VOA常速英语:Another Step in Climate Change Mitigation(翻译)

Addressing climate change has been one of the key objectives of the Administration of President Barack Obama. It took nearly eight years and a lot of hard work, but at last, 2016—President Obama’s final year in office—has seen enormous strides in this effort.
应对气候变化一直是奥巴马政府的主要目标之一。这项工作耗费了近8年的时间、以及许多艰苦的工作，但是最终，2016年—奥巴马任期的最后一年—在这一问题上取得了巨大的进步。

The Obama Administration seeks to achieve three major goals: first, the entry into force of the Paris Climate Agreement, which aims to keep the temperature rise well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels; second, addressing the growth of international aviation emissions; and finally, the gradual reduction of the production and consumption of hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs.These chemicals, which are commonly used in refrigeration, can have 10,000 times more global warming potential than carbon dioxide.
奥巴马政府试图实现三大目标：第一、加入《巴黎气候协议》并使其生效，该协议的目标是要使得相比于工业化之前的气温，现在气温上升的水平要保持在2摄氏度以内；第二、解决国际航空排放量增长的问题；第三、逐渐减少对氢氟碳化物（HFCs）的生产和消费。这些化合物被广泛用于制冷，使得全球变暖的可能性要比二氧化碳高10000倍。

All three of these goals were reached within a few weeks of each other.The Paris Agreement, which was adopted by nearly 200 countries last December, passed the last of two entry into force thresholds to into force in late September and will, in fact, enter into force on November 4.
所有三个目标都在几周内被相继实现了。《巴黎协议》在去年12月份的时候被近200个国家通过，今年九月下旬打破了最后两个阻碍该协议生效的门槛，事实上该协议将于11月4日开始正式生效。

In early October, the United Nations International Civil Aviation Organization agreed to a global measure that will offset emissions from international civil aviation, ensuring that emissions from this growing sector don’t rise above 2020 levels.
十月上旬，联合国国际民航组织同意了一项全球措施，该措施将抵消来自国际民航的排放量，从而确保这一增长部门的排放量不会超过2020年水平。

And on October 15th, nearly 200 Parties of the Montreal Protocol agreed to an amendment that will reduce global HFC levels by 80 to 85 percent by the year 2047. As a result of this legally binding accord, temperatures could be decreased by as much as half a degree Celsius by the end of the century.
而在10月15日，《蒙特利尔协议》近200个签约方同意了一项修正案，在2047年前将会把全球氢氟碳化物水平减少80%到85%。由于这一协议具有法律约束效力，到本世纪末全球气温将会下降半度。

“Our community of nations finally understands the magnitude of what we are up against. I believe we’ve all learned that none of our nations, not one of us, is equipped to deal with this generational task all by ourselves,” said Secretary of State John Kerry.
“国际社会终于明白了我们所面对的这个问题是多么的艰巨。我相信我们都已经认识到了这样一件事，那就是世界上没有任何一个国家，我们之中没有任何一个，可以仅靠自己就能够处理这一需要数代人共同努力的任务，”国务卿约翰·克里如是说道。

“And I believe we all recognize that it is time to meet this global threat with all of the seriousness and all of the purpose and all of the commitment that it demands, and to do what we must do to urgently meet this need now, and to do so boldly.”
“而且我相信我们都认识到现在是直面这一全球性威胁的时候了，我们要抱着完成这项任务所要求的十二万分严肃认真的态度、谨记着所有的使命目的、牢记着自己所做出的承诺。现在我们要完成我们所必须要完成的一切来迫切地满足这一需要，并且坚定不移地干下去。”