Unit 1
Creating a Low-Carbon Economy
创建低碳生活
Overview
概述
1.There is no longer any real question that global warming is occurring as the result
of the rapid build-up of greenhouse gases primarily caused by human activities.
We are on a trajectory for global warming to become much more intense unless we begin a concerted, rapid shift toward a low-carbon economy. And the danger is increasingly clear and present. As Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and recipient of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, has said, ―If there‘s no action before 2012, that‘s too late. What we do in the next two to three years will determine our future. This is the defining moment.‖
对于主要由人类活动而迅速积累的温室气体引发了全球变暖这一事实，没有人再持有异议。除非我们协同一致，快速转向低碳经济，否则全球变暖的趋势将会愈演愈烈。这一危机日益彰显逼近。正如获得2007年诺贝尔和平奖的联合国政府间气候变化专门委员会（IPCC）主席拉金德拉·帕乔里所声称的：“如果在2012年之前我们还没有采取行动，那就为时已晚了。我们在未来两到三年中的所作所为将决定我们的未来。这是决定性的时刻。”
2.The Earth‘s average temperature has already increased b y 0.8°C（about 1.4°F）
over pre-industrial levels, increasing at a rate of 0.2°C per decade since 1975, and without changing our course, we will lock several more degrees of change into the system. Such temperature shifts may sound small, but they are not. During the last ice age, average global temperature was only about 5.4°C（about 9.7°F）colder than it is now.
同工业化前的水平相比，地球平均温度已经上升了0.8摄氏度（1.4华氏度左右），速度为自1975年以来每十年增加0.2摄氏度；如果我们仍然一意孤行，
那么温度还会继续发生永久性的变化。这种温度变化听起来似乎不大，但事实并非如此。最后一个冰河时代时的全球平均气温不过比现今低约5.4摄氏度（9.7华氏度）。
3.Many of our leading climate scientists have warned that if we exceed 2.0°C
（about 3.6°F）above pre-industrial times, we will enter a dangerous, uncharted territory. No one knows at what precise temperature the effects of global warming become intolerably large, whether as a result of gradual worsening of droughts, floods, hurricanes, and heat waves or as a result of abrupt, catastrophic change, such as the collapse of the Greenland or West Antarctic ice sheets and the accompanying global swell in sea levels. But we are conducting a dangerous uncontrolled experiment with the only home we have. This is why young people in increasing numbers are starting to see climate change as the challenge of their generation.
很多权威的气候学家们都曾发出过这样的警告：如果我们现在的温度超过工业化前2摄氏度（3.6华氏度）的话，我们将会迈进一个危险的未知国度。
没有人能知道到底全球变暖具体达到多少度会变得无法控制，并且造成像干旱、洪水、飓风以及热浪等自然灾害的逐渐恶化，造成诸如格陵兰岛或西南极洲大冰原坍塌以及伴随的全球海平面上升等意外的灾难性变化。但是我们还依然在我们唯一的家园上不断做着危险而又不受约束的尝试，这也是为什么越来越多的年轻人开始将气候变化视为他们这一代人的一项挑战。
4.The Washington Post report ed in April that, ―For many children and young adults,
global warming is the atomic bomb of today. Fears of an environmental crisis are defining their generation in ways that the Depression, World War Ⅱ, Vietnam and the Cold War‘s lingering ‗War Games‘ etched souls in the 20th century.‖
《华盛顿邮报》4月刊报导到：“对于许多儿童和青年而言，全球气候变暖无异于当今的原子弹。对于环境危机的担忧正影响着这一代人，正如经济大萧条、第二次世界大战、越南战争和冷战等等挥之不去的‗战争游戏‘影响了20世纪的灵魂一样。”
5.Some of the dire projections may not occur, but in light of the warnings from our
best scientists, it would beyond irresponsible to take that bet. Scientists are telling
