中英文本

1.Problem of Global Warming

1.全球变暖问题

Global warming may or not be the great environmental crisisof the 21st century, but—regardless of weather it is or isn't— we won't do muchabout it. We will argue over it and may even, as a nation, make some fairlysolemn-sounding commitments to avoid it. But the more dramatic and meaningful thesecommitments seem, the less likely they are to be observed.
全球变暖有可能是21世纪巨大的环境危机，也有可能不是，但是无论它是或不是我们对此都无能为力。我们会争论不休，作为一个国家，或许会做出一些听起来相当认真的承诺来避免这一危机。但是这些承诺看起来越是令人印象深刻、越是有意义，就越是不太可能被遵守。

Al Gore calls global warming an “inconvenient truth,”as if merely recognizing it could put in on a path to a solution. But the realtruth is that we don't know enough to believe global warming, and — withourmajor technological breakthroughs — we can't do much about it.
Al Gore 称全球变暖是一个“让人感到麻烦的事实”，似乎只要认识到它的存在就可以把我们带往一条解决问题的途经上去。但是真正的事实是，我们没有掌握足够的知识去缓解全球变暖，并且如果没有重大的技术突破，我们对此也束手无策。

No government will adopt rigid restrictions oneconomic growth and personal freedom (limits on electricity usage, driving andtravel）that might cut back global warming. Still,politicians want to show they're “doing something”. Consider the KyotoProtocol. It allowed countries that joined to punish those that didn't. But ithasn't reduced carbon dioxide emissions (up about 25% since 1990), and many signatoriesdidn't adopt tough enough policies to hit their 2008 — 2012 targets.
没有哪个政府会对经济增长和个人自由（限制电力的使用，驾驶和旅游）采取严格的限制令，虽然这样的限制可以缓解全球变暖。即便事实如此，执政者们还是想表明他们在“采取措施”。就拿《京都协议》来说吧，它允许其成员国惩罚非成员国。但是它并没有起到减少二氧化碳的排放量（自从1990年以来上升了25%） 的作用，并且，许多签字国并没有采取足够严格的政策来尽力完成他们所制定的2008—2012年度的目标。

The practical conclusion is that if global warming is apotentail disaster, the only solution is new technology. Only an aggressiveresearch and development program might find ways of breaking our dependence onfossil fuels or dealing with it.
比较实际的结论是，如果全球变暖是一个潜在的灾难，那么唯一的解决办法就是新技术。只有积极进取的研究开发项目才可能会找到办法打破我们对于化石燃料的依赖，或者找到应对这一难题的办法。

The trouble with the global warming debate is that it hasbecome a moral problem when it's really engineering one. The inconvenient truthis that if we don't solve the engineering problem, we're helpless.
全球变暖这场辩论所存在的问题是，它本是一个技术问题，却都已经变成了一个道德问题。这个被忽视的真相就是，如果不能解决这个技术问题，我们将对此束手无策。

重点讲解

1.global warming全球变暖

例句：We do not fight global warming because it is futile to do so.
我们不对付全球变暖的斗争，因为以这样做是徒劳的。

2.regardless of 不管；不顾

例句：The fields give high and stable yields regardless of climatic circumstances.
不管天气条件如何， 这块地总是保持稳产高产。
3.adopt on 养成
例句：By sophomore year, many students are aware of the bad eating habits that are easy to adopt on campus.
到了大学二年级，很多学生意识到了他们很容易在校内养成的饮食恶习。

4.conclusion 结论

例句：And if the conclusion is true then the premise is false.
如果结论是真的，那么前提就是假的。
5. find way of 找到方法

例句：Policymakers need to find way of spreading India's growth miracle to parts of the nation still relatively untouched.
政策制定着需要找到散播印度增长奇迹的方式，把这方式带到相对来说还为触及的国家其它地方。