科技文翻译

Unlocking the Climate Puzzle Nonetheless, in1995, after years of intense study, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC), sponsored by the United Nations, concluded tentatively that “the balance of evidence suggests that there is a discernible human influence on global climate”.

然而，由联合国发起的政府间气候变化专门委员会，经过数年集中的研究，在1995年，初步得到了“对照所有证据表明，人类对全球气候有明显的影响”这个结论。

The amount of that influence, the group noted, is unknown because of “uncertainties in key factors”, including the degree to which clouds and the oceans affect the rate of temperature change.

该委员会同时提到，由于“关键因素的不确定性”，包括云层和海洋对温度变化率的影响程度，人类对全球气候的影响量是未知的。

It may take decade or more of additional research to resolve those uncertainties.

解决这些不确定因素可能需要十年乃至更长时间的额外研究。

1.What causes climate change? 是什么导致了气候变化？

2.Weather is what happens outside your home this morning.

天气是这个早上出现在户外的自然现象。

3.Climate is what you can expect to happen outside during your 30-year mortgage.

气候是在30年内可以预测的发生在户外的自然现象

4.Over time small changes can make a big difference.

随着时间的流逝，微小的变化会造成巨大的影响。

5.Driven by tremendous flows of heat over the surface of the planet, Earth’s climate system is influenced by innumerable interacting variables.

由于星球表面上的巨大热流，无数相互作用的变量影响着地球的气候系统。

The role of clouds is poorly understood, but they are known to both cool earth by reflecting solar energy and warm earth by trapping heat being radiated up from the surface.

人类对云层的作用了解很少，但是知道它们会通过反射太阳能使地面温度下降，且通过储存地表散发的热量使地面温度上升。

When solar energy penetrates the land surface, it is converted into heat, most of which radiates upward quickly.

当太阳能渗入地表时，会转化为热能，其中大部分会很快上升散发到空气中。

Still, topography and land use can have major effects on climate.

地形和土地使用仍然对气候有主要的影响。

Mountain ranges can block clouds, creating dry “shadows”downwind. 在下风口，山脉会挡住云层，形成缺乏雨水的“阴影地”。

Sloping land allows more water runoff, leaving the land and air drier.

坡地让更多的水分流失，使得土地和空气更加干燥。

A tropical forest will soak up CO2 ,but once cleared for cattle ranching, the same land becomes a source of methane.

热带森林会吸收二氧化碳，但是一旦允许牲畜农场经营，这块土地将会产生大量的甲烷。

If CO2 emission increases are to blame for global warming,skeptics say,then temperatures should have risen appreciably during the postwar economic boom,when fossil fuels were burned in escalating quantity.

质疑者们说，如果CO2的增加应该对全球变暖负责，那么在战后经济繁荣期间化石燃料被越来越多的燃烧时，温度应该很明显的增加。Jerry Mahlman,director of NOAA’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory at Princeton, however, has calculated that the surge in coal and oil use quickly increased the amount of sulfates aloft,prompting the cooling.

不管怎样，Jerry Mahlman，美国国家海洋和大气局位于普林斯顿关于地球物理流体动力学实验室的主任，曾计算过煤和油的使用量的激增会迅速增加空气中大量的硫酸盐，并促进它们冷却。

After 1970 the longer term effect of CO2 and methane overwhelmed the short-lived aerosols,accounting for the temperature rise since then.

从1970年后，CO2和甲烷覆盖了短期效应的气溶胶从而带来的长期效应，导致了温度的上升。

Furthermore,higher temperatures might be most welcome where they are most likely to occur.此外，高温在可能发生的地方也许会很受欢迎。