纯正地道美语(外教讲解)216：全球变暖

　　A: So what’s your guys’ take on all this global warming hysteria in the media?

B: It’s pretty serious, man.  There have been tons of scientific studies and the scientific community says that the earth is heating up.  We need to make some drastic 1 changes to our lifestyle if we want to preserve our planet.

A: I don’t know.  It sounds like a bunch of mumbo jumbo if you ask me. ”Save the earth!” The earth will save itself. It’s survived worst disasters in the past.  I mean, honestly, we live in the boonies. There’s no way anyone here is ever going to walk or bike to work, especially in the winter.  And we have no bus system. My house is forty years old and it would take a lot of money to get it refitted to be “green” and ”energy-efficient”.

C: Well, I don’t really know if I believe in global warming either, or whether or not it was our doing or a natural change the earth is going through, but you have to admit that we’re living pretty irresponsibly here in the west.

A: I guess...

C: I think the issue at hand is sustainability.  We’ve  only got this one earth we can live on, and our resources are quickly disappearing because of our own carelessness and our inability to think of anyone but ourselves and anything but the present.

B: So, like I was saying, we need to change the way we live. We need to reduce our carbon footprint.

C: But it doesn’t have to be that drastic. Hybrid 2 vehicles and solar panels 3 are too expensive to be feasible right now.  And we don’t have to be hippies living off the land and buying everything organic either, though it helps.

B: I car pool to work everyday with some buddies 4 of mine. I have a rain barrel outside my house I use  to water my plants and my lawn in the summer, and I make sure I always bring reusable bags with me when I get my groceries. And we just started using bio-degradable plastic made from corn oil for take-out orders at my family’s restaurant. Remember the three R’s? Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.

C: Exactly, it’s just small simple changes, like buying energy-saving light bulbs, starting a compost  bin 5, recycling bottles and papers, using reusable water bottles, stop using disposable cups and cutlery.

A: Like the ones we’re drinking out of?

B: Yeah.

heat up 变热

drastic a.激烈的

preserve v. 保护

mumbo jumbo 莫名其妙的

boonies n.郊区

refit v. 整修; 改装

sustainability n.持续存在的

resource n.能源

feasible adj.适宜的, 可行的

car pool 和别人拼车上班

A: 关于媒体报道的全球变暖你们如何看待？

B: 那是个很严肃的问题。有大量的科学研究和科学团体声称地球正在变热。如果我们想保护地球，我们的生活方式需要马上进行调整

A: 我不知道。如果你问我，这听起来莫名其妙。“拯救地球”,地球会自己拯救自己。地球在过去的灾难中幸存下来。我的意思是我们生活在郊区。这儿的人没办法走着或汽车去干活，尤其是在冬天。而且我们也没有公交系统。我的房子已经住了40年，如果整修成“绿色的”环保房屋需要花很多钱。

C:我也不知道我自己是否相信全球比俺怒，或是否因为我们的原因还是地球正在经历的自然改变。但是你必须承认我们在西部这儿生活不可靠。

A：我猜……

C: 我想问题会继续存在，我们只有一个赖以生存的地球，由于我们的粗心和只考虑自己和现在的无能，资源会很快消失。

B: 所以我说，我们需要改变生活方式，我们需要减少碳排放。

C:但是不必那样大幅度地改变。混合哦那管理和太阳能板现在都太贵了。我们不必做远离土地的嬉皮士，什么都去买绿色的，尽管那样做有帮助。

B: 我每天和别人拼车去上班。我的屋子外有接雨水的桶，夏天能用来浇花和浇草坪。当我买东西时我总是带可再使用的袋子。当在饭店叫外卖时，我们刚刚开始用玉米油制成的可降低的塑料带，记得3个R吗？减少，再利用，循环使用。

C:确实，那只是些小的简单的改变，比如买节能灯，用混合肥，重新使用瓶子和纸，使用再再次利用的水瓶，停止使用一次性的杯子和餐具。

A: 想我们喝水用的那些？

B: 是的。