VOA常速英语2020--2020世界地球日（在线收听）

On April 22nd, more than 190 countries, including the United States, will celebrate Earth Day. It is a day to reflect on the impact humans have on the earth, and to demonstrate and reaffirm our support for environmental protection. The first Earth Day was planned as a Teach-in, a day to inform about environmental issues. Earth Day's founder, United States Senator Gaylord Nelson, an environmental activist who was outraged by the lack of political response to gross environmental degradation throughout the country, said that he was "convinced that all we need to do to bring an overwhelming insistence of the new generation that we stem the tide of environmental disaster is to present the facts clearly and dramatically. . . Every university should set aside one day in the school year – the same day across the Nation – for the teach-in." His plan worked: over 20 million people turned up for Senator Nelson's first Earth Day Teach-in on April 22, 1970. And from then on, the movement grew spontaneously, creating its own momentum with no central organization.

4月22日，包括美国在内的190多个国家将庆祝世界地球日。在这一天，人们将反思人类对地球的影响，并展现和重申我们对环境保护的支持。首届世界地球日计划是做一个宣讲会，一个关于环境问题的日子。世界地球日创始人是美国参议员盖洛德·尼尔森，他是一名环境活动家，对全国的环境恶化缺乏政治回应而感到愤怒，他表示他“坚信，要让新一代人坚持抑制环境遭难浪潮，我们需要做的是要以一种引人注目的方式清楚地阐述事实......每所大学都应该在学年中留出一天——全国都要在同一天——做这个宣讲会。”他的计划成功了：1970年4月22日，超过2000万人参加了尼尔森参议员的首届世界地球日宣讲会。自那时起，这项运动自发地发展起来，在没有中心组织的情况下形成了自己的势头。

This year, the United States marks Earth Day by highlighting the need to curb the dramatic growth in the world's mismanaged waste and marine debris. Mismanaged waste pollutes the terrestrial environment and flows into our ocean, affecting marine health everywhere. Marine debris, including microplastics in the ocean, can lead to declining global fish stocks, and costs billions of dollars to fisheries, tourism, and other industries. The United States is working internationally to encourage technological innovation in the waste sector, to spur new infrastructure investment and private sector engagement, to collaborate in scientific research, to promote market solutions, and to raise public awareness about the threats of unmanaged waste and marine debris.On Earth Day 2018 we celebrate the ingenuity of those who are rising to the many challenges to protect our environment and natural heritage while promoting economic growth and shared prosperity.

今年，美国在纪念世界地球日时强调，必须遏制全球因处理不当而产生的废物以及海洋垃圾的急剧增长。因处理不当而产生的废物会污染陆地环境并流向我们的海洋，影响各地海洋生物的健康。海洋垃圾，包括海洋中的微粒塑料，会导致全球鱼类资源减少，并给渔业、旅游业和其他产业造成数十亿美元的损失。美国正在展开国际合作，鼓励废物处理领域的科技创新，促进新的基础设施投资和私营部门参与，开展科研合作促进市场解决方案以及提高公众对处理不善的废物和海洋垃圾威胁的认识。在2018年世界地球日，我们赞美那些在促进经济增长和共同繁荣的同时为保护我们的环境和自然遗产而奋起应对诸多挑战的人们的创造力。