2. 职称英语
  3. The evidence that the Earth’s atmosphere is warming continues to accumulate.

The evidence that the Earth’s atmosphere is warming continues to accumulate.

游客2023-12-25  21
问题     The evidence that the Earth’s atmosphere is warming continues to accumulate. A big issue is thus raised concerning the extent to which the warming is due to human activity and natural causes. Climate change scientists are looking for the answer. Following the periodic full-scale scientific assessments of global climate change, they have concluded that there is a "discernible human influence" on the global climate.
    Although a reliable estimate of the magnitude of human imprint on climate still remains some distance off, human activities may have been the dominant factor in the global warming of recent decades. Human factors appear to be playing a part, stemming mostly from emissions of waste industrial gases like carbon dioxide, which trap heat in the atmosphere, and sulfate aerosols from industrial smokestacks.
    Will the climate change lead to the earth’s eventual extinction? We have no definite answer yet, at least not likely as far as our knowledge goes.
    The earth experienced a catastrophic extinction about 250 million years ago. In the space of a few thousand years, something terrible happened to our planet, something that wiped out 90% of earth’s ocean species and about 70% of those that lived on land.
    It was the worst extinction in the history of the earth, known as the Great Dying. It eliminated whole communities of coral reefs, forests, giant amphibians and ferocious reptiles, swarms of insects and the ocean’s ubiquitous triobites, those hard-shelled invertebrates that were never seen on the planet again.
    What caused that extinction? Any number of scenarios has been offered, ranging from the explosion of a nearby star to Ice Age cooling and greenhouse warming. None of them were entirely convincing.
    We tend to accept the most recent conclusion that the extinction was caused by the impact of an asteroid or comet or meteor, like the one that probably wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. In each case the damage would have been done not by the explosive collision itself but by the series of global disasters it triggered, for example, furious volcanic eruptions, a rapid heating of the atmosphere and the depletion of life-giving oxygen from the ocean. We can’t say exactly where this out-space visitor struck because the tectonic processes that rearrange the earth’ surface have since churned up most of the evidence. But we can estimate its size. It probably measured roughly half the size of the island of Manhattan and it would have slammed into the earth with the force of a magnitude-12 earthquake.
    Of course, this does not give us an excuse to underestimate the destruction that human harmful activities have brought to the earth’s climate change. We must realize that we are living the way beyond the limits of the capacity of this planet to sustain. There is almost nothing that we do that will not compromise the ability of humans to meet their needs in the future.
    Life ought to be enjoyable. But our destructive ways of life have serious consequences: new human diseases, strange animal and plant diseases, bizarre natural disasters, food shortages, etc. We must act now and channel our way of life in a healthy, sustainable direction.
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答案     地球大气层正在转暖，这种迹象日趋明显，这向人们提出了一个重大问题，即地球变暖在多大程度上应归咎于人类活动，又在多大程度上是自然原因造成的?气候变化科学家们正在寻求答案。经过对全球气候变化的全方位定期科学评估，科学家们断定全球气候受到了“显而易见的人为影响”。
    虽然准确评价人类对气候的影响程度尚有待时日，人类活动可能是近几十年来全球变暖的主要因素。人为因素在发生作用，这种人为作用主要来自二氧化碳等工业废气，这些废气将热量阻挡在大气层内，此外还有从工业烟囱中排出的硫酸盐悬浮微粒。
    气候变化会不会导致地球的最终毁灭呢?我们没有确切的答案，至少就我们目前所了解的情况来看，可能性不大。
    大约两亿五千万年前，地球曾经经历过一次灾难性的大毁灭。在几千年的时间里，可怕的事情降临到了我们的星球，地球上90%的海洋物种以及大约70%的陆地物种被完全消灭。
    这是地球历史上最严重的毁灭，被称之为“生物大灭绝”。整个珊瑚礁群落、森林、巨型两栖动物及凶猛的爬行动物，大批的昆虫、遍布海洋中的三叶虫，那种从此再也没有在地球上出现过的硬甲壳无脊椎动物，都在这次大毁灭中被尽数消灭。
    是什么导致了这次灭绝?人们提出了许多假想，诸如地球附近星球爆炸、冰期严寒以及温室效应等，但是任何一个假想都不能完全使人信服。
    我们倾向接受这样一种最新结论：大毁灭归咎于一个小行星或彗星或流星对地球的撞击，其情形与6500万年前所发生的、可能致使恐龙灭绝的那次毁灭一样。无论是哪种情况，破坏都不是来自于爆炸性的碰撞本身，而是来自于它所引起的一系列全球性的灾难，例如猛烈的火山喷发、大气的急剧升温以及海洋中维持生命的氧气的枯竭。
    我们无法说出这颗星撞击地球的确切地点，因为地球板块在其长期对地表作用过程中已经毁损了大部分的证据。但是我们能够估计出地球表面撞击点的大小，其直径可能为曼哈顿岛的一半，并以12级地震的力量撞击地球。
    当然，我们决不能低估人类不良活动给地球的气候变化造成的破坏。我们必须意识到，人类的生活远远超出了地球所能承受的能力。目前我们所做的一切几乎都会危及到人类未来的生存质量。
    生活应该是令人愉快的。而我们破坏性的生活方式造成了严重的后果：人类的新疾病、植物和动物的怪病、怪异的自然灾害、食物短缺等等。我们必须立即采取行动，将我们的生活方式引向健康的、可持续性发展的方向。
解析     本文是一段有关气候变化的讲话。文中主要介绍了地球大气层变暖以及由此产生的全球气候变化。本文力图从历史的角度探讨全球气候变化的原因，诸如星球爆炸、冰期严寒、温室效应等，同时也关注人类活动对全球气候的影响。
    本文要求应试者掌握一定的地理学常识，尤其是对气候变化有一定的了解，熟悉相关的专有词汇和表达方式，这依赖于应试者平时的知识积累，是翻译的基本要求。此外，应试者还需要在短时间内，对长难句进行正确的理解、分析、简化或切分，把握好两种语言各自特色，完成双语间的转换；对于一些较为生僻的短语和表达法，不能死译、硬译，而应该充分联系上下文灵活变通，使译文通顺流畅。
    -基本素质采分点
    以下单词或短语是本文所要考查的基础知识点，涉及相关知识领域的专门名词和一些惯用表达法，是应试者理解和翻译的基础。
    1．global climate change      全球气候变化
    2．the Great Dying            生物大灭绝
    3．Ice Age                    冰期
    4．greenhouse warming         温室效应
    5．the island of Manhattan    曼哈顿岛
    -结构理解采分点
    下面是本文中出现的长难句，要求应试者在听的过程中理解并分析出句子所包含的意群之间的逻辑关系，尊重目的语特点，将原文转换成通顺、地道的目的语。在转换的过程中，应试者需要完成诸如语序调整、词类转换、语态转换等翻译过程。
1．A big issue is thus raised concerning the extent to which the warming is due to human activity and natural causes.
    原句“issue”的修饰语特别长，英文为避免头重脚轻，使用很多的后置结构；同时，定语中含有一个较长的关系从句，翻译时，可选择拆分句子的办法，化整为零，变成几个小分句；“human activity”和“natural causes”是两种情况，应当分开来说；英语多使用被动语态，翻译时需对语态作出适当调整。
2．Although a reliable estimate of the magnitude of human imprint on climate still remains some distance off, human activities may have been the dominant factor in the global warming of recent decades.
    原句是一个主从复合句，包含一个由“although”引导的让步状语从句，放在主句前面，既符合英语习惯，也符合汉语习惯，因而翻译时，可以保留整体的语序；主句中的“factor”有一个后置介词短语修饰成分，在翻译时，应把所有修饰成分挪到它的前面。
3．We tend to accept the most recent conclusion that the extinctions was caused by the impact of an asteroid or comet or meteor, like the one that probably wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.
    原句的主干是“we tend to accept... conclusion”，后面有两个由“that”引导的从句，第一个“that”引导的是一个同位语从句，修饰“conclusion”，笔译时将“that”变为冒号即可，口译中可以译为“即”，也可稍作停顿；后一个“that”引导一个关系从句，修饰“the one”，翻译时，按照汉语的习惯可译成一个短语放到“the one”前面。
4．We can’t say exactly where this out-space visitor struck because the tectonic processes that rearrange the earth’ surface have since churned up most of the evidence.
    原句的主要结构是“主句+because从句”。主句中包含一个由“where”引导的宾语从句，后面的原因状语从句中包含一个由“that”引导的关系从句，修饰“processes”。翻译时，主要是顺译，注意把后置的定语结构翻译成前置修饰语。
5．Of course, this does not give us an excuse to underestimate the destruction that human harmful activities have brought to the Earth’s climate change.
    原句包含一个由“that”引导的关系从句，修饰“the destruction”，可以翻译成短语放到所修饰成分之前，作前置定语；主句中“this does not give us as excuse to do”，表面意思是“这不能成为我们做……的理由”，而真实的意思是“我们决不能”，翻译时不要仅仅直译，应当联系上下文灵活处理。
    -言语表达采分点
    应试者不仅需要从宏观上整体把握原文的结构和意思，还需要从微观上正确理解和运用一些重要词汇和表达法。
    1．following                                     经过、通过
    2．periodic full-scale scientific assessments    全方位定期科学评估
    3．the dominant factor                           主导因素
    4．playing a part                                发生作用
    5．lead to                                       导致
    6．as far as our knowledge goes                  就我们目前所了解的情况来看
    7．ranging from... to                            包括
    8．measure roughly half the size of              可能为……的一半
    9．beyond the limits of the capacity of          远远超出了……的承受能力
    10．channel our way of life in                   将我们的生活方式引向……的方向
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