火山翻译·第四届全国机器翻译译后编辑大赛决赛参考译文
发布时间： 2021-07-26 来源： 上海一者信息科技有限公司
以下内容为本次大赛决赛参考译文，参考译文由上海外国语大学高翻学院提供。
| 原文 | 参考译文 |
| Politics, Otto Von Bismarck is supposed to have said, is the art of the possible. | 奥托·冯·俾斯麦 (Otto Von Bismarck) 似曾说过，政治是“将一切变为可能”的艺术。 |
| And one of the most depressing features of discussions about global warming is their tendency to take place in a fantasy land of the politically impossible. | 但是关于全球变暖的讨论却往往是政治上不可能实现的幻想，这也是相关讨论令人沮丧的一大特征。 |
| Few people in those parts of the world made rich by carbon-dioxide-emitting enterprise are going to volunteer for a cut in living standards. | 在世界上因二氧化碳排放而过上富足生活的地区，很少有人会自愿降低生活质量。 |
| And it is hard to ask those from parts of the world that are not yet rich to sacrifice the chance to become so. | 要让那些还不富裕地区的人们放弃成为富人的机会也很难。 |
| That being the case, it makes sense to concentrate on doing things which affect neither the comforts of the former nor the aspirations of the latter. | 因此，集中精力做些实事，既不影响富人的舒适生活，也不打击不富裕的人们追求富裕生活的愿望，这样才有意义。 |
| Technological change that shifts economies away from using fossil fuels as their principal energy sources may be able to achieve this in the long term. | 从长期来看，推动技术变革，促使经济不再依赖化石燃料作为主要能源，或许能够实现这一目标。 |
| But some sort of effective action is also needed now. | 但是，目前仍然有待采取一些有效的行动。 |
| A study published in Science in 2018 measured leaks from a third of America’s natural-gas supply chain and oil-production sites. | 幸运的是，目前的有些行动是行之有效的。 |
| For carbon dioxide is not the only cause of global warming. | 因为二氧化碳并非是全球变暖的唯一原因。 |
| About a quarter of the effect is a consequence of a different gas, methane. | 气候变暖的成因有四分之一在于另外一种气体——甲烷。 |
| And the methane problem looks a lot more tractable in the short term than does the carbon-dioxide one. | 短期来看，甲烷要比二氧化碳更容易对付。 |
| CO2 v CH4 | 二氧化碳（CO2）对甲烷（CH4） |
| Going after methane, a compound of one carbon atom with four hydrogens, makes sense, for it is a potent greenhouse agent. | 致力于解决甲烷的问题是有道理的，因为这种由一个碳原子和四个氢原子组成的化合物是一种强效温室气体。 |
| Over the 20 years subsequent to its emission a tonne of methane causes 86 times more warming than does a tonne of CO2. | 有一项研究对甲烷进行了20多年的跟踪，研究结果发现，一吨甲烷所造成的全球变暖效果是一吨二氧化碳的86倍。 |
| Also, it does not hang around. | 此外，甲烷不会长久停留在大气中。 |
| It has a half-life in the atmosphere of about a decade, so what is released soon vanishes. | 甲烷在大气中的半衰期大约为十年，因此，甲烷一释放出来不久就会消失。 |
| By contrast, CO2 lingers for hundreds, or even thousands, of years. | 相比之下，二氧化碳会在大气中存在几百年甚至几千年。 |
| The Climate and Clean Air Coalition, a collaboration of governments and environmental lobby groups, therefore reckons that halving anthropogenic methane emissions over the next 30 years could shave 0.18°C off the average global temperature in 2050. | 气候和清洁空气联盟（Climate and Clean Air Coalition）是由各国政府和环保组织共同组建的环保组织，该联盟认为，如果未来30年间人为甲烷排放量减半，到2050年就可能使全球平均温度降低0.18摄氏度。 |
| That may not sound much, but it is between 20% and 45% of the gap between current temperatures and the goal, agreed on in Paris in 2015 by most of the world’s countries, of stabilising temperatures between 1.5°C and 2°C above pre-industrial averages. | 这个降幅似乎并不多，但已相当于当前气温和2015年巴黎气候大会上大多数国家达成一致的目标之间差值的20%-45%；巴黎气候大会确定的目标是将气温稳定在比工业化前平均气温高1.5-2摄氏度之间。 |
| Moreover, in many cases the cost of stopping emissions of methane can be offset against the fact that, unlike carbon dioxide, it is a valuable commodity. | 此外，在许多情况下，停止甲烷排放的成本可被抵消，因为它与二氧化碳不同，是一种有价值的商品。 |
| The International Energy Agency (IEA, an intergovernmental organisation based in Paris) estimates that 75% of emissions from the oil and gas sector—some 16.5% of total human emissions—could be avoided with technologies available today, and that 40% (9% of total human emissions) could be eliminated at no net cost. | 据国际能源署（IEA，一家总部位于巴黎的政府间组织）估计，油气行业75%的甲烷排放（约占人类总排放量的16.5%）可以利用现有的技术消除，40%的排放（占人类总排放量的9%）可以采用净成本为零的方式消除。 |
| The importance of tackling methane has become more apparent in the past decade and a half. | 十五年来，解决甲烷问题的重要性逐渐显现。 |
| After a plateau which began in 1999, concentrations of the gas in the atmosphere started rising again in 2007, a trend that continues to this day. | 大气中的甲烷浓度自1999年起一直保持稳定，从2007年开始上升，一直延续至今。 |
| At the moment, more than 300 million tonnes are emitted every year as a consequence of human activity, and that rate is growing. | 目前，每年人类活动会排放3亿吨甲烷，而且这一数量还在不断增长。 |
| As a result, methane concentrations are now more than two-and-a-half times what they were before the Industrial Revolution, and are rising faster than allowed for in all but the most pessimistic climate projections for the 21st century. | 因此，当今的甲烷浓度已经是工业革命前的2.5倍以上，而且增长速度接近对21世纪气候变化最悲观的估测。 |
| The rise after 2007 prompted a rush to understand methane’s sources and how it degrades in the atmosphere. | 2007年后的甲烷排放上升趋势，迫使人们亟需尽快了解甲烷的源头及其在大气中的降解方式等问题。 |
| That rise was originally seen as an anomaly, says Marielle Saunois of France’s Climate and Environmental Sciences Laboratory, “but now that it has been going on for 13 or 14 years, we see the plateau as the anomaly”. | 法国气候与环境科学实验室的玛丽埃勒·索诺伊斯（Marielle Saunois ）表示，“甲烷排放量的上升最初被当成了反常现象，但是，至今这种上升趋势已经持续了十三、四年了，我们认为2007年以前的稳定期才是反常现象。” |
| Both ground-based and aerial studies show that leaky natural-gas pipes are one culprit. | 地面及空中的监测研究均表明，天然气管道泄漏是罪魁祸首之一。 |
| In 2018, for example, instruments mounted on planes flying downwind of Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York and Boston found that 850,000 tonnes of methane a year was wafting from these cities. | 例如，2018年，在华盛顿、巴尔的摩、费城、纽约和波士顿下风向飞行的飞机上的检测仪器显示，每年会有85万吨的甲烷从这些城市逸出。 |
| That is roughly ten times the official estimate of the American government’s Environment Protection Agency (EPA). | 这大约是美国环境保护局（EPA）官方估测的十倍。 |
| A bigger source of emissions, though, is further up the fossil-fuel supply chain—at the points where natural gas, oil and coal are extracted from Earth’s crust, processed and moved around the globe. | 更大的排放源可以追溯到化石燃料供应链的上游：从地壳中开采天然气、石油、煤，经过加工后运输到世界各地。 |
| A study published in Science in 2018 measured leaks from a third of America’s natural-gas supply chain and oil-production sites. | 2018年发表在《科学》杂志的一项研究监测了美国三分之一的天然气供应链以及石油生产场所的泄漏情况。 |
| Extrapolating from this sample, the team involved estimated that some 13 million tonnes of methane escaped from these facilities each year, approximately 60% more than the EPA’s official figures. | 该研究团队根据采样分析推测，这些设施每年大约泄漏1300万吨的甲烷，约比美国环境保护局的官方数值高60%。 |
| The IEA, meanwhile, estimates that each year the world’s coal mines liberate roughly 40 million tonnes of methane that was once trapped in the coal being extracted. | 同时，国际能源署估计，全球煤矿每年大约释放出4000万吨甲烷，而这些气体原本存储在煤矿之中，挖矿时会释放出来。 |
| As a source of power, coal is on its way out, but not fast enough. | 燃煤发电正在逐渐被淘汰，但速度还不够快。 |
| It maintains a stronghold in Asia, and in China in particular, where it could stymie efforts to stabilise the climate. | 亚洲，尤其是中国，仍然大量采用燃煤发电，这会妨碍稳定气候变化的努力。 |
| Researchers at Global Energy Monitor, an environmental lobby group that maintains a log of coal-related operations around the world, estimate that planned new mines will emit a further 13.5 million tonnes a year. | 全球能源监测组织（Global Energy Monitor)是一个监测全球煤炭产业日常运营的环保组织，该组织的研究人员预测，每年计划新建煤矿的排放量将达1350万吨。 |
| Their report, published in March, surveyed 432 mining projects, more than 100 of which are already under construction in China. | 该组织在三月份发布的报告调查了432个采矿项目，其中，100多个项目已经在中国开工建设。 |
| As soon as a seam is opened it starts to emit methane. | 只要打开煤层，就会开始排放甲烷。 |
| While a mine is active its methane is vented deliberately into the atmosphere to avoid explosions. | 一旦开始生产，为避免爆炸，煤矿就要有意地把甲烷排放到大气中。 |
| But even once it has been closed it can carry on leaking the gas for decades. | 即使煤矿关停之后，仍会继续泄漏甲烷几十年。 |
| The task of putting together all the data on sources of methane has fallen to an international collaboration called the Global Methane Budget, led by Dr Saunois. | 由索诺伊斯博士领导的国际合作组织项目全球甲烷预算（Global Methane Budget)承担收集甲烷源头数据的任务。 |
| This seeks to understand what might be called the methane cycle, by tracing how much CH4 makes its way into and out of the atmosphere every year, and developing a model that describes this. | 通过跟踪每年进出大气的甲烷量，该项目开发了描述所谓“甲烷循环”过程的模型。 |
| Gas pains | 甲烷之伤 |
| Besides leaky wells and pipelines, and gassy coal mines, methane is also emitted by belching cattle, rice paddies, forest fires, slash-and-burn agriculture, rubbish dumps, wastewater-treatment plants, cars and lorries, and natural ecosystems such as swamps, rivers and lakes. | 除了矿井、管道、瓦斯煤矿会泄漏甲烷，牲畜、稻田、林火、刀耕火种、垃圾堆场、污水处理、汽车卡车以及诸如湿地、河湖等自然生态系统都会释放甲烷。 |
| A perfect inventory would require knowledge of the size, nature and locations of all such sources around the globe—currently an impossible undertaking. | 厘清上述源头的全球性规模、性质以及位置，才能获得一份堪称完美的源头清单，但目前这是一项无法完成的任务。 |
| Instead, researchers at the Global Methane Budget combine two methods, one bottom-up, the other top-down, to arrive at the best estimate they can. | 因此，全球甲烷预算（Global Methane Budget)项目研究人员采用了自下而上和自上而下相结合的方法，以求达到最精准的估值。 |
| The bottom-up approach is to scrape national and international sets of data for information on all possible sources of the gas, and then combine this with estimates of how much methane each type of source emits. | 自下而上的方法，就是收集所有国家和国际甲烷来源数据，然后将这些数据与每种来源的甲烷排放量估值相结合。 |
| The top-down approach employs direct satellite and ground-based measurements of methane concentrations. | 自上而下的方法，就是直接采用卫星及地面监测装置收集甲烷浓度信息。 |
| The two are reconciled by plugging the list of sources into a computer model intended to simulate the flow of methane from its sources and the way it is broken down in the atmosphere. | 这两种方法得出的数据相结合，制成源头清单并录入计算机模型，模仿甲烷从源头释放的情况及其在大气中的降解方式。 |
| This produces hypothetical atmospheric concentrations which can be checked against the real measurements. | 这样就可以得出假设的甲烷浓度，可与真实测量数据进行比对。 |
| Mismatches are reduced by adjusting the modelled flows to arrive at a best estimate of what is actually happening. | 通过调整释出数据，可得出接近真实情况的最精准估值，因此估值同实际数值不符的情况就会减少。 |
| Dr Saunois’s team published their first results in July 2020. | 2020年7月，索诺伊斯博士团队发布了他们的第一阶段研究成果。 |
| They found that between 550 million and 880 million tonnes of methane per year were emitted between 2008 and 2017—roughly 9% more than the average between 2000 and 2006. | 他们发现，2008年至2017年，每年的甲烷排放量在5.5亿到8.8亿吨之间，比2000年到2006年间的均值高出9%。 |
| Between 50% and 60% of this came from human activities, depending on whether the bottom-up or top-down method was used. | 其中的50%-60%来自人类活动，区间的波动在于自下而上和自上而下两种研究方法的差别。 |
| Of these, roughly speaking, fossil fuels and agriculture each account for a third, with the remainder coming from a combination of emissions from things like cars, fires, landfills and waste-water processing. | 在化石燃料和农业排放大约各占三分之一，剩余部分来自汽车、明火、垃圾堆场以及废水处理等环节的排放。 |
| The post-2007 uptick in methane levels, the team found, was caused by extra human emissions, though there may also be some diminution in the atmosphere’s ability to destroy the gas. | 该团队发现，2007年后甲烷浓度的上升主要是由额外的人类排放所致，而大气分解甲烷的能力可能也有所减弱。 |
| Thankfully, there was little sign of increased release of methane from Arctic tundra, which some fear may happen as the tundra warms. | 有人担心，北极苔原带变暖会释放出更多的甲烷，但幸运的是，目前还没有这个迹象。 |
| Fossil-fuel emissions increased a lot in China over the decade that followed 2007, and to a lesser extent in other Asian countries, America, Africa and the Middle East. | 在2007年后的十年间，中国的化石燃料排放量大幅增加，其他亚洲国家、美洲、非洲以及中东地区也有增加，只是增幅较小。 |
| China, indeed, is the world’s largest methane emitter, an accolade it owes partly to its continued exploitation of coal. | 实际上，中国是世界上甲烷排放量最大的国家，该国持续不断地开采煤矿是部分原因。 |
| In spite of regulations brought in to encourage mine operators to use methane from their mines for such purposes as power generation, rather than venting it into the atmosphere, a study published in Nature, in 2019, found that the sector’s activities were still driving China’s methane emissions up. | 虽然中国出台了相关规定，鼓励煤矿经营者回收矿井中的甲烷发电，而不是直接将甲烷排放到大气中，但2019年发表在《自然》杂志的一项研究发现，煤炭产业的活动仍在推高中国的甲烷排放量。 |
| Europe was the only region to achieve a drop in emissions, in part thanks to policies to reduce the amount of biodegradable waste that is sent to landfill. | 欧洲是唯一实现甲烷排放量下降的地区，部分得益于欧洲出台了减少送往垃圾堆场的可降解废弃物数量的政策。 |
| The largest increases in agricultural emissions came from Asia, Africa and the Middle East—and agricultural sources, specifically livestock and rice paddies, are the most difficult of all to deal with. | 农业排放增幅最大的地区分别为亚洲、非洲和中东地区，农业排放源头是最难解决的，尤其是牲畜和稻田。 |
| In both cases, the gas is produced by methanogenic microbes that live, respectively, in the animals’ guts and decomposing excrement, and in oxygen-poor waterlogged soil. | 牲畜和稻田排放的甲烷气体都源自于产甲烷微生物，而在动物的内脏、腐烂的排泄物或缺氧的渍水土壤中都含有这种微生物。 |
| Paddies account for 8% of man-made methane emissions. | 稻田甲烷排放占人为排放总量的8%。 |
| Varieties of rice that yield more grain for the same amount of methane could help reduce this, but a technologically simpler approach would be to switch to irrigating paddies for less time, which comes with the added bonus of saving water too. | 种植甲烷排放量相同而产量更高的水稻品种，有助于降低这一占比，更简单易行的技术方法则是减少稻田的灌溉时间，这样还可以节约用水。 |
| The lion’s share of agricultural methane, though, comes from ruminant livestock—cows and sheep, mainly. | 大部分的农业甲烷源自于反刍牲畜，主要是牛和羊。 |
| Such husbandry generates 79% of the sector’s contribution. | 牲畜养殖业占农业甲烷排放量的79%， |
| That amounts to 30% of all anthropogenic emissions. | 占人为排放总量的30%。 |
| Asking people to eat less meat and drink less milk, while fashionable at the moment in rich countries, probably goes against the Bismarckian principle of realism in the wider, middle-income world where discretionary spending is rising and diets are improving. | 少吃肉、少喝奶，虽然在富裕国家已成为时尚潮流，但可支配支出持续增长、饮食条件不断改善的中等收入国家，这可能违背了俾斯麦式的现实主义原则。 |
| But another option is to attack the methanogens themselves. | 消灭产甲烷菌则是另外一个选择。 |
| This is now being investigated experimentally, to see if changing what the animals eat can damp down methanogenic activity. | 目前有实验研究正在求证是否可以通过改变动物饲料来抑制产甲烷菌的活性。 |
| Though it is probably not a practical solution at scale, some studies suggest a diet rich in certain seaweeds can decrease an animal’s methane emissions by as much as 80%. | 这也许不是一种可以大规模适用的解决方案，但有研究表明，采用富含某些海藻的饲料可以将动物甲烷排放减少80%。 |
| A compound called bromoform, abundant in these algae, inhibits the chemical reactions that produce methane inside the animals’ rumens. | 这些藻类含有大量名为三溴甲烷的化合物，它会抑制动物瘤胃中产生甲烷的化学反应。 |
| Unfortunately, cattle fed enough seaweed to experience the 80% cut produce less meat or milk than they otherwise would. | 很不幸的是，给牛喂食足够量的此类海藻，甲烷排量可下降80%，但产肉量、产奶量均有所下降。 |
| But another, more benign, dietary change does seem to help without side-effects. | 另一种更为良性的新饲喂方式似乎更胜一筹，而且没有副作用。 |
| This is to add vegetable oils to ruminants’ diets. | 就是在反刍动物的饲料中添加植物油。 |
| These are calorie-rich, but do not ferment in the rumen and therefore do not encourage methanogens. | 植物油富含卡路里，但不会在瘤胃中发酵，因此不会促进产甲烷菌的生长。 |
| This approach can cut emissions by 11-18%. | 这一方法可以减少11-18%的甲烷排放量。 |
| More radically, methanogen activity can be disrupted by adding synthetic chemicals to animals’ diets. | 此外，在动物饲料中添加合成化学物质可以破坏产甲烷菌的活性。 |
| One such is 3-nitrooxypropanol, which gums up an enzyme the bugs use to generate methane. | 上述合成化学物质之一是3-硝基氧基丙醇，它可以和菌群用以合成甲烷的酶相结合。 |
| DSM, a Dutch firm, has turned this into a product, now awaiting approval for use in Europe, which it claims can reduce the amount a cow emits by 27-40%. | 荷兰帝斯曼公司（DSM）已开发了3-硝基氧基丙醇产品，目前正在欧洲等待批准使用，该公司称可将奶牛的甲烷排放量减少27%-40%。 |
| Just do it | 说做就做 |
| That methane emissions are a prime target for reduction is an idea which has caught on with politicians, at least in rich countries. | 减少甲烷排放是减排的主要目标之一，这已成政治家们的共识，至少在富裕国家是这样。 |
| In October, the European Commission adopted a “European methane strategy”, the implementation of which will be thrashed out this year. | 今年十月，欧盟委员会发布“欧洲甲烷战略”，具体实施办法将在年内出台。 |
| The previous plan had been to cut the EU’s emissions in 2030 to a level 29% below those of 2005. | 此前，欧盟计划到2030年将甲烷排放量降至比2005年低29%的水准。 |
| That target has now been increased to 35-37%. | 新计划的减排目标提高到35%-37%。 |
| In 2020 Donald Trump, who was then the president, repealed regulations on monitoring and plugging methane leaks introduced by his predecessor, Barack Obama. | 2020年，时任美国总统唐纳德·特朗普（Donald Trump）废除了其前任巴拉克·奥巴马（Barack Obama）颁布的监测和堵塞甲烷泄漏的相关法规。 |
| Mr Trump’s successor, Joe Biden, says he will reverse this reversal, but is also under pressure from environmental lobby groups to go further, by setting a target of reducing emissions by as much as 65% by 2025. | 特朗普先生的继任者乔·拜登（Joe Biden）表示，他将恢复该项已被撤销的法规，即便如此，环保团体仍然在不断向他施压，要求他更进一步，设定到2025年减排65%的目标。 |
| Such lofty goals are worth little, though, if their consequences are not measured. | 但是，如果结果得不到衡量，设定远大的目标就毫无意义可言。 |
| Fossil-fuel companies naturally gather their own data privately. | 化石燃料公司自然会收集各自的数据。 |
| And several environmental organisations hunt for leaks in pipelines and so on using instruments mounted on cars and planes. | 一些环境组织会利用安装在汽车或飞机上的设备，搜寻管道上的泄漏点。 |
| Their goal is to shine a light on the issue, but their data are also frequently fed back to oil and gas operators, to help them patch up their pipelines. | 他们的目标是曝光问题，他们的数据通常也会反馈给油气运营商，帮助他们及时修补管道。 |
| The Environmental Defence Fund says responses vary, but many firms are grateful for the additional feedback. | 美国环保协会（Environmental Defence Fund）表示，油气公司对此的反应不尽相同，但许多公司对这种反馈充满感激。 |
| The Oil and Gas Methane Partnership (OGMP), a UN-led project, standardises methods for measuring and reporting methane emissions in the fossil-fuel industry. | 由联合国主导的油气甲烷伙伴关系（OGMP）项目提供标准化的方法监测和报告化石燃料行业的甲烷排放情况。 |
| At the last count, it had recruited 66 companies which, collectively, produce 30% of the world’s oil and gas. | 最新数据显示，该项目已招募了66家油气企业，这些公司的石油和天然气产量总和占世界产量的30%。 |
| Data collected through the OGMP will be fed into a new International Methane Emissions Observatory being cooked up by the UN Environment Programme and the European Commission. | 油气甲烷伙伴关系项目收集的数据会提供给国际甲烷排放观测项目，该项目是联合国环境规划署同欧盟委员会共同策划成立的新机构。 |
| This will combine them with other measurements, including from the growing number of satellites that measure methane sources from above, to verify national and corporate accounting. | 该项目将联合其他监测手段，包括监测上文所述甲烷源头的日益增多的卫星，核实国家及公司的相关统计数据。 |
已经到底啦~
