雅思阅读精选：我们即将输掉这场与气候变化的对战(上)
In the line of fire(part one)
摘自The Economist August 4th 201
EARTH is smouldering. From Seattle to Siberia this summer, flames have consumed swathes of the northern hemisphere. One of 18 wildfires sweeping through California, among the worst in the state’s history, is generating such heat that it created its own weather. Fires that raged through a coastal area near Athens last week killed 91. Elsewhere people are suffocating in the heat. Roughly 125 have died in Japan as the result of a heatwave that pushed temperatures in Tokyo above 40°C for the first time.
Such calamities, once considered freakish, arenow commonplace. Scientists have long cautioned that, as the planet warms—it isroughly 1°C hotter today than before the industrial age’s first furnaces werelit—weather patterns will go berserk. An early analysis has found that thissweltering European summer would have been less than half as likely were it notfor human-induced global warming.
地球正在燃烧。今年从西雅图到西伯利亚，烈焰吞噬了北半球的大片地区。横扫加利福尼亚州的18次火灾中，有一次成为该州历史上之最，带来的热浪如此猛烈以至于形成了加州自己的天气(即与周围其他地区的温度不一样)。上周在雅典附近沿海地区肆虐的大火夺走了91人的生命。其他地区人们在高温下热到窒息。日本大约有125人因为热浪导致东京的温度飙升到40度以上而死亡。
这样的灾难，以前我们都认为很罕见，现在却很普遍。科学家很久以来就提醒到，随着地球的变暖—地球今天的温度大约比批火炉被点燃的工业时代之前高出大约一度—天气模式将变得难以预测。早期分析表明，如果不是人为导致的全球变暖，这次欧洲酷热的夏天仅有不到50%的几率会出现
Yet as the impact of climate change becomes more evident, so too does the scale of the challenge ahead. Three years after countries vowed in Paris to keep warming “well below” 2°C relative to pre-industrial levels, greenhouse-gas emissions are up again. So are investments in oil and gas. In 2017, for the first time in four years, demand for coal rose. Subsidies for renewables, such as wind and solar power, are dwindling in many places and investment has stalled; climate-friendly nuclear power is expensive and unpopular. It is tempting to think these are temporary setbacks and that mankind, with its instinct for self-preservation, will muddle through to a victory over global warming. In fact, it is losing the war.
Insufficient progress is not to say no progress at all. As solar panels, wind turbines and other low-carbon technologies become cheaper and more efficient, their use has surged. Last year the number of electric cars sold around the world passed 1m. In some sunny and blustery places renewable power now costs less than coal.
但是，随着气候变化的影响日益明显，未来的挑战也会随之增加。在巴黎气候大会各国宣誓要将温度升高控制在较工业化前水平2摄氏度之内后的三年，温室气体排放量有一次增加了。对于石油以及天然气的投资也在增加。四年之后的，也即2017年，煤炭的需求也上升了。对于可再生能源，比如风能和太阳能等的补贴在很多地方都在减少，而且对其的投资也停止了;气候友好型的核发电即昂贵又不受欢迎。真想相信这些都只是暂时的挫折，人类在自我保护的本能之下能够应付过去，取得对抗全球变暖的胜利。但事实上，人类正在输掉这场战争。
进步不足并不是说一点进步都没有。随着太阳能板，风力涡轮机以及其他低碳技术成本变低而效能更高，它们的使用量迅猛增长。去年，全球范围内电动汽车售卖数量超过一百万。在某些阳光充足,风力充沛的地区，可再生能源发电要比煤炭成本更低。
Public concern is picking up. A poll last year of 38 countries found that 61% of people see climate change as a big threat; only the terrorists of Islamic State inspired more fear. In the West campaigning investors talk of divesting from companies that make their living from coal and oil. Despite President Donald Trump’s decision to yank America out of the Paris deal, many American cities and states have reaffirmed their commitment to it. Even some of the sceptic-in-chief’s fellow Republicans appear less averse to tackling the problem. In smog-shrouded China and India, citizens choking on fumes are prompting governments to rethink plans to rely heavily on coal to electrify their countries.
公众们开始担心。去年有38个国家的民意调查表明61%的民众认为气候变化是个巨大的威胁;也只有伊斯兰国的恐怖分子能带来比这更大的恐惧了。在西方国家，竞选活动的投资者们谈论着要卖出那些以煤炭以及石油盈利的公司。尽管特朗普总统决定美国退出巴黎协定，但是很多美国城市和州政府重申了要遵守协定。即使是共和党的一些主要的怀疑论者也似乎不再那么不情愿来解决这个问题了。在雾霾笼罩的中国和印度，被烟雾窒息的国民们也在督促政府重新考虑下高度依赖煤炭发电的计划。
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