外國(guó)人最想和你聊的文化話題：即將消失的美景

     Australia's Great Barrier Reef will lose most of its coral cover by 2050 and, at worst, the world's largest coral system could collapse by 2100 because of global warming, a study released recently said.
     最近發(fā)表的一項(xiàng)研究結(jié)果表明：到2050年，澳大利亞大堡礁的大部分珊瑚將不復(fù)存在。在最壞的情況下，到2100年，這個(gè)世界上最大的珊瑚體系將由于全球變暖而徹底崩潰。
     The destruction of coral on the Great Barrier Reef was inevitable due to global warming, regardless of what actions were taken now.
     研究結(jié)果表明全球變暖對(duì)大堡礁珊瑚的破壞是"不可避免"的，無(wú)論現(xiàn)在再采取什么措施都為時(shí)已晚。
     Under the worst-case scenario, coral populations will collapse by 2100 and the re-establishment of coral reefs will be highly unlikely over the following 200-500 years.
     按最壞情況預(yù)計(jì)，到2100年，大堡礁的珊瑚將徹底崩潰，而且要想在最近200到500年間重新恢復(fù)這樣的珊瑚礁幾乎是不可能的。
     The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest living reef formation stretching 2,000 km north to south along Australia's northeast coast.
     大堡礁是世界上最大的活珊瑚礁，分布在澳大利亞?wèn)|北海岸，由北向南綿延2000公里。
     Only if global average temperature change is kept to below two degrees Celsius can the Reef have any chance of recovering from the predicted damage.
     除非全球平均溫度變化保持在兩攝氏度以下，大堡礁才有機(jī)會(huì)從預(yù)期的破壞中復(fù)原。
     Coral has a narrow comfort zone and is highly stressed by a temperature rise of less than one degree Celsius.
     適合珊瑚生長(zhǎng)的地域范圍很小，即使氣溫上升不到1攝氏度都會(huì)對(duì)它們?cè)斐蓢?yán)重的影響。
     With bleaching, the warmer water forces out the algae that give coral its color and, if all are lost, the coral dies and the reef will crumble.
     溫度偏高的海水趕走了賦予珊瑚顏色的海藻。如果海藻全部消失，珊瑚就會(huì)死去，珊瑚礁就會(huì)崩潰。
     Over-fishing and pollution from coastal farms were also contributing to the destruction of coral on the Great Barrier Reef.
     過(guò)度捕撈和沿海農(nóng)場(chǎng)造成的環(huán)境污染也是導(dǎo)致大堡礁逐漸衰亡的原因。
     The Great Barrier Reef supports huge fishing and tourism industries. Even under favorable conditions tourists would only be able to experience real corals in reef "theme parks".
     大堡礁支撐著巨大的捕魚業(yè)和旅游業(yè)。即使是在良好的情況下，游客也只能在"珊瑚礁主題公園"中領(lǐng)略珊瑚美景了。
     Over the past three years the Dead Sea has decreased by three meters and the whole area is currently one third less than it used to be in the 1960s due to the diversion of the Jordan River water for irrigation, experts said.
     專家稱，在過(guò)去三年中，死海的水位已經(jīng)下降了3米。由于約旦河的水源被改道為灌溉所用，無(wú)法注入死海，因此同60年代相比，目前整個(gè)死海水域的水量已經(jīng)不足原先的三分之一。
     A goldmine for potash extractors and a magnet for tourists who come to bathe in its salty waters, the Dead Sea could disappear in 50 years.
     死海海水中蘊(yùn)含大量碳酸鉀，同時(shí)還是旅游勝地，吸引眾多游客來(lái)此泡鹽水浴。但是照此發(fā)展下去，未來(lái)50年內(nèi)死海將會(huì)永遠(yuǎn)消失。
     "The Dead Sea basin is facing an environmental decline and if it continues like this it will hit a catastrophe." Jordanian Water Minister Hazem Nasser cautioned.
     約旦水利部長(zhǎng)那瑟警告說(shuō)："死海正面臨環(huán)境惡化。如果繼續(xù)照此發(fā)展下去的話，災(zāi)難就會(huì)降臨，死海將會(huì)消失。"
     To contain the damage, Jordanian, Israeli and Palestinian officials will submit a project to channel water through a canal from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea, at the weekend meeting here of the World Economic Forum (WEF).
     為了化解危機(jī)，環(huán)繞死海的三個(gè)國(guó)家：約旦、以色列和巴勒斯坦的官員們將會(huì)在本周末的世界經(jīng)濟(jì)論壇上提交一份計(jì)劃，啟動(dòng)從紅海通過(guò)運(yùn)河往死海注水的工程。
     The snow cap of Mount Kilimanjaro, famed in literature and beloved by tourists, first formed some 11,000 years ago, but will be gone in two decades, according to researchers who say the ice fields on Africa's highest mountain shrank by 80 percent in the past century.
     乞力馬扎羅山上的雪形成于大約11000多年前，不論在文壇上還是在旅游觀光業(yè)中，它都始終保持著一種獨(dú)特的魅力。然而，科學(xué)家卻告訴我們，在過(guò)去的一個(gè)世紀(jì)中，這座非洲最高山峰的"雪帽"已經(jīng)"縮水"了80%，再過(guò)二十年，乞力馬扎羅山上的雪景就要消失了。
     Modern navigation satellites show that the oldest ice layers on the famed mountain were deposited during an extremely wet period starting about 11,700 years ago.
     研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)這座名山上最古老的冰層是在約11700年前一段特別潮濕的時(shí)期形成的。
     The mountain is enshrined in literature, most notably Ernest Hemingway's The Snows of Kilimanjaro and some ancient beliefs in Africa hold the mountain to be a sacred place.
     在文學(xué)史上，大名鼎鼎的海明威曾著有《乞力馬扎羅的雪》一書，從而讓人們對(duì)這片土地心存一份特殊的情結(jié)，再加上一些古老的非洲傳說(shuō)，更是令這座山顯得神秘而令人向往。
     But a temperature rise in recent years is eroding the 150-foot-high blocks of ice that gave Kilimanjaro its distinctive white cap.
     但是近幾年來(lái)，由于氣溫的不斷上升，乞力馬扎羅山頂上厚達(dá)150英尺的積雪正在一點(diǎn)一點(diǎn)融化。
     Kilimanjaro is the number one foreign currency earner for the government of Tanzania. It has its own international airport and some 20,000 tourists every year. The question is how many will come if there are no ice fields on the mountain.
     乞力馬扎羅的旅游資源是坦桑尼亞政府最主要的外匯來(lái)源。當(dāng)?shù)亟ㄓ袊?guó)際機(jī)場(chǎng)，每年約有2萬(wàn)游客慕名而至。如今的問(wèn)題是，如果沒(méi)有了山頂積雪，恐怕就沒(méi)人會(huì)去了。