VOA标准英语2012--Hurricane Sandy Reignites Climate Change Debate
时间：2018-12-16 作者：英语课 分类：VOA标准英语2012年(十一月)
Hurricane Sandy Reignites Climate Change Debate
Hurricane Sandy cut power to about 8 million homes, shut down 70 percent of East Coast oil refineries 1, and will exceed, economists 2 say, the $15 billion worth of damage caused last year when Hurricane Irene hit New York.
New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo said his state must adapt to the reality of more frequent extreme weather events.
Carol Werner with the Environmental and Energy Study Institute says climate change scientists have long predicted that intense storms, droughts, and forest fires would result from the rising temperatures and sea levels caused by global warming.
“Scientists have been warning us about this for decades, and unfortunately it is all happening much earlier than what they had originally predicted back in the 80s,” Werner said.
But climate change skeptics take issue with the argument that global warming is to blame for intense storms. Patrick Michaels with the Cato Institute says New York has just been unlucky.
“It was the moon’s fault. This storm hit at full moon which raises the tide there a couple of feet, so the storm set a record. If it had occurred any other time in the lunar cycle, that wouldn’t have happened,” Michaels said.
Climate change believers and skeptics agree that plans for coastal 3 and low-lying areas must adapt to rising sea levels.
But there is still no consensus 4 to mandate 5 the reduction of carbon fuel emissions 6 to mitigate 7 the effects of global warming. Michaels says the private sector 8 will change over time as innovations bring down the costs of clean energy.
“The best policy is not to do very much about it because technologies will change dramatically over the course of a century. Consider what it was like a century ago, you know. What’s nuclear power or what’s this box I have in my pocket that can access all the information in the world?,” Michaels said.
Werner says the government needs to lead on the issue.
“Yes, the private sector is critical in terms of investment, but the private sector will also tell you, industry after industry will say we need government leadership. We need certainty in terms of policy. That is the most critical thing to enable us to truly move forward,” Werner said.
She says the lesson of Hurricane Sandy is that the cost of doing nothing is rising.
- The efforts on closedown and suspension of small sugar refineries, small saccharin refineries and small paper mills are also being carried out in steps. 关停小糖厂、小糖精厂、小造纸厂的工作也已逐步展开。
- Hence the sitting of refineries is at a distance from population centres. 所以，炼油厂的厂址总在远离人口集中的地方。
- The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
- Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
- This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。
- 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？
- The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
- The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。
- 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。