常春藤解析英語 51 The Earth's Biggest Threat　地球危機──溫室效應(yīng)

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The Earth's Biggest Threat　地球危機──溫室效應(yīng)

by Levi King

Global warming was once considered unlikely to be real. Recently, though, it has become widely accepted as fact. Scientists have calculated that the earth's atmosphere has gotten approximately 0.75 degrees Celsius warmer since 1900. This may not seem like much, but scientists predict an additional increase of between 1 and 7 degrees Celsius by the year 2100. This slight change could be enough to cause disasters such as extreme weather, crop failure, extinctions, melting glaciers, and rising sea levels. It's possible that natural phenomena like volcanoes, solar flares, and shifts in the earth's orbit could be causes of this change. However, scientists now believe that changes in the atmosphere are primarily to blame for the rise in temperatures. Light from the sun enters the earth's atmosphere and warms the air, land, and oceans. As heat radiates back through the atmosphere toward space, some of it is trapped by gases and continues to warm the earth. This is called the greenhouse effect, and the gases that trap the heat are greenhouse gases. Without the greenhouse effect, life couldn't exist on earth. However, rising levels of greenhouse gases are trapping more and more of the sun's heat. As people burn fossil fuels or clear forests, carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, is released into the atmosphere. As the oceans warm, water vapor, which is also a greenhouse gas, enters the atmosphere. This combination of pollutants and water vapor creates the powerful and dangerous cycle behind global warming. It is a cycle that, if active measures are not taken, could have serious and deadly consequences for all living things in the near future.

單字小鋪 1.global warming n. 全球暖化 2.calculate vt. 估計;估算 3.atmosphere n. 大氣層 4.Celsius n. 攝氏 Fahrenheit n. 華氏 5.predict vt. 預測 6.extreme weather　　極端氣候 7.crop failure n. 作物欠收 8.extinction n. 滅絕 9.glacier n. 冰河 10.solar flare n. 太陽閃焰(太陽表面一種光度突然迅速增強的變化) 11.orbit n. 運行軌道 & vi. 繞軌道運行 12.primarily adv. 主要地 13.trap vt. 陷于，困住 14.greenhouse effect n. 溫室效應(yīng) 15.greenhouse gas n. 溫室氣體(尤指二氧化碳或甲烷) 16.exist vi. 存在 17.fossil fuel n. 化石燃料 18.carbon dioxide n. 二氧化碳 19.water vapor n. 水汽，水蒸氣 20.combination n. 混合物;結(jié)合 21.consequence n. 結(jié)果 詞組小鋪 in the near future　　不久之后，不久的將來 = in the not too distant future

精解字詞詞組 1.threat n. 威脅 pose a threat to...　　對……構(gòu)成∕造成威脅 例: The tiger that escaped from the zoo poses a threat to people in the area. (那只逃出動物園的老虎對該區(qū)民眾造成威脅。) 2.approximately adv. 大約 注意: approximately 為修飾數(shù)量形容詞的副詞，此類副詞常見的尚有 about、around、some、roughly 等。 例: I'm expecting approximately 10 people to come to the party. (我預期約有十個人來參加派對。) 3.additional a. 額外的 an additional + 數(shù)字　　額外的……(數(shù)目) = an extra + 數(shù)字 例: We need an additional five volunteers for the charity event. (我們還需要五名義工加入這項慈善活動。) 4.shift n. 改變;輪班 on shift　　輪班 work night shifts　　值晚班 例: The person who was on shift last night forgot to lock the doors when he left. (昨晚值班的人離開時忘記鎖門了。) 5.sb be to blame for...　　某人該為……負責 blame sb for sth = blame sth on sb 因某事責備某人;將某事歸咎于某人 例: Grady insists that he is not to blame for the mess in the classroom. (葛蘭迪堅稱自己不應(yīng)該為教室的混亂負責。) 例: Don't blame me for your problems. I'm trying to help you. (別把你的問題怪到我頭上。我正在想辦法幫你。) 6.radiate vi.(光、熱)散發(fā)，放射 例: The campers all sat and enjoyed the heat radiating from the fire. (露營者全坐在火堆旁取暖。) 7.take measures (to V)　　采取行動∕措施(做……) 例: Mr. Jones vowed to take firm measures to prevent cheating. (瓊斯老師誓言采取嚴密措施防范考試作弊。)

中文翻譯 全球暖化一度被認為不可能成真。然而近來卻是廣為大眾所接受的事實?？茖W家算出自 1900 年起，地球的大氣層溫度已經(jīng)上升攝氏 0.75 度。變化似乎不大，但科學家預測，到了 2100 年，氣溫會再上升攝氏 1 至 7 度。改變雖小，卻足以造成諸多災(zāi)難，像是極端氣候、作物欠收、物種滅絕、冰河融化和海平面上升。 像火山、太陽閃焰和地球軌道的改變等自然現(xiàn)象都有可能造成這種變化。然而，現(xiàn)在科學家相信大氣層改變才是氣溫上升的元兇。太陽的光線進入大氣層后使空氣、地表和海洋的溫度上升。有些熱能在折射回太空的途中被氣體困住，使地球溫度持續(xù)升高。這種現(xiàn)象稱為溫室效應(yīng)，而困住熱能發(fā)散的氣體稱為溫室氣體。 少了溫室效應(yīng)，地球上就不會有生命存在。但是，溫室氣體含量上升困住了愈來愈多的太陽熱能。當人類燃燒化石燃料或砍伐森林，二氧化碳(溫室氣體的一種)遂被釋放到大氣層。隨著海洋溫度上升，水汽(也是一種溫室氣體)也進入大氣層。污染物和水汽兩者便是造成全球暖化、強大而危險循環(huán)的主因。如果我們不積極做為，這種循環(huán)對所有生物造成嚴重且致命后果的日子將不遠矣。