningful lives.

　　There are some places on our coasts now which we now know are especially mortal because of sea level rise. It won't stop them from making contributions for the next decades or the next century, but, over time, we're going to have to either build tall walls and live beneath — you know, in the bottom very deep bowls, which is a frightening prospect, or else we're going to have the move.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: All right, Ben Strauss of Climate Central, thanks so much for joining us.

　　BENJAMIN STRAUSS: Yes, thank you.

 

1 prospect   

n.前景，前途；景色，视野

参考例句：

• This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

2 definitive   

adj.确切的，权威性的；最后的，决定性的

参考例句：

• This book is the definitive guide to world cuisine.这本书是世界美食的权威指南。
• No one has come up with a definitive answer as to why this should be so.至于为什么该这样，还没有人给出明确的答复。

3 coastal   

adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的

参考例句：

• The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。

4 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。

5 scenario   

n.剧本，脚本；概要

参考例句：

• But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
• This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。

6 animation   

n.活泼，兴奋，卡通片／动画片的制作

参考例句：

• They are full of animation as they talked about their childhood.当他们谈及童年的往事时都非常兴奋。
• The animation of China made a great progress.中国的卡通片制作取得很大发展。

7 landmarks   

n.陆标( landmark的名词复数 )；目标；（标志重要阶段的）里程碑 ~ (in sth)；有历史意义的建筑物（或遗址）

参考例句：

• The book stands out as one of the notable landmarks in the progress of modern science. 这部著作是现代科学发展史上著名的里程碑之一。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The baby was one of the big landmarks in our relationship. 孩子的出世是我们俩关系中的一个重要转折点。 来自辞典例句

8 albeit   

conj.即使；纵使；虽然

参考例句：

• Albeit fictional,she seemed to have resolved the problem.虽然是虚构的，但是在她看来好象是解决了问题。
• Albeit he has failed twice,he is not discouraged.虽然失败了两次，但他并没有气馁。

9 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。

10 scenarios   

n.[意]情节；剧本；事态；脚本

参考例句：

• Further, graphite cores may be safer than non-graphite cores under some accident scenarios. 再者，根据一些事故解说，石墨堆芯可比非石墨堆芯更安全一些。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• Again, scenarios should make it clear which modes are acceptable to users in various contexts. 同样，我们可以运用场景剧本来搞清楚在不同情境下哪些模式可被用户接受。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

11 acceleration   

n.加速，加速度

参考例句：

• All spacemen must be able to bear acceleration.所有太空人都应能承受加速度。
• He has also called for an acceleration of political reforms.他同时呼吁加快政治改革的步伐。

12 marshes   

n.沼泽，湿地( marsh的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Cows were grazing on the marshes. 牛群在湿地上吃草。
• We had to cross the marshes. 我们不得不穿过那片沼泽地。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 solace   

n.安慰；v.使快乐；vt.安慰(物)，缓和

参考例句：

• They sought solace in religion from the harshness of their everyday lives.他们日常生活很艰难，就在宗教中寻求安慰。
• His acting career took a nosedive and he turned to drink for solace.演艺事业突然一落千丈，他便借酒浇愁。

14 mired   

abbr.microreciprocal degree 迈尔德（色温单位）v.深陷( mire的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The country was mired in recession. 这个国家陷入了经济衰退的困境。
• The most brilliant leadership can be mired in detail. 最有才干的领导也会陷于拘泥琐事的困境中。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》