On Earth Day, 175 world leaders met at the United Nations to sign the Paris Agreement, a historic pact to curb the carbon emissions behind climate change. Several speakers kicked off the ceremony by describing what's at stake, culminating with an urgent, cogent plea from new Academy Award-winner Leonardo DiCaprio.
4月22日地球日當(dāng)天，175位世界各國(guó)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人齊聚聯(lián)合國(guó)簽署《巴黎協(xié)定》——一份抑制氣候變化背后的碳排放問題的歷史性條約。儀式開場(chǎng)，幾位主講人描述了危在旦夕的氣候狀況，奧斯卡新晉影帝萊昂納多·迪卡普里奧壓軸登場(chǎng)，向大家發(fā)出急切有力的呼吁。

"Yes, we have achieved the Paris Agreement. More countries have come together to sign this agreement today than for any other cause in the history of humankind, and that is reason for hope," DiCaprio said, praising the first international treaty that commits both developed and developing nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions. "But unfortunately the evidence shows us that it will not be enough. Our planet cannot be saved unless we leave fossil fuels in the ground where they belong."
“是的，我們已經(jīng)成功簽署了《巴黎協(xié)定》，今天來到這里簽署協(xié)定的國(guó)家數(shù)量超過了人類歷史上任何一次事件，而這就是希望的曙光”，迪卡普里奧說道，他稱贊這是第一份由發(fā)達(dá)國(guó)家和發(fā)展中國(guó)家共同承諾減少溫室氣體排放的國(guó)際條約?！叭欢?，不幸的是，事實(shí)情況告訴我們，只有條約仍然不夠。除非我們能讓化石燃料留存在地下它們所屬的地方，否則我們無法拯救地球?！?/div>

reason for hope:希望的原因，希望的緣由，希望的曙光。非常好用的詞組，下次想表達(dá)“……有希望，因?yàn)椤睍r(shí)，就可以用這個(gè)詞組了。

cut greenhouse gas emissions:減少溫室氣體排放。文章中還有一個(gè)類似表達(dá)是上一段的“curb the carbon emissions”。在這里，cut和curb都表示“減少”，同類的詞還有reduce、lessen、decrease等。

fossil fuels:化石燃料，是指古代生物遺體在特定地質(zhì)條件下形成的礦產(chǎn)，包括煤、石油、天然氣等。

"An upheaval, a massive change, is required right now," he added.
他補(bǔ)充道：“現(xiàn)在我們需要一次徹底的巨大的改變?！?/div>

upheaval:突變，劇變，up向上+heav=heave舉起+al狀態(tài),性質(zhì)→n.動(dòng)亂,大變動(dòng)，如：social upheaval 社會(huì)動(dòng)亂。

massive：大的，重的，大塊的。同樣可以表達(dá)“大的”的近義詞還有huge、enormous、giant、vast、tremendous等。

"You know that climate change is happening faster than even the most pessimistic of scientists warned us decades ago. It has become a runaway freight train bringing with it an impending disaster for all living things," DiCaprio said. "Think about the shame each of us will carry when our children and grandchildren look back and realize we had the means of stopping this devastation, but simply lacked the political will."
“你們知道，氣候變化速度之快，甚至超過了數(shù)十年前最悲觀的科學(xué)家對(duì)我們的警告。它已經(jīng)變成一列失控的貨車，使得所有生物大難臨頭”，迪卡普里奧說，“想象一下，當(dāng)我們的子孫回顧這段歷史時(shí)，發(fā)現(xiàn)我們本來有辦法阻止這場(chǎng)災(zāi)難，卻簡(jiǎn)單地止步于政治意愿之前，我們每個(gè)人會(huì)感到多么羞恥。”

pessimistic：悲觀的，反義詞：optimistic 樂觀的

impending：即將發(fā)生的，迫在眉睫的。如：impending death 垂死，impending doom 末日。

"We can congratulate each other today, but it will mean absolutely nothing if you return to your countries and fail to push beyond the promises of this historic agreement. Now is the time for bold, unprecedented action. My friends, look at the delegates around you. It's time to ask yourselves which side of history you will be on."
“今天我們可以在這里向彼此表示祝賀，但是如果你們回到自己的國(guó)家后，不能推動(dòng)執(zhí)行在這份歷史性協(xié)定里許下的承諾，一切都是枉然。現(xiàn)在，是時(shí)候采取無畏而空前的行動(dòng)了。我的朋友們，看看你們身邊的各國(guó)代表們。此刻你們應(yīng)該問問自己，到底愿意站在歷史的哪一邊。”

mean nothing：很好用的一個(gè)短語，表示“沒有意義，枉然”，如：A name, as such, means nothing.姓名本身并無意義。再如：money means nothing to her.她視金錢如糞土。

fail to do sth：未能做某事，不能做某事。小伙伴們下次想表達(dá)“不能”時(shí)，如果不能做的事不完全是能力差造成的，就可以拋棄“I can't”和“I am not able to”了，試試fail to吧。

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