巴西亞馬遜雨林正在超速燃燒

巴西亞馬遜雨林正在以創(chuàng)紀錄的速度燃燒

Fires are raging at a record rate in Brazil's Amazon rainforest, and scientists warn that it could strike a devastating blow to the fight against climate change.

巴西亞馬遜雨林大火正以創(chuàng)紀錄的速度肆虐，科學家警告稱，這可能對應對氣候變化造成毀滅性打擊。

The fires are burning at the highest rate since the country's space research center, the National Institute for Space Research (known by the abbreviation INPE), began tracking them in 2013, the center said Tuesday.

周二，國家太空研究中心表示，自2013年國家太空研究中心(簡稱INPE)開始跟蹤調查以來，此次火災的燃燒速度是最高的。

There have been 72,843 fires in Brazil this year, with more than half in the Amazon region, INPE said. That's more than an 80% increase compared with the same period last year.

INPE表示，巴西今年已經發(fā)生72,843起火災，其中一半以上發(fā)生在亞馬遜地區(qū)。這比去年同期增長了80%以上。

The Amazon is often referred to as the planet's lungs, producing 20% of the oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere.

亞馬遜河常被稱為地球的肺，產生地球大氣中20%的氧氣。

It is considered vital in slowing global warming, and it is home to uncountable species of fauna and flora. Roughly half the size of the United States, it is the largest rainforest on the planet.

它被認為對減緩全球變暖至關重要，是無數(shù)動植物物種的家園。它的面積約為美國的一半，是地球上最大的雨林。

Images and videos on social media show giant plumes of smoke rising from the greenery and leaving blackened waste in their wake.

社交媒體上圖片和視頻顯示，巨大的煙霧從綠色植物中升起，留下燒焦的垃圾。

The smoke has reached all the way to Sao Paulo, more than 1,700 miles away. Images from the city show the sky pitch-black in the middle of the afternoon, the sun blanketed by smoke and ash.

煙霧已經蔓延到1700多英里外的圣保羅。從城市拍攝的照片中可以看到，午后的天空一片漆黑，太陽被煙霧和火山灰籠罩。

The European Union's satellite program, Copernicus, released a map showing smoke from the fires spreading all along Brazil to the east Atlantic coast. The smoke has covered nearly half of the country and is even spilling over into neighboring Peru, Bolivia and Paraguay.

歐盟的衛(wèi)星項目哥白尼發(fā)布了一幅地圖，顯示大火產生的煙霧沿著巴西蔓延到東大西洋海岸。煙霧幾乎覆蓋了半個國家，甚至蔓延到鄰國秘魯、玻利維亞和巴拉圭。

The Amazon River stretches across several of these South American countries, but the majority -- more than two-thirds -- of the rainforest lies in Brazil.

亞馬遜河橫跨了這些南美國家中的幾個，但大部分(超過三分之二)的雨林位于巴西。

According to INPE, more than 1½ soccer fields of Amazon rainforest are being destroyed every minute of every day.

據INPE報道，亞馬遜雨林每分鐘都有超過1個足球場被毀。

Environmental activists and organizations like the World Wildlife Fund warn that if the Amazon reaches a point of no return, the rainforest could become a dry savannah, no longer habitable for much of its wildlife. If this happens, instead of being a source of oxygen, it could start emitting carbon -- the major driver of climate change.

環(huán)保人士和世界野生動物基金會等組織警告稱，如果亞馬遜河達到無法回頭的地步，這片雨林可能會變成干燥的大草原，不再適合大部分野生動物生存。如果發(fā)生這種情況，它將不再是氧氣的來源，而是可能開始排放碳，而碳是氣候變化的主要驅動力。