VOA标准英语2012--Raising Money for Rising Temperatures
时间:2019-01-11 作者:英语课 分类:VOA标准英语2012年(八月)
Raising Money for Rising Temperatures
The Green Climate Fund will hold its first board meeting this week (8/23-25). The eventual 1 goal is to raise billions of dollars to help developing countries adapt to climate change. The Green Climate Fund was officially launched at the 2011 Climate Change Conference in Durban, South Africa.
“The long delayed and long awaited first board meeting of the Green Climate Fund is taking place this week in Geneva. The timing 2 really couldn’t be more urgent. In the U.S. alone, we’ve all these stories about droughts and massive crop damage, and rampant 3 wildfires this summer, with concerns over rising food prices, among other things. The effects are even more severe in developing countries where vulnerable smallholder farmers don’t have the protection of things that we have here, like crop insurance or social safety nets,” said Brandon Wu, senior policy analyst 4 at ActionAid USA.
Wu said while drought may mean higher food prices in the U.S., for some living in poor countries it may mean no meals at all. And then there are floods.
“Just one climate related disaster last year -- the floods in Bangkok – cost 40 billion dollars, according to U.N. estimates. And then of course the human suffering that goes with disasters like those that doesn’t really have a price tag,” he said.
He described the Green Climate Fund as “a channel through which finance can be equitably 5 distributed to developing countries.” Organizers hope to raise 100 billion dollars a year by 2020.
Karen Orenstein of Friends of the Earth said some big potential donors 6 may view the fund differently than civil society and humanitarian 7 groups.
“The U.S., the U.K. and some other particularly developed countries have placed a great emphasis on the GCF being a means to attract as much private sector 8 [funding] as possible. That is to leverage 9 and crowd-in climate financing. This is very worrying. Many of the activities that the GCF will need to fund, in particular adaptation and even some mitigation activities, are not going to turn a profit. And thus are not going to be attractive to the private sector,” he said.
She also said the U.S. and others won’t commit to “substantial funds” until they get a good look at how the fund intends to operate. The U.S. took a similar stand regarding the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis 10 and Malaria 11.
“Many organizations are urging countries that have in the past contributed to the World Bank’s climate investment funds to instead direct money to the Green Climate Fund. And of course there are many ongoing 12 discussions on very promising 13 sources of funds, like a financial transaction tax, which is also called the Robin 14 Hood 15 Tax,” she said.
Supporters have said a small tax on financial transactions, for example on Wall Street, could raise billions of dollars.
Orenstein added she’s concerned about transparency of the fund’s first board meeting.
“It is looking a little troubling that we might have to fight for civil society observers to actually be allowed in the room. As happened at the transitional committee that designed the fund, the meeting should be open, should be webcast and the webcast should be archived,” she said.
The Green Climate Fund Board has 24 members with an equal number from developed and developing countries.
- Several schools face eventual closure.几所学校面临最终关闭。
- Both parties expressed optimism about an eventual solution.双方对问题的最终解决都表示乐观。
- The timing of the meeting is not convenient.会议的时间安排不合适。
- The timing of our statement is very opportune.我们发表声明选择的时机很恰当。
- Sickness was rampant in the area.该地区疾病蔓延。
- You cannot allow children to rampant through the museum.你不能任由小孩子在博物馆里乱跑。
- What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务?
- The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。
- We should equitably assess historical figures. 我们应该公正地评价历史人物。
- Land was more equitably distributed. 土地得到更公平合理的分配。
- Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去,请给我们发电子邮件。
- About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业,并作了很大的贡献。
- The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。
- The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
- The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。
- We'll have to use leverage to move this huge rock.我们不得不借助杠杆之力来移动这块巨石。
- He failed in the project because he could gain no leverage. 因为他没有影响力,他的计划失败了。
- People used to go to special health spring to recover from tuberculosis.人们常去温泉疗养胜地治疗肺结核。
- Tuberculosis is a curable disease.肺结核是一种可治愈的病。
- He had frequent attacks of malaria.他常患疟疾。
- Malaria is a kind of serious malady.疟疾是一种严重的疾病。
- The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
- The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。
- The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
- We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。
- The robin is the messenger of spring.知更鸟是报春的使者。
- We knew spring was coming as we had seen a robin.我们看见了一只知更鸟,知道春天要到了。