【课文翻译】新人教选择性必修三 Unit 3（英汉对照）.docx

【课文翻译】新人教选择性必修三 Unit 3（英汉对照） CLIMATE CHANGE REQUIRES THE WORLD’S ATTENTION 气候变化需要全世界的关注 We have known about climate change for decades. There is little doubt that Earth is getting warmer and warmer (see the graph). A warming ocean and atmosphere along with melting ice and rising sea levels provide evidence of a dramatic change in the global climate. 我们几十年前就知道气候变化了。毫无疑问，地球正变得越来越暖和（见图表）。海洋变暖和大气变暖以及冰川融化和海平面上升是全球气候的急剧变化的证据。 In 2013, a lot of people were shocked by a news photo of a dead polar bear that was found on Norway’s Arctic island of Svalbard. According to the scientists who found its dead body, all that remained of the polar bear was “skin and bones”. An expert who has studied polar bears for many years said that from the position of its dead body, the bear appeared to have starved and died. Experts claimed that low sea-ice levels caused by climate change meant the bear could not hunt seals as before, so it had to travel greater distances in order to find food. This alarming case showed how the increase in temperature had an impact on Earth’s ecology. 2013年，一张在挪威北极地区的斯瓦尔巴群岛上发现了一只北极熊尸体的新闻照片让很多人震惊。根据发现这只北极熊尸体的科学家的说法，这只北极熊只剩下“皮包骨头”了。一位研究北极熊多年的专家说，从它尸体的位置看，这只熊似乎是饿死的。专家称，由于气候变化造成的海冰水位较低，这只熊无法像以前那样捕猎海豹，所以他为了找到食物不得不去更远的地方。这一令人震惊的案例表明气温升高对地球生态产生了怎样的影响。 Then what is causing the increase in the global average surface temperature? Climate scientists often mention a key climate process called the “greenhouse effect”, which has two common meanings: the “natural” greenhouse effect and the “man-made” greenhouse effect. The “natural” greenhouse effect refers to the fact that heat from the sun enters the atmosphere and warms Earth’s surface as short-wave radiation. The heat is released back into space at longer wave lengths. Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, such as methane and carbon dioxide, trap some of the heat, keeping Earth’s climate warm and habitable. Without this process, Earth could not sustain life. However, the “man-made” greenhouse effect has now become a big prob