VOA常速英语:Polar Scientist Charts Melting Caused by Climate Change

短语讲解：

1. How are those polar systems responding to climate change?

respond to对…有某种反应〔感觉, 表现〕
例句：She responded to the news by bursting into tears.
她听到那个消息后眼泪夺眶而出。

2. The answer is based on his on-going research into how water crosses landscapes and what happens to it above and below ground.

base on使建立在…基础上
例句：Action should be based on solid facts.
行动应有确凿的事实为依据。
happen to发生在…身上
例句：An odd thing happened to him this morning.
他今天早晨遇到一件怪事。

3. According to Gooseff, the two regions also differ widely geologically and ecologically. He says the Antarctic McMurdo Dry Valleys station where he’s based “appears like a polar desert system with open exposed soils, with no vascular plants at the surface and with glaciers coming down from the mountains, whereas in northern Alaska, we have a lot of plants.

according to据（…所说）；按（…所报道）
例句：According to her, grandfather called at noon.
据她说,祖父在中午打来电话。
come down下来, 下落
例句：I watched the climbers come down into the valley.
我注视着爬山者下到山谷里去了。

4. We follow this up and finally we found a big gash in the hill slope essentially, and all of this mud pouring out from underneath it.

follow up跟着; 追逐; 继续
例句：The chairman followed up with another question.
主席接着又提了一个问题。
pour out倒出; 使流出
例句：The chimney was pouring out black smoke.
烟囱里冒出滚滚黑烟。

5. Gooseff explains that as water moves through these altered formations, it picks up sediment and nutrients normally locked up in the permafrost.

move through穿过
例句：Ducks are web-footed to help them move through the water.
鸭子脚上有蹼，便于游泳。
pick up拾起, 捡起; 抬起
例句：I would have picked it up if I had noticed it.
我如果看见的话, 我早就把它拣起来了。
lock up将…锁住〔关押〕
例句：The idea is locked up in his brains.We know nothing.
他把自己的想法藏在脑子里, 我们一无所知。

6. Gooseff says the melting permafrost sets up another dangerous climate scenario.

set up引起, 产生
例句：The crowd set up a shout as the winner neared the post.
优胜者接近终点时, 人群中发出一片喊叫声。

7. As we warm, we release more carbon, that carbon goes into the atmosphere, contributes to more warming, contributes to more permafrost degradation and the cycle sort of continues.

contribute to促成
例句：Your suggestion has greatly contributed to the accomplishment of our work.
你的建议大大地促进了我们工作的完成。

8. In fact, permafrost itself is expected to hold about twice as much carbon as we currently have in the atmosphere.

be expected to期待,期望
例句：The total number of people infected with malaria was expected to reach 20 million.
感染疟疾者的总人数预期达到两千万人。