PBS高端访谈:检视特朗普关于气候政策的竞选承诺

 　　HARI SREENIVASAN, PBS NEWSHOUR WEEKEND ANCHOR: For a closer look at the environmental policies of the Trump¹ administration — what it's done and what it plans to do — I'm joined from Washington by "New York Times" reporter Coral Davenport.

　　Coral, there's been a strong perception that the Trump administration wants to undo² the Obama legacy³, starting with the clean power plant.

　　CORAL DAVENPORT, NEW YORK TIMES: Yes, President Obama, sort of the centerpiece of his environmental agenda was the clean power plant, a set of Environmental Protection Agency regulations that were designed, essentially⁴, to shut down coal-fired power plants, the number one contributor to greenhouse gas pollution in the U.S., and slowly shut them down and replace them.

　　And so, just last month, we saw President Trump put out an executive order directing his EPA administrator⁵, Scott Pruitt, to begin the legal process of essentially totally rolling that back.

　　SREENIVASAN: You know, one of the things that people point out is there's — it's great to have an intention and a proclamation, but there is a totally different reality on the ground when it comes to market forces, that this doesn't automatically bring coal jobs back or turn these plants back on, or in any way crease⁶ the roll out of solar and wind that's happening around the country right now.

　　DAVENPORT: That's true. Before these regulation were put out, they still haven't actually ever been implemented⁷, we had already seen a shift in the marketplace as electric utilities were choosing, due to market forces not to invest in new coal, to start shutting down old coal plants and to turn towards natural gas, which is both cleaner than coal, about half the carbon pollution, but more importantly for electric utilities, it's also a lot cheaper. And in the long run, a lot of electric utility CEO say, first of all, we're making these changes because of the market. What happens with regulations in Washington is not really going to change that. This doesn't mean that we're going to go start building new coal plants, far from it.

　　Eventually, they assume that there will be some kind of tax or regulation or government restrictions⁸ on carbon pollution because that's the number one cause of climate change and that problem is not going away.

　　检视特朗普关于气候政策的竞选承诺

　　SREENIVASAN: And speaking of climate change, Scott Pruitt claims that he is not interested in participating in the Paris Accords, but he's not exactly the person that can make that decision. It's not a unilateral one. That takes quite a bit of time.

　　DAVENPORT: Yes, it's really interesting the debate that is happening within the White House over what to do on the Paris Accords — first, because for President Trump, that was a signature campaign promise. He said — his exact words were that he would cancel the Paris Climate Change Accord. That's technically⁹ not possible to do. You can't rip up a multilateral accord that's been legally ratified¹⁰ and signed by over 190 countries.

　　But the U.S. could withdraw, could legally withdraw, and that would be a huge blow to the accord. What's happening right now, though, a lot of President Trump's sort of core base supporters and advisers¹² have urged him to go ahead and act on that, to announce he's going to withdraw.

　　He's got another set of advisers who are saying, "Look, the diplomatic fallout globally from withdrawing the United States, the world's largest economy, the world's historic largest climate emitter, had been a central broker¹³ of the Paris Accord, it would send a message to the rest of the world that the U.S. doesn't keep its word, and that could come up again and again and again."

　　And so, there is a push from leading advisers like Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, leading foreign policy adviser¹¹, and we're also hearing that this could be coming from the president's daughter, Ivanka, and her husband, Jared, who are very influential¹⁴ within the White House, to saying, "Look, maybe we can negotiate a middle ground where we stay in the accord but — the accord but just don't do everything Obama said we were going to do."

　　SREENIVASAN: All right. Coral Davenport of the "New York Times" — joining us from Washington — thanks so much.

　　DAVENPORT: Great to be with you.

1 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。

2 undo   

vt.解开，松开；取消，撤销

参考例句：

• His pride will undo him some day.他的傲慢总有一天会毁了他。
• I managed secretly to undo a corner of the parcel.我悄悄地设法解开了包裹的一角。

3 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

4 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

5 administrator   

n.经营管理者，行政官员

参考例句：

• The role of administrator absorbed much of Ben's energy.行政职务耗掉本很多精力。
• He has proved himself capable as administrator.他表现出管理才能。

6 crease   

n.折缝，褶痕，皱褶；v.(使)起皱

参考例句：

• Does artificial silk crease more easily than natural silk?人造丝比天然丝更易起皱吗？
• Please don't crease the blouse when you pack it.包装时请不要将衬衫弄皱了。

7 implemented   

v.实现( implement的过去式和过去分词 )；执行；贯彻；使生效

参考例句：

• This agreement, if not implemented, is a mere scrap of paper. 这个协定如不执行只不过是一纸空文。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The economy is in danger of collapse unless far-reaching reforms are implemented. 如果不实施影响深远的改革，经济就面临崩溃的危险。 来自辞典例句

8 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

9 technically   

adv.专门地，技术上地

参考例句：

• Technically it is the most advanced equipment ever.从技术上说，这是最先进的设备。
• The tomato is technically a fruit,although it is eaten as a vegetable.严格地说，西红柿是一种水果，尽管它是当作蔬菜吃的。

10 ratified   

v.批准，签认（合约等）( ratify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The treaty was declared invalid because it had not been ratified. 条约没有得到批准，因此被宣布无效。
• The treaty was ratified by all the member states. 这个条约得到了所有成员国的批准。

11 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

12 advisers   

顾问，劝告者( adviser的名词复数 )； （指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授

参考例句：

• a member of the President's favoured circle of advisers 总统宠爱的顾问班子中的一员
• She withdrew to confer with her advisers before announcing a decision. 她先去请教顾问然后再宣布决定。

13 broker   

n.中间人，经纪人；v.作为中间人来安排

参考例句：

• He baited the broker by promises of higher commissions.他答应给更高的佣金来引诱那位经纪人。
• I'm a real estate broker.我是不动产经纪人。

14 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。