VOA慢速英语2019 科学家：2019年海洋水温有史以来最热

Scientists: 2019 Ocean Water Temperatures Were Hottest Ever

Scientists reported this week that the world's oceans were warmer in 2019 than they had ever been before.

科学家本周报告说，2019年世界海洋比以往任何时候都更温暖。

The report comes at a time when studies have linked rising ocean water temperatures to manmade pollution. Researchers say the rate of warming is speeding up and may cause a planet-wide disaster.

该报告是在研究将海水温度升高与人为污染联系起来的时候发布的。研究人员说，升温速度正在加快，并可能导致整个地球的灾难。

The oceans take in more than 90 percent of the extra heat created by carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions¹. Greenhouse gases are a product of pollution from factories, driving motor vehicles and other human activities.

海洋吸收了二氧化碳和其他温室气体排放所产生的额外热量的90％以上。温室气体是工厂，驾驶汽车和其他人类活动造成的污染的产物。

Scientists are able to measure the rate of global warming when they compare current ocean water temperatures with those measured over the past few years.

科学家们可以将当前的海水温度与过去几年的温度进行比较，从而测量出全球变暖的速度。

For a better understanding of ocean warmth, scientists from around the world studied records shared by China's Institute of Atmospheric² Physics (IAP). They found that the latest water temperature was 0.075 degrees Celsius³ higher than the average temperature from 1981 to 2010. Their findings were published in the scientific journal Advances in Atmospheric Sciences.

为了更好地了解海洋温暖，世界各地的科学家研究了中国大气物理研究所（IAP）共享的记录。他们发现最新的水温比1981年至2010年的平均温度高0.075摄氏度。他们的发现发表在科学杂志《大气科学进展》上。

Effects of warmer oceans

海洋变暖的影响

The scientists pointed⁴ to the many extreme weather events of 2019 as one effect of warmer oceans. They added that warmer water also endangers some sea creatures and causes higher sea levels.

科学家指出，2019年的许多极端天气事件是海洋变暖的影响之一。他们补充说，温暖的水也危害一些海洋生物并引起更高的海平面。

Lijing Cheng is with the International Center for Climate and Environmental Sciences at the IAP. He also was the lead author of a paper on the study. He says the heat the oceans have taken in to make the temperature change amounts to 228 Zetta Joules (228 billion trillion Joules) of energy.

程丽静（音译）在IAP国际气候与环境科学中心任职。他还是该研究论文的主要作者。他说，海洋吸收的热量使温度变化达到228 Zetta焦耳（2280万亿焦耳）。

"That's a lot of zeros indeed," he said. "To make it easier to understand, I did a calculation... The amount of heat we have put into the world's oceans in the past 25 years equals to 3.6 billion Hiroshima atom-bomb explosions."

他说：“确实有很多零。” “为了更容易理解，我做了一个计算……在过去的25年中，我们投入世界海洋的热量相当于36亿个广岛原子弹爆炸。”

One hundred hair dryers⁵ per person

每人一百个吹风机

Michael Mann is director of the Earth System Sciences Center at Penn State University in the United States. He says the energy that caused the warming is equal to "everyone on the planet running a hundred hairdryers or a hundred microwaves continuously for the entire year." He spoke⁶ to the French news agency AFP.

迈克尔·曼（Michael Mann）是美国宾夕法尼亚州立大学地球系统科学中心的主任。他说，导致变暖的能量等于“地球上每个人连续运行一百个吹风机或一百个微波炉”。他向法国新闻社法新社发表讲话。

The past five years are the five hottest years for the ocean since scientists began keeping records, the study found.

研究发现，过去五年是自科学家开始保存记录以来海洋最热的五年。

John Abraham is a co-author of the paper. He said it is important to "understand how fast things are changing. The key to answering this question is in the oceans -- that's where the vast majority of heat ends up. If you want to understand global warming, you have to measure ocean warming."

约翰·亚伯拉罕（John Abraham）是该论文的合著者。他说，“了解事物的变化速度是很重要的。回答这个问题的关键是在海洋中-那是绝大多数热量最终聚集的地方。如果您想了解全球变暖，则必须测量海洋变暖”。

Abraham is a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota.

亚伯拉罕（Abraham）是明尼苏达州圣托马斯大学的机械工程教授。

Target limit to global warming

限制全球变暖的目标

In 2015, world leaders signed the Paris Agreement as part of efforts to limit climate change. The agreement took effect the following year. It aims to limit global temperature increases to "well below" 2 degrees Celsius, and to 1.5 degrees Celsius if at all possible.

2015年，世界各国领导人签署了《巴黎协定》，作为限制气候变化努力的一部分。该协议于次年生效。它旨在将全球温度上升限制在“远低于” 2摄氏度的范围内，并尽可能限制在1.5摄氏度以下。

There has been about 1 degree Celsius of warming since the start of the Industrial Revolution 200 years ago. Yet the result of rising water temperatures is not evenly spread in the world's oceans. The report says that warmer temperatures are partly to blame for heavy rainfall in Indonesia and the drying of Australia, leading to wildfires in Australia and the Amazon.

自200年前工业革命开始以来，全球变暖约1摄氏度。然而，水温上升的结果并未在世界海洋中平均分布。该报告说，印尼的暴雨和澳大利亚的干旱是造成气温升高的部分原因，导致澳大利亚和亚马逊地区发生野火。

Hope remains⁷

希望依然存在

Mann explained that there is still hope for the climate to recover from this temperature increase. "If we stop warming the planet, heat will continue to diffuse⁸ down into the deep ocean for centuries until eventually stabilizing⁹."

曼恩解释说，气温的上升仍有望使气候恢复。 “如果我们停止使地球变暖，那么热量将继续扩散到深海，持续数个世纪，直到最终稳定下来。”

重点词汇：

Words in This Story：

global – adj. worldwide; relating to the whole world

journal – n. a magazine or other publication

author – n. a writer of a report or book

joule – v. a measurement of work or energy

calculation – n. a mathematical estimate of the size of something

key – n. a solution or answer; a thing that provides a way of understanding something

diffuse – v. spread out

stabilize¹⁰ – v. to stop quickly changing

1 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。

2 atmospheric   

adj.大气的，空气的；大气层的；大气所引起的

参考例句：

• Sea surface temperatures and atmospheric circulation are strongly coupled.海洋表面温度与大气环流是密切相关的。
• Clouds return radiant energy to the surface primarily via the atmospheric window.云主要通过大气窗区向地表辐射能量。

3 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。

4 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

5 dryers   

n.干燥机( dryer的名词复数 )；干燥器；干燥剂；干燥工

参考例句：

• Men also have hair dryers and, if they suffer from baldness, they use a growth stimulator, buy hairpieces, or have hair transplanted from the hirsute part of the scalp to the bare areas. 男士也有他们的吹风机，而且如果他们秃顶的话，还会用毛发生长剂、买假发，或者把头发从密集的地方移植到谢顶的地方。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The dryers can be automated. 干燥机可以自动化作业。 来自辞典例句

6 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

7 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

8 diffuse   

v.扩散；传播；adj.冗长的；四散的，弥漫的

参考例句：

• Direct light is better for reading than diffuse light.直射光比漫射光更有利于阅读。
• His talk was so diffuse that I missed his point.他的谈话漫无边际，我抓不住他的要点。

9 stabilizing   

n.稳定化处理[退火]v.（使）稳定， （使）稳固( stabilize的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The disulfide bridges might then be viewed primarily as stabilizing components. 二硫桥可以被看作是初级的稳定因素。 来自辞典例句
• These stabilizing design changes are usually not desirable for steady-state operation. 这些增加稳定性的设计改变通常不太符合稳态工作的要求。 来自辞典例句

10 stabilize   

vt.（使）稳定，使稳固，使稳定平衡；vi.稳定

参考例句：

• They are eager to stabilize currencies.他们急于稳定货币。
• His blood pressure tended to stabilize.他的血压趋向稳定。