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今日主題:Global warming / 全球變暖

凱妃老師&派老師共同推薦:雅思聽力最好的課外教材:BBC

康康精選雅思會考的主題,堅持每天精聽一定會進步的哦!!

建議方法:

1. 先聽兩三遍 (不看文稿)

2. 再一句一句聽寫 (每句都要聽寫數遍,直到寫出85%以上的字)

3. 最後check文稿,看哪聽不出來,單字沒背過,還是發音不熟。

4. 堅持天天聽,就能每天進步哦。

#BBC 六分鐘英語

MP3音檔 (按右鍵可下載聽):喜歡的同學,幫忙推或按讚哦~~

http://static.iyuba.com/sounds/minutes/1059.mp3

只有音檔怎夠,聽不懂地方,不用怕,康康幫你準備好中英文稿了:

中英文稿:

Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English. I’m Alice…

大家好,歡迎收聽六分鐘英語,我是愛麗絲。

 

And I’m Neil. I’m feeling a bit chilly today, Alice.

我是尼爾。我感覺今天有點冷,愛麗絲。

 

Yes, it is unseasonably cold today – which means not normal for the time of year. But the weather is very unpredictable these days.

今天不合時宜的冷,這樣的天出現在這時候不正常。但這些天天氣變化莫測。

 

I know what you mean.

我懂你的意思。

 

Well, global warming is the subject of today’s show.

今天節目的主題是全球變暖。

 

Is global warming really something to worry about? Some people say that the Earth has warmed up in the past and nothing terrible has happened.

全球變暖真的這麼值得擔心嗎?有人說過去地球也有變暖的時候,也沒有發生什麼可怕的事。

 

The Earth has warmed up before, but this was the result of things like wobbles in the Earth’s orbit, not because of an increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

之前變暖是因為地球軌道不穩,而不是因為大氣層溫室氣體增多。

 

Can we reverse the changes?

我們可以扭轉這些改變嗎?

 

No, it’s too late, and now we have to find ways to adapt to extreme weather, rising sea levels, and melting polar ice caps. However, we can mitigate greenhouse gas emissions – or make them less harmful. But before we talk more about this, I have a question for you. How much has the average temperature of the Earth’s surface increased in the last hundred years? Is it…a) 0.85°C? b) 1.85°C? Or c) 8.5°C?

太遲了,我們只能想辦法去適應極端天氣,升高的海平面,逐漸融化的兩極冰蓋。然而,我們可以減少溫室氣體排放,減少危害。在我們繼續談論前,我有個問題問你。在一百年間,地球表面的平均溫度升高了多少?a) 0.85°Cb) 1.85°C?還是 c) 8.5°C?

 

I’m gonna go for the big one c) 8.5°C.

我想選數字最大的那個, c) 8.5°C

 

Well, we’ll find out if you got the answer right later on, Neil.But first, do you know any ways to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions?

之後我們再看你回答得是否正確。首先,你知道有哪些方法可以減少溫室氣體排放嗎?

 

I do, actually. An Argentinian company has started collecting cow… emissions and converting them into usable energy.

我知道。阿根廷一個公司開始收集牛的排泄物,將它們轉換為可用的能源。

 

Well, as the world eats more meat, methane emissions from livestock are actually becoming a bigger climate concern.

人們吃肉越來越多,牲畜的沼氣排放愈發成為大的環境問題。

 

And one day’s worth of cow emissions provides energy to run a car for 24 hours.

牛一天的排泄物轉換的能量可以供一輛汽車行駛24小時。

 

OK, moving on now, so the world is going to have to adapt to global warming since we can’t turn back the clock on climate change. And rich countries have the resources to do this, whilst poorer countries don’t. Let’s hear from Saleemul Huq, Director of the International Centre for Climate Change and Development in Bangladesh, talking about how this problem is being addressed.

繼續說,因為我們不能扭轉氣候變化,所以不得不去適應全球變暖。發達國家有資源去應對變化,然而貧困國家並不能。我們聽聽孟加拉氣候變化與發展中心主任Saleemul Huq的看法,她會講述這個問題如何得到解決。

 

The rich countries have already pledged and promised a hundred billion dollars a year, starting from 2020, to cover all kinds of climate change activities which in climate change are either going to be called mitigation or adaptation.

發達國家已經允諾自2020年起,每年提供1000億美元,支持各類改善氣候變化的活動,即各類減排活動。

 

A year? But that’s an enormous sum of money!

一年?這可是一筆不小的費用!

 

Not that enormous compared to what they gave to the banking system when it collapsed.Climate change is a much bigger problem than the banking crisis.

和銀行系統崩潰他們投入的錢相比,就不算什麼了。氣候變化比銀行危機更加嚴重。

 

Saleemul Huq interviewed on the BBC World Service programme Newshour Extra. Well, he says rich countries have pledged – or promised – to deliver a hundred billion dollars a year to help poorer countries adapt to climate change. However, he suggests that this sum could have been larger – since more money than this was donated to resolve the banking crisis.

上述是Saleemul Huq接受BBC世界服務節目 Newshour Extra採訪時發表的觀點。他說發達國家允諾每年會提供1000億美元,幫助貧困國家適應氣候變化問題。然而他暗示這筆錢應該更多,因為銀行危機時,他們投入的錢遠遠多於此。

 

For example, after the devastating effects of Hurricane Sandy,New York City invested ten billion dollars on storm defences to protect Manhattan – and Wall Street.

例如,颶風桑迪造成災難性影響後,紐約市投入了100億美元為了保護曼哈頓和華爾街免收颶風損害。

 

And where lack of water is a problem, countries like Australia, China, and Spain, have built desalination plants, which remove the salt from seawater to produce drinking water. But it’s too expensive for developing countries to do this, even though they need them.

對於澳大利亞、中國、西班牙這些國家,缺水也是一個問題,他們建造了脫鹽工廠。通過將海水脫鹽來獲得飲用水。但是對於發展中國家來說,即便急需這種專案,但花費巨大。

 

So in relative terms, one billion dollars a year to help poor countries is a small sum of money when compared to their need. Countries like Bangladesh have developed homegrown technologies – which means produced locally – such as harvesting rainwater from their rooftops.

所以相對來說,如果與貧困國家的需要相比,每年支出1000億美元幫助他們,不算很多。像孟加拉已經開發了本土技術,也就是在當地開發,如從屋頂收集雨水。

 

OK, Alice, and thinking about certain radical proposals for adaptation– did you know there’s a Dutch company that wants to build floating cities for us to live in?

好了,我們來看看關於適應環境的一些激進的做法。你知道嗎,荷蘭一家公司想要建造漂移的城市供人類居住。

 

No, I didn’t.

我不知道這件事。

 

Yeah. Plans include 15-storey high-rise buildings and floating food production.

他們計畫建造15層的高層建築,以及漂移的食物生產方法。

 

It sounds like it would be incredibly expensive. Has anyone actually built one?

聽起來造價不菲啊。真的有人建了這麼一棟建築嗎?

 

No, not so far. Let’s hear from Mark Maslin, Professor of Climatology at University College London, talking about why this might be.

至今還沒有。我們聽聽倫敦大學氣象學教授Mark Maslin對這個可能性的看法。

 

Remember, we’re going to have 9.5 billion people by the middle of this century. Now, if you think about it, think about the logistics of building a city, floating, for say, ten million people. And then multiply that up to 60 per cent of 9.5 billion people. OK? So don’t think it’s really cost-efficient.

要知道,本世紀中期,世界人口將達到95億。如果你想這麼做,比如建造一座漂移的城市,容納一千萬人。那麼乘以95億人的60%。不要覺得這很合算。

 

So in practical terms, the logistics of building a large floating city probably couldn’t work.It wouldn’t be cost-efficient – or good value for the money you paid.

所以實際的說,建造一座大型的漂移城市並不管用。一點都不合算,不值你投那麼多錢。

 

And logistics means the organization of a complex activity.

logistics是指一套複雜活動的組織形式。

 

On the other hand, the logistics of teaching farmers in Bangladesh to breed ducks instead of chickens, for example, would be relatively simple and cost-efficient – and since ducks float and chickens don’t, it’s a sensible adaptation to climate change!

另一方面,教授孟加拉的農民餵養鴨子,而不是養雞,會更加簡單,更加合算。因為鴨子會游泳,而雞不會。這就是適應氣候變化!

 

That’s a great example, Neil! Now, I think it’s time for the answer to today’s quiz question.I asked: How much has the average temperature of the Earth’s surface increased in the last hundred years? Is it… a) 0.85°C, b) 1.85°C or c) 8.5°C?

這個例子不錯!我覺得是時候公佈今天問題的答案了。我問:近一百年間地球表面平均溫度升高了多少?a) 0.85°C, b) 1.85°C 還是 c) 8.5°C

 

And I said c) 8.5°C and I know I’m wrong.

我選的是c) 8.5°C,我覺得我錯了。

 

Yes, I’m afraid you are Neil. The right answer is actually 0.85°C. And did you know that 13 of the 14 warmest years were recorded in the 21st Century?

恐怕你真的錯了。正確答案是 0.85°C。你知道嗎,史上最熱的14年,其中13年都是在21世紀。

 

I did not know that, Alice.

我不知道這個。

 

But I do know which words we learned today.

但我知道今天學到了哪些單詞。

 

They are:

分別是:

 

unseasonably 不合時宜的

mitigate 減輕

pledged 保證

desalination 脫鹽作用

homegrown 本土的

cost-efficient 合算的

logistics 後勤

 

And that’s the end of today’s 6 Minute English. Don’t forget to join us again soon!

今天的六分鐘英語就到這裡。不要忘了下期再見!

 

Bye!

再見!

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