VOA慢速英语:Working to Fight Climate Change

From VOA Learning English, this is In The News.
来自美国之音慢速英语，这里是新闻报道。
 
Delegates from nearly 200 countries have spent the past two weeks in Warsaw, Poland. More than 9,000 representatives gathered for a United Nations conference on climate change. Organizers called the meeting to work toward a treaty to fight rising temperatures on our planet. The treaty would be signed in 2015 and take effect after 2020.
来自近200个国家的9000多名代表过去两周在波兰华沙齐聚一堂，出席联合国气候变化大会。主办方称此次会议努力达成对抗全球变暖的条约。该条约将于2015年签署，并于2020年后生效。

Several environmental groups walked out of the climate talks earlier this week. They were protesting what they considered a lack of progress towards a deal to limit carbon dioxide and other global warming emissions. Studies have shown links between such gases and the rise in temperatures.
本周早些时候，多个环保团体走在气候谈判会场外抗议限制二氧化碳等温室气体排放协议缺乏进展。研究表明，该气体和温度上升之间存在联系。

In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency is leading government efforts to fight climate change. The agency just ended a series of public hearings across the country. The EPA was seeking comments as it considers tightening clean air rules for coal-burning power plants.
在美国，环保署负责政府应对气候变化的举措。该机构刚刚结束了一系列在全国各地举行的公众听证会，环保署正在征询意见，并考虑收紧燃煤电厂的清洁空气规则。

America's 1,000 coal-burning power plants supply 40 percent of the nation's electricity. The plants are responsible for one-third of the global warming emissions. The Obama Climate Action Plan has promised to cut the production of such gases.
美国的1000家燃煤电厂提供了该国40%的电力。这些电厂要对温室气体排放负上三分之一的责任。奥巴马气候行动计划承诺要减少该种气体的排放。

Mitch McConnell is the leader of the Republican Party in the United States Senate. He spoke at the EPA hearing in support of his home state of Kentucky, which is a major coal producer.
Mitch McConnell是美国参议院的共和党领袖。他在环保署听证会上发言，以支持他的家乡肯塔基州，这是一个主要的煤炭生产地。

“By now it is clear that this administration and your agency have declared a war on coal. For Kentucky, this means a war on jobs and on our state's economy.”
 “现在很清楚，这一届的政府和环保署已经对煤炭宣战。对于肯塔基州来说，这意味着一场针对就业和该州经济的战争。”

Brian Patton also spoke at the EPA hearing. Mr. Patton comes from a long line of Kentucky coal mine workers. Today he is president of James River Coal Service. His company has dismissed 725 workers over the past six months. He fears that new rules could bring even greater hardship to an area that is already economically depressed.
Brian Patton也在环保署听证会上发表讲话。Patton先生来自一个肯塔基煤矿工人世家。如今他是詹姆斯河煤矿服务公司的总裁，他的公司在过去6个月已经解雇725名工人。他担心，新条规则可能会给这个已经经济不景气的领域带来更大的困难。

“Understand, these are communities of just 1,000, 2,000, 3,000 people. And when you have that type of an economic impact due to regulations that come from Washington, DC -- that have very little understanding of what the outcome is for the local folks, for folks that get up and go to work every day and what that impact will be for their families in the future, and that’s wrong.”
“明白吗，这里都是1000，2000，3000人的社区。由于来自华盛顿特区的法规，经济会受到影响，对于当地人会有怎样的结果他们了解甚少，对于每天起床去上班的人们意味着什么，也不懂得将来对他们的家人有什么影响，这是错误的。”

David Doniger is a climate policy expert with the Natural Resources Defense Council, one of the nation’s largest environmental groups. He says it is the duty of the EPA to control carbon as a pollutant. He wants the agency to establish new rules that would move the United States toward a cleaner energy environment.
David Doniger是美国最大的环保团体之一的美国自然资源保护委员会的气候政策专家。他说，环保署的职责就是控制碳污染。他希望该机构订立新规让美国走向一个更加清洁的能源环境。

“No one is proposing standards that would knock out all those power plants. We’re talking about a shift from the dirtier ones to the cleaner ones, and from all those fossil fuel-powered ones towards renewable and even nuclear sources of energy.”
“没有人提出淘汰所有这些电厂的标准，我们讨论的是从更脏转向更清洁的能源，从化石燃料为动力的电厂转向可再生能源，甚至是核能。”

He says the government is responsible for protecting clean air, not protecting old and dirty power stations.
他说，政府有责任保护洁净的空气，而不是保护又旧又脏的发电站。

“That’s the only way that we can continue to have the way of life we want without running into the wall on climate change impacts, which in turn will come back and destroy the quality of life we have.”
这是我们得以继续我们生活方式，在气候变化影响上不撞墙的唯一方式。如若反之，它会毁掉我们现有的生活质量。”

The EPA is now considering comments from the nationwide hearings. The agency plans to announce proposed rule changes in June.
环保署正在考虑来自全国听证会的意见。该机构计划在明年6月宣布拟议的规则变化。