VOA慢速英语听力：高温、野火、风暴是气候问题的征兆 Heat, Wildfire, Storms Are Signs of Climate Troubles.
The Earth set unofficial record high temperatures last week. Scientists said they were a clear sign of how pollutants released by humans are warming the environment. But the heat is also just one way the planet is telling us something is seriously wrong, they added.
地球上周创下了非官方的最高温度记录。科学家表示，这清楚地表明人类排放的污染物正在加剧环境变暖。但他们补充说，热浪只是地球告诉我们某些事情严重错了的其中一种方式。
“Heat sets the pace of our climate in so many ways ... it’s never just the heat,” said Kim Cobb. She is a climate scientist at Brown University in Rhode Island.
“热浪以很多方式决定了我们的气候...它从来不只是热浪，”金·科布说道。她是罗德岛布朗大学的气候科学家。
Dying coral reefs, more intense storms, and the wildfire smoke that much of North America experienced this summer are other signs of climate troubles.
濒临死亡的珊瑚礁、更强烈的暴风雨以及今年夏天北美洲大部分地区经历的野火烟雾是气候问题的其他迹象。
“The increasing heating of our planet caused by fossil fuel use is not unexpected, but it is dangerous for us humans and for the ecosystems we depend on. We need to stop it, fast,” said Stefan Rahmstorf of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.
波茨坦气候影响研究所的斯特凡·拉姆斯托夫表示：“由化石燃料使用引起的地球持续升温并不出乎意料，但这对我们人类和我们依赖的生态系统来说是危险的。我们需要尽快停止它。”
Other recent natural events also show that climate change has entered new territory.
其他近期的自然事件也表明气候变化进入了新的领域。
Ocean warming
海洋变暖
Most of the planet is covered by oceans, which have taken in 90 percent of the recent warming caused by planet-warming gases such as carbon dioxide and methane.
地球上大部分都被海洋覆盖，海洋吸收了90%由二氧化碳和甲烷等温室气体引起的最近的升温。
In April, worldwide ocean temperature rose to 21.1 degrees Celsius, which scientists believe was caused by a combination of planet-warming gases and the early El Nino formation. El Nino is a period of warming Pacific Ocean waters.
四月份，全球海洋温度升至21.1摄氏度，科学家认为这是由温室气体和早期厄尔尼诺现象的结合引起的。厄尔尼诺是太平洋水域变暖的一段时间。
Newly published data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service documented “exceptionally warm” ocean temperatures in the North Atlantic. And it documented “extreme” sea heat waves near Ireland, Britain, and in the Baltic Sea.
科普尼克斯气候变化服务新发布的数据记录了北大西洋的“异常温暖”海洋温度。它还记录了爱尔兰、英国和波罗的海附近的“极端”海洋热浪。
Wildfire smoke
野火烟雾
High levels of wildfire smoke are more common on the West Coast. But, recently, several rounds of wildfire smoke from wildfires in northern Canada brought dangerous air quality levels to eastern North America.
高浓度的野火烟雾在西海岸更为常见。但是最近，加拿大北部野火引发的几轮野火烟雾使得东北美洲的空气质量降至危险水平。
Scientists say that climate change will make wildfires and smoke more likely and intense and that the East Coast will see more of it.
科学家表示，气候变化将使野火和烟雾更加频繁和严重，东海岸将会遭受更多。
El Nino arrives early
厄尔尼诺提前到来
The World Meteorological Organization predicts there is a 98 percent chance that at least one of the next five years will be the warmest on record. One of these years would beat temperatures from 2016 when an exceptionally strong El Nino was present.
世界气象组织预测，在接下来的五年中，至少有98%的可能性会出现创纪录的最高温度。其中一年的温度将超过2016年的温度，当时出现了异常强劲的厄尔尼诺现象。
Shrinking Antarctic sea ice
Scientists are watching Antarctic sea ice shrink to record lows. On June 27, about 11.7 million square kilometers were covered by the ice sheet. Data from the National Snow and Ice Data Center found that the amount was almost 2.6 million square kilometers less than average for that date for the period from 1981-2010.
科学家们正在密切关注南极海冰的不断减少，已经达到了创纪录的低水平。在6月27日，冰层覆盖了大约1170万平方公里。来自国家雪与冰数据中心的数据显示，这个数量比1981年至2010年期间该日期的平均值少了将近260万平方公里。
Put another way, an area nearly four times the size of the American state of Texas was gone from the ice sheet.
换句话说，相当于一个几乎是德克萨斯州四倍大的面积从冰层上消失了。
I’m Gregory Stachel.
我是格雷戈里·斯塔切尔。
