VOA标准英语2012--Kyoto Protocol Winds Down As Delegates Head To Doha
时间:2019-01-14 作者:英语课 分类:VOA标准英语2012年(十一月)
Kyoto Protocol 1 Winds Down As Delegates Head To Doha
As delegates from 190 countries head for Doha to try to forge a new deal on tackling global warming, the Kyoto Protocol - signed in 1997 - is due to expire at the end of the year.
That deal sets binding 2 targets for industrialized countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 3 by an average of five percent from 1990 levels.
By most measures, it has failed, says Dieter Helm, Professor of Energy Policy at Oxford 4 University.
“The Kyoto Protocol has made virtually no difference whatsoever 5 to the growth of global emissions. Back in 1990 they were going up at about two parts per million, they’re now going up at about three (parts per million),” Helm said.
Helm says the main flaw of the Kyoto Protocol is that it only covers a fraction of the world’s total emissions, because much of the West is already de-industrializing
“We should be taxing carbon consumption, including those carbon imports - so putting a price on carbon so we really pay for our carbon footprint in the West, as well as around the world,” Helm said.
Despite the continuing rise in harmful emissions, Ruth Davis of Greenpeace says the Kyoto Protocol remains 6 a vital tool.
“The principles embedded 7 in the Kyoto Protocol are absolutely essential to a workable international treaty. Those principles are around things like common counting rules and transparency so that one country can see what another country is doing when it makes a commitment,” Davis said.
Protestors voiced their anger at the last climate summit in Durban in 2011, after delegates failed to reach a new post-Kyoto deal, pledging only to adopt a legal agreement by 2015.
The sheer size of the meetings has made reaching a consensus 8 virtually impossible, says Heike Schroeder of the University of East Anglia.
“Very small countries would come with, let’s say, three delegates: Somalia sent three delegates to Copenhagen, whilst Brazil sent almost 600 delegates. That’s a huge difference. And so these small countries just cannot actually be part of all the negotiations 9 that are taking place,” Schroeder said.
Schroeder is pessimistic that much will be achieved this time round.
“Nothing has changed. And it will be the continuation of what we’ve seen in terms of a lot of talk with very little progress,” Schroeder said.
Dieter Helm of Oxford University paints a similarly bleak 10 picture.
“By 2020 on current growth rates, China and India will be twice their current size, there will be 400 to 600 gigawatts of new coal on the system and we’ll be way beyond 400 parts per million (in terms of global emissions),” Helm said.
Scientists say global warming is already taking effect. The World Bank warned this month that the world is likely to warm by 3 to 4 degrees centigrade by the end of the 21st century. Extreme weather, it warns, will become the "new normal."
- We must observe the correct protocol.我们必须遵守应有的礼仪。
- The statesmen signed a protocol.那些政治家签了议定书。
- The contract was not signed and has no binding force. 合同没有签署因而没有约束力。
- Both sides have agreed that the arbitration will be binding. 双方都赞同仲裁具有约束力。
- Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
- Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。
- At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
- This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。
- There's no reason whatsoever to turn down this suggestion.没有任何理由拒绝这个建议。
- All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you,do ye even so to them.你想别人对你怎样,你就怎样对人。
- He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
- The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。
- an operation to remove glass that was embedded in his leg 取出扎入他腿部玻璃的手术
- He has embedded his name in the minds of millions of people. 他的名字铭刻在数百万人民心中。
- Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗?
- What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么?
- negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
- Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。