Democrats and global warming
A RECENT sketch on "Saturday Night Live" suggested how the world would be if Al Gore had won the presidency in 2000. "In the last six years we have been able to stop global warming," intoned Mr Gore. "No one could have predicted the negative results of this. Glaciers that once were melting are now on the attack."
Nerdy environmentalism is Mr Gore's forte. He would have ridden that hobby-horse in the 2000 campaign, according to Joe Klein in "Politics Lost", if his political consultants had not muzzled him. Now, almost alone, he has brought his favourite issue back into the political spotlight. His film about the horrors of global warming, "An Inconvenient Truth", opened this week in Los Angeles and New York.
With it comes inevitable talk of another try at the presidency. Mr Gore consistently waves that away. But other prominent Democrats are raising their voices for the cause. This week Senator Hillary Clinton urged action on global warming in a big speech on energy policy in Washington, DC. Notably, she praised Mr Gore (now a potential rival for 2008, whatever he says) as a "committed visionary on global warming for more than two decades". Last week, her husband Bill told graduates at the University of Texas's public affairs school in Austin-as temperatures outside soared to 34°C-that "Climate change is more remote than terror, but a more profound threat."
Do voters care? Although a Gallup poll this spring found that 67% of respondents thought the quality of the environment was "getting worse" (a fairly steady rise from 54% in 2002), climate change is hardly in the class of Iraq or health care. And it is still rare for politicians to mention it on the stump. Bill Ritter, the Democratic nominee for governor in Colorado, notes that global warming is a worry for the ski industry in his state-but says his audiences care more about the quality of their water or their air. Most midwestern politicians nowadays cannot talk enough about alternative fuels, but they link them to the economy (and national security) rather than climate change, hoping for a boost for local corn or soyabean farmers.
A few bad hurricanes may change that indifference. The 2006 season begins next week, and federal meteorologists predict it will be particularly nasty. Although conservatives have vigorously disputed the link between global warming and last year's dreadful storms, another Katrina could push people over the edge. Gregg Easterbrook of the Brookings Institution, a think-tank, says that politicians also need a new tack. Instead of dwelling on gloom and doom, they should appeal to American optimism, emphasising that the problem can probably be solved after all, and cheaper and faster than anyone thinks.
And what about conservatives? George Bush has recently conceded that America is "addicted to oil", but he still argues about the causes of global warming. ("He may be the last person in America who refuses to accept the science on this," sighs Jay Inslee, a congressman from Washington state.) John McCain, another possible presidential contender in 2008, has been out in front. He has sponsored legislation (with Joe Lieberman, a Democrat) for cap-and-trade emissions of greenhouse gases, and declared in a recent speech in Phoenix that "Climate change is real and is having a major impact on our way of life."
考研詞匯：
consultant[kənˈsʌltənt]
n.①會診醫(yī)師，顧問醫(yī)生;②顧問
[真題例句] He dismisses a lot of the work of re-engineering consultants (②) as mere rubbish-"the worst sort of ambulance-chasing."[1998年閱讀2]
[例句精譯] 他把許多重組咨詢專家所做的工作視為垃圾-"典型的勞而無獲"。
urge[ə:dʒ]
v.①催促，力勸;②強烈希望;③鼓勵，促進;n.強烈欲望，迫切要求
[真題例句] For the women of my generation who were urged (v.①) to keep juggling through the '80s, downshifting in the mid 90s is not so much a search for the mythical good life-growing your own organic vegetables, and risking turning into one-as a personal recognition of your limitations.[2001年閱讀5]
[例句精譯] 對我們這一代女性來說，整個80年代我們曾被迫忙碌地生活，90年代中期的簡化生活與其說是尋求神話般的好生活-自己種有機蔬菜并試圖與之合一-倒不如說我們都認識到了自身的局限。
[真題例句] From the beginning of our history, says Hofstadter, our democratic and populist urges (n.) have driven us to reject anything that smells of elitism.[2004年閱讀4]
[例句精譯] 霍夫斯塔特說：自歷史之初，我們的民主和平民主義傾向就使我們摒棄一切和精英主義沾邊的東西。
stump[stʌmp]
n.樹樁, 殘余, 煙頭v.掘去樹樁, 砍成樹樁, 絆倒, 難住, 截去
nasty[ˈnɑ:sti]
a.①骯臟的，卑劣的，下流的;②令人厭惡的
[真題例句] Since the dawn of human ingenuity, people have devised ever more cunning tools to cope with work that is dangerous, boring, burdensome, or just plain nasty (①).[2002年閱讀2]
[例句精譯] 從人類最初有了智慧至今，人們一直在設(shè)計日益巧妙的工具來處理那些危險的、枯燥的、繁重的或者只是簡單骯臟的工作。
conservative[kənˈsə:vətiv]
a.保守的，守舊的;n.保守主義者
[真題例句] Dr. Worm acknowledges that these figures are conservative (a.), one reason for this is that fishing technology has improved.[2006年閱讀3]
[例句精譯] Worm博士承認這些數(shù)據(jù)還是保守的，一個原因就是捕魚技術(shù)已經(jīng)改進了很多。
[真題例句] 66. The word "demographers" (Line 1, Paragraph 7) most probably means.[1998年閱讀4]
[D] conservatives (n.) clinging to old patterns of life
[例句精譯] 66、單詞"demographer"(第七段第一行)最可能的意思是_________。
[D] 堅持舊生活模式的保守主義者 impact[ˈimpækt]
n./v.①沖擊，碰撞;②效果，影響
[真題例句] Proper, scientific study of the impacts (n.②) of dams and of the cost and benefits of controlling water can help to resolve these conflicts.[1998年閱讀1]
[例句精譯] 對于水壩的影響、水壩控制水流的成本和收益進行恰當而科學的研究能夠有助于解決這些沖突。
背景常識介紹：
10月12日對美國前副總統(tǒng)阿爾•戈爾來說無疑是一個光輝的日子。當天，諾貝爾獎頒獎委員會在奧斯陸宣布，戈爾和聯(lián)合國政府間氣候變化問題專門委員會共同贏得2007年度諾貝爾和平獎。挪威諾貝爾委員會說，戈爾可能是"讓全球懂得必須為應(yīng)對氣候變化采取行動的貢獻最大的一個人"。戈爾將與聯(lián)合國政府間氣候變化問題專門委員會共享150萬美元的獎金。
參考譯文：
民主黨與全球變暖
"周六晚間直播"節(jié)目最近的一部時事諷刺劇影射了阿爾•戈爾贏得2000年總統(tǒng)大選后世界的情況。戈爾先生抑揚頓挫地說道："在過去的六年里，我們是可以阻止全球變暖的。當時沒人會預(yù)見到今天這樣糟糕的結(jié)果。一度處于消融狀態(tài)的冰河現(xiàn)在開始攻擊了。"
書蟲式的環(huán)境保護主義正是戈爾先生的拿手好戲。喬克•萊恩在其《迷失的政治》中提到，當時如果戈爾的政治參謀們沒有捂緊他的嘴巴，那他就會在2000年的選舉戰(zhàn)中大侃環(huán)保。如今的他，已是孤軍奮戰(zhàn)。即便如此，他還是把最喜愛的問題帶入了政治聚焦之內(nèi)。他的記錄片《難以忽視的真相》講述了全球變暖的種種駭人之處。這部電影已于本周在洛杉磯和紐約上映。
二次參選的話題總是無法避開。對此，戈爾先生以一貫的揮手來給出否定的回答。但民主黨的其他要員開始為競選擺開了陣勢。本周，在華盛頓特區(qū)的一次關(guān)于能源政策的大型講演中，希拉里•克林頓敦促政府采取措施抵御全球變暖。她還特別稱贊了戈爾先生(他現(xiàn)在怎么說都是2008競選的一大潛在對手)是一位遠見卓識的人，在全球變暖問題上忠于職守了二十年。上周，在位于奧斯汀的德州大學公共事務(wù)學院，她的丈夫比爾•克林頓告訴該校的畢業(yè)生，當室外氣溫超過34°C時，"氣候變暖便不再是一個遙遠的可怖之事，而是一個巨大的威脅。"
投票者會關(guān)注這些嗎?盡管今年春天的一項蓋洛普調(diào)查顯示，67%接受調(diào)查的人認為環(huán)境質(zhì)量"正變得更差"(這是在2002年的54%基礎(chǔ)上的穩(wěn)步增長)，但是氣候變化問題根本不能與伊拉克或醫(yī)療問題比肩。而且，政客們登臺演說時很少提及這個問題。民主黨科羅拉多州長競選提名者比爾•瑞特發(fā)現(xiàn)，全球變暖困擾的是該州的滑雪產(chǎn)業(yè)。但他又表示其聽眾更關(guān)注該地水和空氣的質(zhì)量。多數(shù)中西部的政客們?nèi)缃翊笳勌卣劥萌剂�。然而，他們將落腳點放在了經(jīng)濟(還有國家安全)而非氣候變遷，希望以此為當?shù)胤N植玉米和大豆的農(nóng)民帶來福音。
也許幾場嚴重的颶風會一改那種漠視的態(tài)度。2006年季風將于下周拉開帷幕。聯(lián)邦氣象學家預(yù)測它將帶來異常大的威脅。雖然保守者們對全球變暖與去年那可怕的風暴之間的因果聯(lián)系表現(xiàn)出極力的懷疑，但倘若克里娜式的臺風再度光顧，人們的心理防線會被完全擊垮。作為布魯金斯研究院之一的格雷格智囊團易斯特布魯克表示，政治家們還需要一個新的方針。他們應(yīng)當迎合美國的樂觀主義傳統(tǒng)而不是固守陰郁、厄運的基調(diào)，即強調(diào)氣候問題終將以大大超出人們想象的更廉價、迅捷的方式得到解決。
保守者們會如何應(yīng)對呢?喬治•布什最近承認美國"染上了石油癮"，但他依然對全球變暖的原因持懷疑態(tài)度。(華盛頓州議員杰伊•恩斯利感嘆道，"即便所有的美國人都接受全球變暖的科學道理，布什也不會接受"。) 2008年總統(tǒng)選舉可能的角逐者約翰•麥肯克已沖在了最前沿。他(與一位民主黨人喬•列伯曼)發(fā)起了旨在控制溫室氣體排放的"限量管制與交易"提案，并在最近于鳳凰城發(fā)表的一次演講中宣稱"氣候變遷是真實的，它正對我們的生活方式產(chǎn)生強大沖擊。" |
