2021年1月23日发(作者：尤驮子)
选修六
Unit4 THE EARTH IS BECOMING W
ARMER
-
BUT DOES IT MATTER?
全球在变
暖
——
这会带来什么影响吗？





During the 20th century the temperature of the earth rose about one degree Fah renheit.
在
20
世纪期间，
地球温度大约升了华氏
1
度
。
That probably does not seem much to you or me, but it
is a rapid increase when compared to other natural changes.
这个数值对你我来说很可能 是无所
谓的，
但是跟其他自然变化相比较而言，
这却是一种快速的增长。
So how has this come about
and does it matter?
那么，这种温度的增长是怎么产生的呢？会产生什么影响呢？
Earth Care
’
s
Sophie Armstrong
explores
these
questions.
“
关爱地球
”
组织的 索菲
·
阿姆斯特朗就在探究这些
问题。





There
is
no
doubt
that
the
earth
is
becoming
warmer
(see
Graph
1)
and
that
it
is
human
activity that has caused this global warming rather than a random but natural ph enomenon.
毫无疑
问，地球是在变暖（见表一，略）
，而地球变暖正是人类活 动导致而成的，并非是一种无规
律的自然现象。

All scientists subscribe to the view that the increase in the earth's temperature is due to the burning
of fossil fuels like coal, natural gas and oil to produce energy.
所有的科学家赞同这种观点：人们
为了生产能量而燃烧化石燃 料
（如煤、
天然气和石油等）
，
从而引起了地球温度的升高。
Som e
byproducts
of
this
process
are
called

gases,
the
most
important
one
of
which
is
carbon
dioxide.
这个升温的过程的一些副产品就叫做
“温室
”
气体，其中作用重要的就是二氧
化碳。
Dr
Janice
Foster
explains:

is
a
natural
phenomenon
that
scientists
call
the
'greenhouse effect'.
贾尼丝
·
福斯特博士解释说：

“
有一种 科学家称之为
‘
温室效应
’
的自然现象。
This is when small amounts of gases in the atmosphere, like carbon dioxide, methane and water
vapour, trap heat from the sun and therefore warm the earth.
这种现象发生在大气层中少量的气
体（如二氧化碳、甲烷、水蒸气等）吸收太阳的热量，因而使地球变 暖的时候。
Without the
'greenhouse effect', the earth would be about thirty
-
three degrees Celsius cooler than it is.
如果没
有这种
‘
温 室效应
’
，
地球的温度将比现在的温度还要低
33
摄氏度左右。So, we need those gases.
The problem begins when we add huge quantities of extra carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
因
此，我们需要这些气体。当我 们在大气层中增加了大量额外的二氧化碳时，问题就来了。
It
means that more heat energy tends to be trapped in the atmosphere causing the global temperature
to go up.
这意味着更多的热量被困在大气层中，从而引起全球温度上升。
”






We know that the levels of carbon dioxide have increased greatly over the last 100 to 150
years.
我们知道，在过去
100~150
年期间，二氧化碳的含量急剧增加了。

It
was
a
scientist
called Charles Keeling, who made accurate measurements of the amount of carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere from 1957 to 1997.
有一位名叫查尔斯
·
基林的科学家曾经把< br>1957~1997
年期间大
气层中二氧化碳的含量作了精确的统计。

He found that between these years the carbon dioxide
in the atmosphere went up from around 315 parts to around 370 parts per million(see Graph 2).
他
发现，在这些年里，大气层中的二氧化碳含量从
315/1000
000
上升到
370/1000
000
。
（见表
二，略）




All
scientists
accept
this
data.
所有科学家都接受这个数据。
They
also
agree
that
it
is
the
burning of more and more fossil fuels that has resulted in this increase in carbon dioxide.
他们还
赞同下述观点，正是由于越来越多燃烧化石燃料导致了二氧化碳的增加。

So how high will
the
temperature
increase
go?
那么气温会升到多高？

Dr
Janice
Foster
says
that
over
the
next
100 years the amount of warming could be as low as 1 to 1.5 degrees Celsius, but it could be as
high as 5 degrees.
福斯特博士说，在今后的
100
年里，全球变暖的量可能低到
1~1.5摄氏度，
但是也有可能高达
5
摄氏度。