VOA常速英语2018--穷国成气候变化首当其冲的受害者

Five months ago, a bustling 1 fish market stood on the shores of Malawi’s Lake Chihuahua. Now, hundreds of fishing boats lie marooned 2 on the cracked mud. Water levels fluctuate, but scientists say climate change is making the seasonal 3 dry out of the lake far more dramatic. Fishermen are being forced to leave and look for work elsewhere. Climate change contributes to the current recession that we are experiencing, because you can see that in 2012 there was a recession where the lake lost about 80 percent of its water then it recovered in 2013, but not fully 4 so since then every year we’ve been experiencing these recessions.

5个月前，马拉维的Chihuahua湖岸边的海鲜市场人声鼎沸。而现在，无数渔船陷在了干裂的泥土里。水位时高时低，但科学家表示，气候变化正在让这片本就会出现季度性干涸的湖泊局势更加严峻。渔民们被迫要离开这里，到别处寻找工作。气候变化导致了现在的水位下降，因为我们可以看到，2012年的那次水位下降导致这片湖泊减少了近80%的水，直到2013年才恢复。但其实恢复也并非百分百的恢复，因为从那以后，每年都会发生类似的水位下降问题。

Policymakers gathering 5 at the COP24 for climate talks say it is developing countries like Malawi that are being hit hardest by the impacts of climate change. The charity Water Aid has released a report ranking the country’s worst hit by water shortages with Sudan, Nigeria and Pakistan, making up the top three. But the fact is that there’s people who are living with the impacts of climate change right now, and they’re feeling their impacts not through carbon, but through water， and so and as we’ve seen in the past few years, and will continue to see for many years to come unfortunately is a huge increase in water stress and water scarcity 6.

聚首全球气候变化大会就气候问题进行会谈的政策制定者们表示，马拉维这样的发展中国家是受气候变化影响最为惨重的。一家名叫水援助组织的慈善组织发布了一份报告，对受缺水问题影响最大的国家进行了排名。其中，苏丹、尼日利亚和巴基斯坦是最严重的三个国家。但事实其实是：有很多人正在遭受气候变化的影响，而他们对这种影响的感受不是通过排碳量增加而体会到的，而是因为缺水而体会到的，这是过去几年里，我们有目共睹的。而且在未来的很多年里，我们依旧会看到的不幸情况是——水资源方面的压力和水资源稀缺会愈发加剧。

Richer nations have pledged 100 billion dollars a year for poorer nations to deal with the consequences of climate change, but Water Aid says they are failing to deliver. Scientists say emissions 7 of carbon dioxide would have to be reduced by 45 percent by 2030 to have any hope of coping global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius 8, the target agreed in the Paris Climate Deal, but the number of coal-fired power stations, the most polluting form of energy generation is growing. The German organization Ergo Volt 9 calculates that 478 billion dollars had been invested into expansion of the coal industry between January 2016 and September 2018 including in Africa. Fourteen African countries, now the first coal plants are being developed. It’s completely crazy. Economies that could just be leap frogging to a renewable energy economy that instead are having largely by foreign companies having coal plants being pushed on them as a solution.

较为富裕的国家已经承诺每年会捐助1000亿美元给穷国，以应对气候变化的各种后果，但水援助组织表示，他们无法将援助物资送抵穷国。科学家表示，二氧化碳的排放必须要在2030年之前减少45%，这样才有希望将全球变暖的温度控制在1.5摄氏度以内。这是《巴黎气候公约》中提出的各方认可的目标。然而，由燃烧煤炭来提供能量的电站数量还是在不断增加，而电站是所有发电形式中最具污染性的。根据德国组织Ergo Volt的计算，目前已有4780亿美元投资在了煤炭行业的扩张上，这是2016年1月-2018年9月之间的事情。获得投资的正是非洲大陆。14个非洲国家现在正在建设第一批燃煤工厂。这是很惊人的。本来这些国家可以跃向可持续能源经济的，但却为外国公司所用，成了燃煤工厂。这是外国公司强加给他们的“解决方案”。

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization warns that climate change will exacerbate 10 the impact of some diseases and health problems, including Malaria 11, malnutrition 12 and heat exposure.

与此同时，世界卫生组织警示称，气候变化将会加剧一些疾病和健康问题带来的影响，比如疟疾、营养不良、热曝露。