Paris climate aim 'still achievable' 巴黎气候协定目标仍然可行

Paris climate aim 'still achievable' 巴黎气候协定目标仍然可行

英国《自然·地球科学》杂志的研究指出，达到《巴黎协定》所定的将升温控制在1.5摄氏度的目标仍然可行。此项研究将帮助各国调整为缓解气候变化所制定的相应政策。请听报道。 

When the Paris agreement was settled nearly two years ago, one of its key ambitions was dismissed as almost impossible - the notion of limiting the rise in the global average temperature, compared with pre-industrial times, to 1.5°C. The world had already warmed by 1°C. 

Now a new analysis of the computer models used to assess future warming has found that the forecast is slightly overestimating how much temperatures will rise. The world should have been a third of a degree warmer by 2017 than it actually was, and that means, the scientists say, there is a bit longer than previously thought to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions driving the rising temperatures.

So, one of the authors of the study, Prof Myles Allen of the University of Oxford, says the Paris target is still feasible. 

The scientists are anxious that their study is not used by climate change sceptics to undermine current policy. They stress that the threats posed by global warming have not receded, and the governments around the world still need to respond urgently by cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

词汇表 ambitions 目标，雄心，志向

dismissed 对…不予理会，（从头脑中）去除

notion 观念

pre-industrial 工业化时代以前的

overestimating 过高估计

greenhouse gas emissions 温室气体（尤指二氧化碳）排放

sceptics 持怀疑态度的人

undermine （常指逐渐地）削弱权威

the threats posed by 来自…的威胁

global warming 全球气候变暖 

测验 请听报道并回答下列问题。

1. Has the world’s temperature risen since pre-industrial times?

2. What does the new analysis of the computer models found about the forecast? 

3. Which word in the text means ‘able to be achieved’? 

4. What do the scientists suggest governments should do to achieve the Paris agreement? 

答案 1. Has the world’s temperature risen since pre-industrial times?

The world had already warmed by 1°C.

2. What has the new analysis of the computer models found about the forecast?

A new analysis of the computer models has found that the forecast is slightly overestimating how much temperatures will rise.

3. Which word in the text means ‘able to be achieved’?

Feasible.

4. What do the scientists suggest governments should do to achieve the Paris agreement?

Governments around the world still need to respond urgently by cutting greenhouse gas emissions.