VOA慢速英語(yǔ):Working to Fight Climate Change

From VOA Learning English, this is In The News.

這里是美國(guó)之音慢速英語(yǔ)新聞報(bào)道。

Delegates from nearly 200 countries have spent the past two weeks in Warsaw, Poland. More than 9,000 representatives gathered for a United Nations conference on climate change. Organizers called the meeting to work toward a treaty to fight rising temperatures on our planet. The treaty would be signed in 2015 and take effect after 2020.

來(lái)自近二百個(gè)國(guó)家的九千多名代表過(guò)去兩周齊聚波蘭華沙，參加聯(lián)合國(guó)氣候變化大會(huì)。主辦方稱這次會(huì)議致力于對(duì)抗全球變暖的條約。該條約將于2015年簽署，并于2020年后正式生效。

Several environmental groups walked out of the climate talks earlier this week. They were protesting what they considered a lack of progress towards a deal to limit carbon dioxide and other global warming emissions. Studies have shown links between such gases and the rise in temperatures.

多個(gè)環(huán)保團(tuán)體本周早些時(shí)候在氣候談判會(huì)場(chǎng)外散步，抗議限制二氧化碳等溫室氣體排放協(xié)議缺乏進(jìn)展。研究表明，二氧化碳和溫度上升兩者之間存在聯(lián)系。

In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency is leading government efforts to fight climate change. The agency just ended a series of public hearings across the country. The EPA was seeking comments as it considers tightening clean air rules for coal-burning power plants.

在美國(guó)，環(huán)境保護(hù)署負(fù)責(zé)政府應(yīng)對(duì)氣候變化的舉措。該機(jī)構(gòu)剛剛結(jié)束了一系列在全國(guó)各地舉行的公眾聽(tīng)證會(huì)，他們是在征求意見(jiàn)，該機(jī)構(gòu)正考慮收緊燃煤電廠的清潔空氣條例。

America's 1,000 coal-burning power plants supply 40 percent of the nation's electricity. The plants are responsible for one-third of the global warming emissions. The Obama Climate Action Plan has promised to cut the production of such gases.

美國(guó)的一千家燃煤電廠提供了全國(guó)40%的電力。這些電廠要對(duì)三分之一的溫室氣體排放負(fù)責(zé)。奧巴馬氣候行動(dòng)計(jì)劃承諾要減少這類氣體的產(chǎn)生。

Mitch McConnell is the leader of the Republican Party in the United States Senate. He spoke at the EPA hearing in support of his home state of Kentucky, which is a major coal producer.

米切·麥康奈爾(Mitch McConnell)是美國(guó)參議院的共和黨領(lǐng)袖。他在環(huán)保署聽(tīng)證會(huì)上發(fā)表講話，以支持他的家鄉(xiāng)肯塔基州，這是一個(gè)重要的煤炭生產(chǎn)地。

“By now it is clear that this administration and your agency have declared a war on coal. For Kentucky, this means a war on jobs and on our state's economy.”

麥康奈爾說(shuō)，“現(xiàn)在很清楚，本屆政府和環(huán)保署已經(jīng)對(duì)煤炭宣戰(zhàn)。對(duì)肯塔基州而言，這意味著一場(chǎng)針對(duì)就業(yè)和該州經(jīng)濟(jì)的戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)。”

Brian Patton also spoke at the EPA hearing. Mr. Patton comes from a long line of Kentucky coal mine workers. Today he is president of James River Coal Service. His company has dismissed 725 workers over the past six months. He fears that new rules could bring even greater hardship to an area that is already economically depressed.

布萊恩·巴頓也在環(huán)保署聽(tīng)證會(huì)上做了發(fā)言。巴頓先生來(lái)自一個(gè)肯塔基煤礦工人世家。如今他是詹姆斯河煤礦服務(wù)公司的總裁，該公司在過(guò)去6個(gè)月已經(jīng)解雇725名員工。他擔(dān)心，新條例會(huì)給這個(gè)已經(jīng)經(jīng)濟(jì)不景氣的領(lǐng)域帶來(lái)更大的困難。

“Understand, these are communities of just 1,000, 2,000, 3,000 people. And when you have that type of an economic impact due to regulations that come from Washington, DC -- that have very little understanding of what the outcome is for the local folks, for folks that get up and go to work every day and what that impact will be for their families in the future, and that’s wrong.”

巴頓先生說(shuō)，“你要明白，這里有著一千，兩千，三千人的社區(qū)。由于出自華盛頓特區(qū)的法規(guī)，經(jīng)濟(jì)會(huì)受到影響，而華盛頓的那些人并不懂得其結(jié)果對(duì)當(dāng)?shù)厝耍瑢?duì)天天起床去上班的這些人意味著什么，也不懂得將來(lái)對(duì)他們的家人有什么影響，這是不對(duì)的。”

David Doniger is a climate policy expert with the Natural Resources Defense Council, one of the nation’s largest environmental groups. He says it is the duty of the EPA to control carbon as a pollutant. He wants the agency to establish new rules that would move the United States toward a cleaner energy environment.

David Doniger是美國(guó)最大的環(huán)保團(tuán)體--美國(guó)自然資源保護(hù)委員會(huì)的氣候政策專家。他說(shuō)，環(huán)保署的職責(zé)就是控制碳污染物。他希望該機(jī)構(gòu)制定新規(guī)則將美國(guó)帶到一個(gè)更加清潔的能源環(huán)境。

“No one is proposing standards that would knock out all those power plants. We’re talking about a shift from the dirtier ones to the cleaner ones, and from all those fossil fuel-powered ones towards renewable and even nuclear sources of energy.”

他說(shuō)，“沒(méi)人提出淘汰所有這些電廠的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，我們談的是從更臟到更清潔的轉(zhuǎn)移，從化石燃料為動(dòng)力的電廠轉(zhuǎn)向可再生能源，甚至是核能源。”

He says the government is responsible for protecting clean air, not protecting old and dirty power stations.

他說(shuō)，政府有責(zé)任保護(hù)清潔空氣，而不是保護(hù)又舊又臟的發(fā)電站。

“That’s the only way that we can continue to have the way of life we want without running into the wall on climate change impacts, which in turn will come back and destroy the quality of life we have.”

他說(shuō)，這是我們繼續(xù)我們生活方式，在氣候變化影響上不撞墻的唯一途徑。如果撞墻，它反過(guò)來(lái)會(huì)破壞我們現(xiàn)有的生活質(zhì)量。”

The EPA is now considering comments from the nationwide hearings. The agency plans to announce proposed rule changes in June.

環(huán)保署正在考慮來(lái)自全國(guó)范圍聽(tīng)證會(huì)的意見(jiàn)。該機(jī)構(gòu)計(jì)劃在明年6月宣布擬議的條例變化。