Text B IPCC:Rapid Emission Cuts Vital to Stop Wors...
Damian Carrington
The IPCC's most important ever assessment of global warming warns that the world must cut its carbon emissions sharply and soon,writes Damian Carrington—and the cost is affordable.But in fact,emissions are rising at record levels,and the IPCC's strong support for unproven-at-scale CCS technology will leave many mystified.
Climate change is set to inflict“severe,widespread,and irreversible impacts”on people and the natural world unless carbon emissions are cut sharply and rapidly,according to the most important assessment of global warming yet published.
The stark report states that climate change has already increased the risk of severe heatwaves and other extreme weather and warns of worse to come,including food shortages and violent conflicts.But it also found that ways to avoid dangerous global warming are both available and affordable.
“Science has spoken.There is no ambiguity in the message,”said the UN secretary general,Ban Ki-moon,attending what he described as the“historic”report launch.“Leaders must act.Time is not on our side.”He said that quick,decisive action would build a better and sustainable future,while inaction would be costly.
Ban added a message to investors,such as pension fund managers:“Please reduce your investments in the coal-and fossil fuel-based economy and move to renewable energy.”
The report,released in Copenhagen on Sunday by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC),is the work of thousands of scientists and was agreed after negotiations by the world's governments.
It's possible,and affordable—but it's not happening
It is the first IPCC report since 2007 to bring together all aspects of tackling climate change and for the first time states:
that it is economically affordable;
that carbon emissions will ultimately have to fall to zero;
and that global poverty can only be reduced by halting global warming.
The report also makes clear that carbon emissions,mainly from burning coal,oil and gas,are currently rising to record levels,not falling.
The report comes at a critical time for international action on climate change,with the deadline for a global deal just over a year away.In September,120 national leaders met at the UN in New York to address climate change,while hundreds of thousands of marchers around the world demanded action.
“We have the means to limit climate change,”said Rajendra Pachauri,chair of the IPCC.“The solutions are many and allow for continued economic and human development.All we need is the will to change.”
In terms of impacts,such as heatwaves and extreme rain storms causing floods,the report concludes that the effects are already being felt:“In recent decades,changes in climate have caused impacts on natural and human systems on all continents and across the oceans.”
Droughts,coastal storm surges from the rising oceans and wildlife extinctions on land and in the seas will all worsen unless emissions are cut,the report states.This will have knock-on effects,according to the IPCC:“Climate change is projected to undermine food security.”
The report also found the risk of wars could increase:“Climate change can indirectly increase risks of violent conflicts by amplifying well-documented drivers of these conflicts such as poverty and economic shocks.”
We have been warned!
Lord Nicholas Stern,a professor at the London School of Economics and the author of an influential earlier study,said the new IPCC report was the“most important assessment of climate change ever prepared”and that it made plain that“further delays in tackling climate change would be dangerous and profoundly irrational”.
“The reality of climate change is undeniable,and cannot be simply wished away by politicians who lack the courage to confront the scientific evidence,”he said,adding that the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people were at risk.
Ed Davey,the UK energy and climate change secretary,said:“This is the most comprehensive and robust assessment ever produced.It sends a clear message:we must act on climate change now.”
John Kerry,the US secretary of state,said:“This is another canary in the coal mine.We can't prevent a large scale disaster if we don't heed this kind of hard science.”
Bill McKibben,a high-profile climate campaigner with 350.org,said:“For scientists,conservative by nature,to use‘serious,pervasive,and irreversible'to describe the effects of climate falls just short of announcing that climate change will produce a zombie apocalypse plus random beheadings plus Ebola.”
Breaking the power of the fossil fuel industry would not be easy,McKibben said.“But,thanks to the IPCC,no one will ever be able to say they weren't warned.”
Early action reduces costs,increases benefits
The new overarching IPCC report builds on previous reports on the science,impacts and solutions for climate change.It concludes that global warming is“unequivocal”,that humanity's role in causing it is“clear”and that many effects will last for hundreds to thousands of years even if the planet's rising temperature is halted.
The report calculates that to prevent dangerous climate change,investment in low-carbon electricity and energy efficiency will have to rise by several hundred billion dollars a year before 2030.
But it also found that delaying significant emission cuts to 2030 puts up the cost of reducing carbon dioxide by almost 50%,partly because dirty power stations would have to be closed early.“If you wait,you also have to do more difficult and expensive things,”said Jim Skea,a professor at Imperial College London and an IPCC working group vice-chair.
Two-thirds of all the emissions permissible if dangerous climate change is to be avoided have already been pumped into the atmosphere,the IPPC found.The lowest cost route to stopping dangerous warming would be for emissions to peak by 2020—an extremely challenging goal—and then fall to zero later this century.
Tackling climate change need only trim economic growth rates by a tiny fraction,the IPCC states,and may actually improve growth by providing other benefits,such as cutting healthdamaging air pollution.
Big support for controversial carbon capture technology
Carbon capture and storage(CCS)—the nascent technology which aims to bury CO2 underground—is deemed extremely important by the IPPC.It estimates that the cost of the big emission cuts required would more than double without CCS.Pachauri said:“With CCS it is entirely possible for fossil fuels to continue to be used on a large scale.”
The focus on CCS is not because the technology has advanced a great deal in recent years,said Jean-Pascal van Ypersele,a professor at the UniversitéCatholique de Louvain in Belgium and vice-chair of the IPCC,but because emissions have continued to increase so quickly.“We have emitted so much more,so we have to clean up more later,”he said.
Linking CCS to the burning of wood and other plant fuels would reduce atmospheric CO2 levels because the carbon they contain is sucked from the air as they grow.But van Ypersele said the IPCC report also states“very honestly and fairly”that there are risks to this approach,such as conflicts with food security.
In contrast to the importance the IPCC gives to CCS,abandoning nuclear power or deploying only limited wind or solar power increases the cost of emission cuts by just 6%～7%.The report also states that behavioural changes,such as dietary changes that could involve eating less meat,can have a role in cutting emissions.
No more empty promises!
As part of setting out how the world's nations can cut emissions effectively,the IPCC report gives prominence to ethical considerations.［Carbon emission cuts］and adaptation raise issues of equity,justice,and fairness,”says the report.“The evidence suggests that outcomes seen as equitable can lead to more effective［international］cooperation.”
These issues are central to the global climate change negotiations and their inclusion in the report was welcomed by campaigners,as was the statement that adapting countries and coastlines to cope with global warming cannot by itself avert serious impacts.
“Rich governments must stop making empty promises and come up with the cash so the poorest do not have to foot the bill for the lifestyles of the wealthy,”said Harjeet Singh,from ActionAid.
The statement that carbon emissions must fall to zero was“gamechanging”,according to Kaisa Kosonen,from Greenpeace.“We can still limit warming to 2C,or even 1.5C or less even,［but］we need to phase out emissions,”she said.Unlike CCS,which is yet to be proven commercially,she said renewable energy was falling rapidly in cost.
Sam Smith,from WWF,said:“The big change in this report is that it shows fighting climate change is not going to cripple economies and that it is essential to bringing people out of poverty.What is needed now is concerted political action.”The rapid response of politicians to the recent global financial crisis showed,according to Smith,that“they could act quickly and at scale if they are sufficiently motivated.”
Michel Jarraud,secretary general of the World Meteorological Organisation,said the much greater certainty expressed in the new IPCC report would give international climate talks a better chance than those which failed in 2009.“Ignorance can no longer be an excuse for no action,”he said.
Observers played down the moves made by some countries with large fossil fuel reserves to weaken the language of the draft IPCC report written by scientists and seen by the Guardian,saying the final report was conservative but strong.
However,the statement that“climate change is expected to lead to increases in ill-health in many regions,including greater likelihood of death”was deleted in the final report,along with criticism that politicians sometimes“engage in short-term thinking and are biased toward the status quo.”
Notes
1.Damian Carrin,the head of environment at the Guardian,wrote this essay originally published by the Guardian,later on the Ecologist,on 3 November 2014.
2.Synthesis Report:The Synthesis Report distils and integrates the findings of the three working group contributions to the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report—the most comprehensive assessment of climate change yet undertaken,produced by hundreds of scientists—as well as the two Special Reports produced during this cycle.
3.Zombies are fictional undead creatures,typically depicted as mindless,reanimated human corpses with a hunger for human flesh.Zombies are most commonly found in horror and fantasy genre works.The term comes from Haitian folklore(Haitian French:zombi,Haitian Creole:zonbi)where a zombie is a dead body animated by magic.Modern depictions of zombies do not necessarily involve magic but invoke other methods such as a virus
4.Ebola virus埃博拉,又译作伊波拉病毒,是一种十分罕见的病毒。1976年在苏丹南部和刚果(金)(旧称扎伊尔)的埃博拉河地区发现它的存在后,引起医学界的广泛关注和重视,“埃博拉”由此而得名。它是一个用来称呼一群属于纤维病毒科埃博拉病毒属下数种病毒的通用术语,是一种能引起人类和灵长类动物产生埃博拉出血热的烈性传染病病毒,有很高的死亡率(50%～90%),致死原因主要为中风、心肌梗塞、低血容量休克或多发性器官衰竭。
5.Haze is traditionally an atmospheric phenomenon where dust,smoke and other dry particles obscure the clarity of the sky.The World Meteorological Organization manual of codes includes a classification of horizontal obscuration into categories of fog,ice fog,steam fog,mist,haze,smoke,volcanic ash,dust,sand and snow.Sources for haze particles include farming(ploughing in dry weather),traffic,industry,and wildfires.
翻译中词语的处理
(一)语义选择与引申
英汉语言中都大量存在一词多类和一词多义现象，即一个词往往属于几个词类，由此具有几个不同的意义，而同一个词在同一词类中，又往往具有几个不同的词义。例如我们熟悉的like一词，作为动词表示“喜欢；想要(做)”，作为名词指“相似的人或事物；喜好；类型”，作为连词意为“像……一样；如同，仿佛”，作为形容词意思是“与……相似/相同；相似的”，作为介词意思更多，包括“(属性、外貌)像；(表示方式)如同；行为符合……的特点、(询问意见)……怎么样；(表示列举)比如、(和否定词搭配)以……为最”等，在口语中有时候还可以起到语气词的作用。下列句子中like各有一些不同的意思，我们或许不太熟悉：
n.［U］同样(或相似)的人(或事物)
Like knows like.英雄识英雄。
Like attracts/draws to like.物以类聚。
Like cures like.以毒攻毒。
I've never seen the like of it.我从未见过这种事/这种事真是平生仅见。
You should only compare like with like.比较只应在同类中进行。
n.pl.爱好；喜欢的事物
I know nothing about her likes and dislikes.我完全不了解她的好恶。
adj.相似的,相同的
Like father,like son.有其父必有其子。
prep.表示行为符合……的特点=characteristic of sb./sth.It's just like her to tell anyone about it.只有她才会把那件事逢人就说。
in phrases(短语中的like)
nothing like=没有比……更
There's nothing like a cold drink of water when one is thirsty.渴的时候什么也比不上一杯凉水。
nothing like=远远不像……那样
One billion dollars will be nothing like enough.十亿美元远远不够。
nothing like=丝毫/哪方面都不像
It was nothing like what we expected.事情一点也不像原来期待的那样。
like anything/like mad/like crazy=拼命、努力、很、非常
We must work like anything to finish on time.我们必须全力以赴按时完成。
the likes of sb./sth.像……这样的人或事物
He is a snob—won't speak to the likes of me.
他这人很势利,不会和我这样的人说话。
语言的意义是一个多层次概念，语言除了概念意义或者指称意义之外，还有内涵意义、情感意义、文体意义、搭配意义等。如men一词，在“成年男性”的概念意义之外，由于男性通常被认为具有勇敢有力等值得肯定的特点，由此be a man的意思就是“像个男子汉吧”“拿出点勇气来”，men在这里具有褒扬的情感意义。词语还具有文体色彩，例如“马”，horse是普通用语，steed主要用于诗歌中，nag多见于俚语，而gee-gee则是儿语，我们在汉译英中就需要注意这些词在文体上的差异。
注意下面这些句子中有关词汇的褒贬色彩：
He was a man of high renown.他是有名望的人。
He was a man of integrity,but unfortunately he had a certain reputation.I believe the reputation was not deserved.他是一个正直诚实的人,但不幸有某种坏名声。我相信他这个坏名声是不该有的。
His notoriety as a rake did not come until his death.他作为流氓的恶名在他死后才传开来。
Doctors notoriously neglect their own health and fail to seek help when they should.众所周知,医生不注意自身的健康,生病时也不看医生。
词语搭配不同，意思往往会有变化，如在a heavy box(沉重的箱子)、heavy food(油腻、难消化的食物)、a heavy loss(惨重的损失)、heavy fighting(激烈的战斗)、heavy responsibility(重大的责任)、heavy drinking(酗酒)、a heavy schedule(排满的日程)等搭配中，heavy的意思便各不相同。
语言的概念意义相对客观，而其内涵意义却更大程度地受制于语境。所谓语境(context)，就是语言所处的环境。在微观层面上，词汇语句由其所处文本中的上下文决定其意义，在宏观层面上有文化语境，语言作为文化的载体，必然也承受来自文化(历史、传统、习俗、价值观等)的制约。例如dog一词，其概念意义是我们大家都熟悉的一种动物；就其文化内涵而言，在我们的文化中，狗是一种用来看家护院的动物，地位卑微，与狗有关的词汇几乎都被用来表示轻蔑之意，如“狗腿子、狐朋狗友、狗仗人势、狗急跳墙、狼心狗肺”等；而在西方人看来，狗是一种与人关系非常亲密的动物，是忠诚的象征，所以与狗有关的惯用语中，除了如dog-eat-dog之类同样为贬义之外，更多的用语没有贬义，甚至带有亲切、戏谑或怜悯的意味，如every dog has his day(每个人都有得意的日子/风水轮流转)、love me love my dog(爱屋及乌)、top dog(胜利者)、a lucky dog(幸运儿)、work like a dog(拼命工作)、underdogs(底层人民)、a poor dog(可怜的人)等。此外，诸多与语言使用密切相关的情境要素(语言使用者的思想情感、交际场合等)也影响着语义的确定。例如What a day!根据不同的情况，就有可能表示“多么开心的一天”，或截然相反，表示“多么糟糕的一天”。
除了词义的选择外，英汉互译中，还经常需要根据具体的语境，对字典意义进行引申，这里的引申经常发生在抽象和具体的词义之间。特别是现代英语中，常常用一个表示具体形象的词来表示一种属性、一个事物或一种概念，翻译这类词时，一般可将其词义作抽象化的引申，译文才能流畅、自然。
There is a mixture of the tiger and the ape in him.
他的性格既残暴又狡猾。
Every life has its roses and thorns.
每个人的生活都有苦有乐。
反之，当英语中用代表抽象概念或属性的词来表示一种具体事物时，译成汉语一般又需要作具体化引申。
What they wanted most was an end of uncertainties.
他们最渴望的就是结束这摇摆不定的局面。
The stars twinkled in transparent clarity.
星星在清澈的夜空中闪烁。(清澈的夜空中群星闪烁。)
Translation Exercises
A.Translate the following sentences into Chinese,paying attention to the effects contexts have on the meaning of the italicized words.
1.Dr.Eliot was one of the most revered figures in the world of learning.
2.On the desk there was a bronze figure of Plato.
3.I want you to account for every cent you spent.
4.Social security accounts for about a third of total public spending.
5.She likes to perform different types of music because she doesn't want to be pigeonholed.
6.Chances are against the enemy.
7.Eve was persuaded by the serpent and then persuaded Adam to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
8.All things conspire to make him happy.
9.The two companies conspired to cause the value of the stock to fall.
10.Tea is the second-most commonly drunk liquid in the world,after water.As the authors of Empire of Tea point out,nowhere is this more apparent than in Britain,where everyday life is punctuated by the sounds of hissing stovetop kettles(or the clicking of electric ones).
B.Translate the following sentences from Text A into Chinese.
1.Whether the world adopts strict emission controls or decides to ignore the climate problem entirely will make a huge difference to how much warming is likely to happen.
2.But even when you factor out the vagaries of politics and economics,and assume future emissions are known perfectly,the projections from climate models still cover a range of temperatures,sea levels,and other manifestations of climate change.
3.Since atmospheric carbon dioxide is driving climate change,it's obviously important,but until about 15 years ago,it was too poorly understood to be included in the models.
4.What modelers aim to produce is a virtual climate that resembles the real one in a statistical sense,with El Niños,say,appearing about as often as they do in reality,or hundred-year storms coming once every hundred years or so.
5.Again,ice sheets are a good example:If you look at melting alone,it's pretty straightforward to calculate how much extra water will enter the sea for every degree of temperature rise.
Coherence in Paragraph Writing
Coherence in a paragraph means that all parts of the paragraph are connected in a clear and reasonable way.The sentences should be arranged in a logical order,so that readers may find it easy to follow the author's line of thought.Where sentences,together with the information they convey,are not well-organized,the idea would be either unclear or unconvincing.
Logic involves a clear understanding and display of relations between facts and ideas.This is often externalized in the form of proper uses of linking and transitional words and phrases.
Chronological relation:first,second,next,then,soon,lastly,nowadays,before,afterwards,eventually,in the end,when,previously,subsequently,currently,immediately,thereupon,simultaneously,in the meantime,at birth,in old age,etc.
Spatial order:in front of,behind,at the top,to the side,in the distance,above,below,here,there,opposite to,overlapping with,on the surface,intersection,parallel to,etc.
Cause-effect relation:therefore,so,consequently,as a consequence,thus,as a result,have an effect on,seeing that,such…that,accordingly,hence,it follows that,because,since,for,accordingly,etc.
Illustration:for example,for instance,take(sth.)as an example,an illustration of,to be specific,to illustrate,to substantiate,according to statistics/statistical evidence,as follows,for one thing,as proof,etc.
Addition or continuation:and,too,also,firstly,next,finally,lastly,furthermore,moreover,besides,in addition,again,another,etc.
Comparison:as we see,similarly,in the same way,like,in like manner,likewise,resembling,as well,almost the same as,etc.
Contrast:but,yet,however,nevertheless,still,though,although,whereas,in contrast,rather,on the other hand,instead,on the contrary,etc.
Concession or qualification:admittedly,I admit,I grant,true,it's true,of course,naturally,some believe,it has been claimed that,etc.
Emphasis:most of all,indeed,above all,particularly,in particular,etc.
Summary:in summary,in brief,on the whole,in short,in other words,in any event,all in all,to sum up,etc.
Sameness:that is,that is to say,in other words,etc.
Definition:to define,in definition,in other words,by…is meant,to paraphrase,etc.
Look at the following paragraph.
Speaking and writing are different in many ways.Speech depends on sounds.Writing uses written symbols.Speech developed about 500,000 years ago.Written language is a comparatively recent development.It was invented only about six thousand years ago.Speech is usually informal.The word choice in writing is often relatively formal.Pronunciation and accent are ignored in writing.A standard diction and spelling system prevails in the written language of most countries.Speech relies on gesture,loudness,and the rise and fall of the voice.Writing lacks gesture,loudness,and the rise and fall of the voice.Careful spea kers and writers are aware of the difference.
Compare it with a revised version.
Speaking and writing are different in many ways.Speech depends on sounds,writing,on the other hand,uses written symbols.Speech was developed about 500,000 years ago,but written language is a comparatively recent development,invented only about six thousand years ago.Speech is usually informal,while the word choice of writing,by contrast,is often relatively formal.Although pronunciation and accent are ignored in writing,a standard diction and spelling system prevails in the written language of most countries.Speech relies on gesture,loudness,and the rise and fall of the voice,but writing lacks these features.Careful speakers and writers are aware of the differences.
The first version gives one the impression of being fragmentary and discrete,and the logical connections between sentences appear indistinct.Responsible for this lack of coherence is the absence of words and phrases that can supply the desired link.This will be made clear by a contrast with the second version.
The following paragraph also enhances its coherence by the use of some appropriate transitional signals.
Choosing a college or university can be difficult.The most difficult part is finding a university that prepares you well for your future career.In order to get a good job,the curriculum that is taught must be thorough and up-to-date.In addition,the professors must be highly qualified and respected in their fields.Another difficulty in choosing a university or college is affordability.You need to be able to pay the tuition fees and living expenses.Some institutions might be able to offer you scholarships if you cannot afford the fees.A good location is also very important when choosing a school.The environment should be safe a nd quiet to facilitate studying.Moreover,there should be possibilities near the school for part-time or summer jobs in your major,so you can get some practical work experience.You should co nsider all of these points carefully so you can choose the most appropriate college or university for you.
We have emphasized the proper use of transition signals,that is,where the logical relations they falsely indicate are actually absent,the use of these words and phrases itself cannot achieve the desired coherence.This means a more important thing about paragraph coherence consists in the logical ordering of the materials at command.Look at the following paragraph.
The way we use banks is currently changing.This is partly because of the introduction of new technology in the last ten years.The personal computer and the Internet,for instance,allow customers to view their accounts at home and perform operations such as moving money between accounts.At the same time banks are being reorganised in ways that affect both customers and staff.In the past five years over 3,000 bank branches have closed in Britain.The banks have discovered that staffing call centres is cheaper than running a branch network.
This paragraph begins with a topic sentence(The way we use banks is currently changing).It goes on to give a reason for the change(This is partly because of…).The explanation is illustrated by an example(The personal computer and the Internet,for instance…).Then another reason for the change under question is given(At the same time banks are being reorganised in ways that…).Again an example(In the past five years over 3,000 bank branches have closed in Britain)is supplied,together with the reason for the closing of those bank branches(The banks have discovered that…).The paragraph is logically developed through the careful organization of its materials and therefore its main idea is strongly supported and easily acceptable.
Exercises
A.Read the following paragraph to see how it achieves coherence.
Keeping dogs as pets has more benefits than most people recognize.First,they contribute to the health of their owners.Often their demands for walks and play improve their owners'exercise routine.In fact,statistics show that dog owners get more regular exercise than non-dog owners do.Also,they enhance health simply by being around to be petted.Second,they provide a means for parents to teach their children responsibility.When parents give children a dog,they provide them with the opportunity to fulfill the responsibilities of walking,feeding,and caring for its other needs.Finally and most important of all,dogs enhance the well-being and emotional stability of families.Older people who live alone especially rely on dogs to give them enjoyment and company.Children also find a great deal of comfort in their dogs.As an example,a family dog helps a little boy adapt when his mother leaves him with a sitter and goes to work.In brief,although dogs cause their owners trouble and expense,these animals may at the same time return unrealized value.
B.Analyze the following paragraph and explain why it lacks coherence.
I am fascinated by my grandmother.She is about 90 this year.She doesn't have much sense of humor.She was born into a well-to-do urban family.She believes in everything:festivals,news,TV ads,success,and all the gods.She hates dogs.She takes a walk in the garden every day.She likes to eat fruit.She seems to never require the services of a doctor.She collects postcards and seems to like the color of a strawberry.
C.Consider the possible benefits of raising household plants.Write a paragraph of 120～150 words.Pay attention to both unity and coherence.