新奇事件簿 英国航空公司二氧化碳排放超标

An employee who works for British Airways¹ (BA) has told newspapers about the company creating more CO2. The unnamed person is a whistleblower - someone who tells the truth about company secrets. The whistleblower said BA and many other airlines use "fuel-tankering" to save money. However, fuel-tankering is very bad for the environment. Scientists say it adds to global warming. Fuel-tankering is when airplanes store extra fuel to get to their destination and back. This means the airline saves money by paying for all the fuel in its home country instead of buying more expensive fuel at its destination. Scientists say fuel-tankering puts as much CO2 in the air each year as a large town.

英国航空公司（BA）一员工告诉纸媒，该公司制造了更多的二氧化碳。这名未透露姓名的人是一个告发者—说出公司秘密真相的人。这名告发者表示BA和很多其他航空公司用“燃料储存”省钱。但燃料储存对环境非常不利。科学家们称这么做会加速全球变暖。燃料储存是指飞机储存额外的燃料以到达目的地并返回。这意味着航空公司在本国购买所有燃料，而不是在目的地购买更贵的燃料，从而节省了成本。科学家表示燃料储存每年向空气中排放的二氧化碳相当于一个大城市的排放量。

A documentary² about British Airways and fuel-tankering was shown on the BBC this week. In the documentary, the CEO of BA promised to look again at how it carries fuel. He said the airline uses the fuel-tankering method and said it was "maybe the wrong thing to do". The money saved by fuel-tankering for each flight is very small, but there is a big cost to the environment. A recent flight from London to Italy had three tons of extra fuel. The airline saved just $50 on the flight but an extra 600kg of CO2 was put into the atmosphere. Greenpeace said this was a "classic example of a company putting profit before planet". It said: "They'll happily pour extra fuel on the fire for a small boost³ to their profit margin⁴."

本周BBC播放了一部关于英国航空公司和燃料储存的纪录片。片中，BA公司的CEO承诺将重新审视其运输燃料的方式。他表示公司使用了燃料储存的方法并称“这么做或许是错误的”。每次飞行通过燃料储存节省的燃料费非常少，但是对环境的代价却很大。最近一辆从伦敦飞往意大利的航班上多了3吨燃料。此次飞行航空公司仅节省了50美元，但却向大气中排放了额外的600公斤二氧化碳。绿色和平组织表示这是“一个公司将利润置于地球之上的典型例子”。其称：“他们将会高兴地火上浇油，以小幅提高他们的利润率。”

1 AIRWAYS   

航空公司

参考例句：

• The giant jets that increasingly dominate the world's airways. 越来越称雄于世界航线的巨型喷气机。
• At one point the company bought from Nippon Airways a 727 jet. 有一次公司从日本航空公司买了一架727型喷气机。

2 documentary   

adj.文献的；n.纪录片

参考例句：

• This case lacked documentary proof.本案缺少书面证据。
• I watched a documentary on the Civil War.我看了一部关于内战的纪录片。

3 boost   

n.鼓励，激励，提高；v.鼓励，使增强信心

参考例句：

• This will be a great boost to the economy.这对于经济发展将是一个巨大的促进。
• These changes will help to boost share prices.这些变化将有助于提高股票价格。

4 margin   

n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘

参考例句：

• We allowed a margin of 20 minutes in catching the train.我们有20分钟的余地赶火车。
• The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。