純正地道美語 第216期(外教講解):全球變暖

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 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 vehicles and solar panels 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 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, 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 變熱

drastic a.激烈的

preserve v. 保護

mumbo jumbo 莫名其妙的

boonies n.郊區

refit v. 整修; 改裝

sustainability n.持續存在的

resource n.能源

feasible adj.適宜的, 可行的

car pool 和別人拼車上班

A: 關於媒體報道的全球變暖你們如何看待？

B: 那是個很嚴肅的問題。有大量的科學研究和科學團體聲稱地球正在變熱。如果我們想保護地球，我們的生活方式需要馬上進行調整

A: 我不知道。如果你問我，這聽起來莫名其妙。“拯救地球”,地球會自己拯救自己。地球在過去的災難中倖存下來。我的意思是我們生活在郊區。這兒的人沒辦法走着或汽車去幹活，尤其是在冬天。而且我們也沒有公交系統。我的房子已經住了40年，如果整修成“綠色的”環保房屋需要花很多錢。

C:我也不知道我自己是否相信全球比俺怒，或是否因爲我們的原因還是地球正在經歷的自然改變。但是你必須承認我們在西部這兒生活不可靠。

A：我猜……

C: 我想問題會繼續存在，我們只有一個賴以生存的地球，由於我們的粗心和只考慮自己和現在的無能，資源會很快消失。

B: 所以我說，我們需要改變生活方式，我們需要減少碳排放。

C:但是不必那樣大幅度地改變。混合哦那管理和太陽能板現在都太貴了。我們不必做遠離土地的嬉皮士，什麼都去買綠色的，儘管那樣做有幫助。

B: 我每天和別人拼車去上班。我的屋子外有接雨水的桶，夏天能用來澆花和澆草坪。當我買東西時我總是帶可再使用的袋子。當在飯店叫外賣時，我們剛剛開始用玉米油製成的可降低的塑料帶，記得3個R嗎？減少，再利用，循環使用。

C:確實，那只是些小的簡單的改變，比如買節能燈，用混合肥，重新使用瓶子和紙，使用再再次利用的水瓶，停止使用一次性的杯子和餐具。

A: 想我們喝水用的那些？

B: 是的。