There are times in the history of our nation when our very way of life depends upon dispelling illusions and awakening to the challenge of a present danger. In such moments, we are called upon to move quickly and boldly to shake off complacency, throw aside old habits and rise, clear-eyed and alert, to the necessity of big changes. This is such a moment.
在我国历史上，很多时候我们的生活需要驱除幻想，清醒地应 对眼前的危险挑战。在这种时刻，我们必须马上大胆行动起来，摆 脱自满、抛弃旧习、头脑清晰、保持警惕，作出必要的重大改变。现 在就到了这一时刻。
Our economy is in terrible shape and getting worse, gasoline prices are increasing dramatically, and so are electricity rates. Jobs are being outsourced. Home mortgages are in trouble. Banks, automobile companies and other institutions we depend upon are under growing pressure. The climate crisis, in particular, is getting a lot worse~much more quickly than predicted. Scientists with access to data from navy submarines traversing underneath the north polar ice cap have warned that there is now a 75% chance that within five years the entire ice cap will completely disappear during the summer months. This will further increase the melting pressure on Greenland. According to experts, the Jakobshavn glacier, one of Greenland’s largest, is moving at a faster rate than ever before, losing 20 million tons of ice every day, equivalent to the amount of water used every year by the residents of New York City.
我们的经济状况极为糟糕，而且还在恶化’油价急剧攀升，电 价猛涨。工作被外包出去，房贷陷入困境。我们所依赖的银行、汽车 公司和其他机构正面临越来越大的压力。特别是气候问题急剧恶 化一速度远远超过预期的。根据穿越北极冰盖的海军潜艇所获数 据，科学家发出警告:整个冰盖5年内在夏季完全消失的几率现在 是75%。这将进一步加剧格陵兰冰层的融化压力。据专家称,格陵兰 最大冰川之一的雅各布港冰川正在以前所未有的速度移动,每天融 化的冰达2000万吨，相当于纽约市居民一年的用水量。
27 senior statesmen and retired military leaders had already warned of the national security threat from an “energy tsunami” that would be triggered by a loss of our access to foreign oil. And by the way, our weather sure is getting strange, isn’t it? There seem to be more tornadoes than in living memory, longer droughts，bigger downpours and record floods. Unprecedented fires are burning in California and elsewhere in the American west. Scientists in the Department of Geophysics and Planetary Science at Tel Aviv University tell us that for every one degree increase in temperature, lightning strikes will go up another 10%. And it is lightning, after all, that is principally responsible for igniting the conflagration in California today.
27位政界元老和军队退休领导人曾警告说，一场可能由丧失海 外石油资源所引发的“能源海啸”将危及国家安全。另外，天气的确 越来越反常,对吧？与过去相比，龙卷风似乎更加频繁、旱灾持续 更久、暴雨更大、洪灾也创下纪录。加州和美国西部其他地区的火 灾史无前例。特拉维夫大学地球物理学和行星科学系的科学家的研 究表明,气温每升高一度,雷击数量就会再增加10%。而闪电仍然是 当今加州引发大火的主要原因。
I’m convinced that one reason we've seemed paralyzed in the face of these crises is our tendency to offer old solutions to each crisis separatelywithout taking the others into account. Yet when we look at all three of these seemingly intractable challenges at the same time, we can see the common thread running through them, deeply ironic in its simplicity: our dangerous over-reliance on carbon-based fuels is at the core of all three of these challenges—the economic, environmental and national-security crises.
我确信，我们在这些危机面前显得无能为力的原因之一就是我们倾向于用老一套办法在独立 地解决每一个危机时，没有考虑其他的危机。但如果我们把这3个看似无法应对的挑战联系起来考 虑的话,就会发现其中贯穿着一条共同主线，它极其简单，却又极其讽剌。这就是我们对碳基燃料 的过分依赖是经济、环境和国家安全危机3大挑战的核心。
What if we could use fuels that are not expensive, don’t cause pollution and are abundantly available right here at home? We have such fuels. Scientists have confirmed that enough solar energy falls on the surface of the earth every 40 minutes to meet 100% of the entire world’s energy needs for a full year. And enough wind power blows through the Midwest corridor every day to also meet 100% of US electricity demand. Geothermal energy, similarly, is capable of providing enormous supplies of electricity for America.
如果我们可以用上廉价无污染而且在国内即可大量获得的燃料，那情况会怎样？科学家已经 证实,我们有这样的燃料。每40分钟辐射到地球表面的太阳能100%满足全世界一整年的能源需求。 每天吹过中西部走廊的风能也足以满足美国100%的电力需求。地热能同样也能为美国提供大量的 电力。
Today I challenge our nation to commit to producing 100% of our electricity from renewable energy and truly clean carbon-free sources within 10 years. This goal is achievable, affordable and transformative. It represents a challenge to all Americans, in every walk of life一to our political leaders, entrepreneurs, innovators, engineers, and to every citizen.
今天，我要求国家致力于在10年内实现电力100%来自可再生能源和真正清洁的无碳能源。这 个目标是可实现的、可承担的和可转化的,它对所有的美国人和社会各界——政治领袖、企业家、 创新者、工程师以及每一个公民——提出了一个挑战。
We must now lift our nation to reach the goal that will change history. Our entire civilization depends upon us now embarking on a new journey of exploration and discovery. Our success depends on our willingness as a people to undertake this journey and to complete it within 10 years. Once 词汇宝典again, we have an opportunity to take a giant leap for humankind.
现在，我们必须帮助我们的国家实现一个改写历史的目标。我们整个的文明依靠我们，去踏上 探索与发现的新旅程。作为踏上征途并将在10年内完成任务的我们，我们的成功取决于我们的意 愿。我们再一次拥有为人类迈进一大步的机会。
(This text is an excerpt from the Nobel Peace Laureate A1 Gore’s speech on climate change.)
(本文节选自诺贝尔和平奖获得者阿尔?戈尔关于气候变化的演讲辞)