2020年CATTI笔译三级译文:地球也得上了空调病
2020-09-27 22:20:37 来源: 评论:0 点击:
In the ramshackle apartment blocks and sooty cement homes that line the dusty roads of urban India,there is a new status symbol on proud display.An air-conditioner has become a sign of middle-class status in developing nations,a must-have dowry item.
在印度城市尘土飞扬的道路两旁,那些破败的住宅楼,和肮脏灰暗的水泥房子里,一件新近兴起的家用电器占据着显耀的位置,它是当地人新的身份地位的标志。空调已经成为发展中国家中产阶级的象征,婚娶之际不能没有的嫁资或聘礼。 It is cheaper than a car,and arguably more life-changing in steamy regions,where cooling can make it easier for a child to study or a worker to sleep. 空调比汽车便宜,而且,在湿热地区,可以说空调对人们生活的改善也显著得多——在凉爽的环境下,孩子们更易学习,工人们也更易入睡。 The earth also has the cause of air conditioning disease 地球也得上了空调病的原因 But as air-conditioners sprout from windows and storefronts across the world,scientists are becoming increasingly alarmed about the impact of the gases on which they run.All are potent agents of global warming. 然而,随着空调迅速出现在世界各地的窗户和店面,科学家们对空调制冷剂造成的影响愈加警惕,因为这些化学物质都是全球变暖的强力诱因。 发展中国家对空调的需求在上升,正如在印度的孟买。这一情况引起了对全球变暖的担忧。 Air-conditioning sales are growing 20 percent a year in China and India,as middle classes grow,units become more affordable and temperatures rise with climate change.The potential cooling demands of upwardly mobile Mumbai,India,alone have been estimated to be a quarter of those of the United States. 在中国和印度,随着中产阶级的崛起,空调不再是一件奢侈品,而气候变化又使气温升高。因此,空调销售量以每年20%的速度增加。据估计,单单是在经济上升中的印度孟买,空调的需求量就相当于美国的四分之一。 Air-conditioning gases are regulated primarily though a 1987 treaty called the Montreal Protocol,created to protect the ozone layer.It has reduced damage to that vital shield,which blocks cancer-causing ultraviolet rays,by mandating the use of progressively more benign gases.The oldest CFC coolants,which are highly damaging to the ozone layer,have been largely eliminated from use;and the newest ones,used widely in industrialized nations,have little or no effect on it. 空调制冷剂最早是通过1987年的《蒙特利尔议定书》来进行规范的,该协议的目的是保护臭氧层。它规定,空调厂商须使用更无害的制冷气体,从而减少了对臭氧层的损害。臭氧层能够阻挡致癌的紫外线,是地球的重要保护盾。最早使用的冷却剂是氟氯烃(CFC),由于该物质对臭氧层极其有害,已在很大程度上被淘汰;最新型的制冷剂在发达国家已得到广泛使用,对臭氧层的影响甚微,或根本没有。 But these gases have an impact the ozone treaty largely ignores.Pound for pound,they contribute to global warming thousands of times more than does CO2,the standard greenhouse gas. 但是,这类气体会造成另一种影响,这种影响基本被这份保护臭氧层的协议所忽略。这类气体对全球变暖的影响是等量的典型温室气体,二氧化碳的上千倍。 Concentrations of CFC-12,which had been growing rapidly since the 1960s,have tapered off since 2003,thanks to the treaty’s strict phaseout schedule.In 2006,NASA scientists concluded that the ozone layer was on the mend. 氟氯烃-12的浓度从20世纪60年代开始快速上升,但在协议严格淘汰计划的制约下,该气体的浓度从2003年开始逐渐减少。2006年,美国国家航空航天局(NASA)的科学家得出结论:臭氧层正在逐渐恢复。 But that sense of victory has been eclipsed by the potentially disastrous growth in emissions from the newer air-conditioning gases.While a healthier ozone layer itself leads to some warming,far more warming results from the tendency of these coolant gases to reflect back heat radiating off the Earth. 但是,由于新的空调气体排放量的增加,最初的胜利感也被这潜在的破坏所冲淡。完好的臭氧层本身就能导致一定程度上的变暖,但这些制冷气体反射地球辐射出的热量,从而引起了更严重的温室效应。 When the treaty set its rules in the mid-1980s,global warming was poorly understood,the cooling industry was anchored in the West,and demand for cooling was minuscule in developing nations. 80年代中期,各国根据此协议制定规则时,世界对全球变暖还知之甚少,制冷工业主要在西方,而发展中国家对制冷的需求甚微。 |