英语时文泛读 Current News Articles for Extensive Reading

1. 英语时文泛读Current News Articles for Extensive Reading BOOK III

2. People and Environment

3. I. Overview • This unit contains three articles on the environment. Read them and think about how we are affecting the environment and on the other hand how we are affected by the environment.

4. Structure • We live in a modern society with modern technologies and all kinds of conveniences, but all these come after and from industrialization which has given rise to numerous environmental issues.

5. Global Warming: Struggling to Save the Planet It describes how the G-8 member countries struggle to cope with global warming while having to take their economic and political interests into consideration. Text A

6. Indian agricultural development has led to huge increase in its output, but it comes from use of massive amount of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, which in turn has caused many health problems for people. Chemical Generation Text B

7. Global warming has brought about great damage to the Amazon rainforest, which led to a change of heart on the Brazilian government on environmental protection. Brazil, Alarmed, Reconsiders Policy on Climate Change Text C

8. Focus of this session

9. II. Text A Global Warming: Struggling to Save the Planet • Main Idea of the Text • G-8 member countries struggle to cope with global warming while having to take their economic and political interests into consideration.

10. Author Unnamed; it is The Economist’s practice of not giving the author’s name. Source The Economist's primary focus is world news, politics and business, but it also runs regular sections on science and technology as well as books and the arts. Every two weeks, the publication adds an in-depth special report on a particular issue, business sector or geographical region. Every three months, it publishes a technology report called Technology Quarterly or TQ. Background Information

11. G-8 The Group of Eight (G8, and formerly the (G6) or Group of Six) is an international forum for the governments of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union (the EU is represented within the G8, but cannot host or chair). The G8 can refer to the member states or to the annual summit meeting of the G8 heads of government. G8 ministers also meet throughout the year, such as the G7/8 finance ministers (who meet four times a year), G8 foreign ministers or G8 environment ministers. Cultural Notes

12. The seaside resort Heiligendamm, situated on the Baltic Sea coast, was founded in 1793. It is the oldest seaside spa in Germany. Heiligendamm is part of the town Bad Doberan in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. After the German reunification in 1989/1990, a group of investors bought most of the buildings and undertook a major programme of refurbishment. Cultural Notes

13. America’s National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as “advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine.” Cultural Notes

14. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is a scientific body tasked to evaluate the risk of climate change caused by human activity. The panel was established in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), two organizations of the United Nations. The IPCC shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former Vice President of the United States Al Gore. Cultural Notes

15. The Kyoto Protocol is a protocol to the international Framework Convention on Climate Change with the objective of reducing greenhouse gases in an effort to prevent anthropogenic climate change. It was adopted for use on 11 December 1997 by the 3rd Conference of the Parties, which was meeting in Kyoto, and it entered into force on 16 February 2005. As of May 2008, 182 parties have ratified the protocol. Cultural Notes

16. The Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate (APP) brings together Australia, Canada, China, India, Japan, Republic of Korea and the United States of America to address the challenges of climate change, energy security and air pollution in a way that encourages economic development and reduces poverty. The APP members are large, fast growing economies that represent around half the world’s emissions, energy use, GDP and population. Cultural Notes

17. Language Points Key Words & Expressions • pave the way for (para. 2): • to create a situation in which sb will be able to do sth or sth can happen 铺路，为……创造条件 • e.g. • This decision paved the way for changes in employment rights for women. （这项决议为修改妇女就业权利创造了条件。）

18. Language Points • get under way (para. 2): • start 开动，开始进行 • e.g. • Let’s get under way, we’re already late （咱们动身吧，已经晚了。 ） • e.g. • He gave his consent for the project to get under way. （他同意将这个计划付诸实施。 ）

19. Language Points • toy with (para. 5): • consider, have in view, usually not very seriously and not for a long time 考虑，有……想法（常指不认真考虑或对待) • e.g. • I did briefly toy with the idea of living in France. （我确实稍稍有过定居法国的念头。）

20. Language Points • churn out (para. 4): • To produce in an abundant and automatic manner 大量产出,以一种丰富的和自动的方式产生 • e.g. • He churns out four novels a year. （他一年出四本小说。） • e.g. • Some pulp writers churn out two or three short stories a day. （有些低级杂志的作家每天粗制滥造地写出两三篇短篇小说。 ）

21. Language Points • stick to one’s guns (para. 9): • to refuse to change your mind about sth even when other people are trying to persuade you that you are wrong 坚持己见，一意孤行 • e.g. • No-one believed her story but she stuck to her guns. （没有人相信她说的，但她仍坚持自己的看法。）

22. Language Points • She is planning to have lunch with George Bush on June 6th, the opening day of the summit, in the hopes of breaking the deadlock. (para.2) • She 这里指德国总理默克尔；the opening day of the summit为插入语，对June 6th进一步解释说明。 • In the hopes of: with the hope to, 希望能…… e.g. He flew off to the station in the hope of catching the train. （他匆忙去了火车站，希望能赶上火车。） • 这句话说明默克尔希望与布什共进午餐，以借机打破各方无法就降低温室气体排放的具体目标达成一致的僵局。

23. Language Points • Unlike all other rich countries bar Australia, the United States never ratified the Kyoto protocol, and formally withdrew from it in 2001. (para.3) • Bar: Except for; excluding, 除……之外；不包括……在内：e.g. This was your best performance, bar none. （毫无例外，这是你最好的演出） • 在发达国家中，只有澳大利亚和美国没有加入京都议定书，美国国会最初就没有批准该议定书，总统布什于2001年宣布正式退出。《京都议定书》是联合国气候大会于1997年12月在日本京都通过的，目标是在2008年至2012年间，将发达国家的二氧化碳等6种温室气体的排放量在1990年的基础上平均减少5.2％。 美国是世界上温室气体排放量最大的国家，也是《京都议定书》的发起国之一。但是美国总统布什在2001年第一个任期上任伊始就宣布退出《京都议定书》，使得它的实际效力大打折扣。

24. Language Points • At a conference in Laos in 2005 it recruited Australia, China, India, Japan and South Korea to an outfit with that approach, called the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate. (para.5) • 这里指美国于2005年7月28日在老挝万象和中国、印度、澳大利亚、韩国和日本共同发表了《”亚太清洁发展与气候新伙伴计划”意向声明》,旨在发展高效成本清洁技术以及二氧化碳捕获和储存技术,从而达到减排的目的。(相关信息请参考文化背景) • 这句话中，that approach 指上句中的previous strategy, outfit即the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate