The Amazon and climate change 亞馬遜雨林砍伐與氣候變化的關系

學習要點

有關 “climate change （氣候變化）” 的詞匯

邊看邊答

What happens to the Earth's climate if trees are cut down and burned?

文字稿

This must be the hardest way to investigate why the trees of the Amazon are so important - climbing right up into them. Down on the ground a scientist, Erika Berenguer, is asking for samples of the leaves.

這一定是為了研究亞馬遜樹木的重要性而采用的最困難的方法：直接爬上去。站在地面上的科學家艾瑞卡·貝倫格爾正在索要樹葉的樣本。

Erika has studied the same batch of trees for ten years now, measuring exactly how they're growing and how they affect the climate. This matters to the whole world because of sheer size of this forest.

艾瑞卡十年來一直研究同一批樹木，測量它們究竟是怎樣生長的，怎樣影響氣候變化的。這事關全世界，因為這片森林的面積非常龐大。

We've used graphics to show how the billions of leaves are breathing in carbon dioxide - a gas which is heating up the planet.

我們用插圖展示了數十億片樹葉吸收二氧化碳的方式，二氧化碳是一種使地球升溫的氣體。

As human activity keeps adding more and more carbon dioxide to the air, magnificent trees like this pull a lot of it in. But chop it down and burn it, and all the carbon that's been stored inside over the many years is suddenly released back to the atmosphere, which of course increases the speed of global warming.

隨著人類活動不斷向空氣中添加越來越多的二氧化碳，像這樣高大的樹木會吸收大量的二氧化碳。但砍伐、燃燒樹木會使積存多年的碳突然重新釋放回大氣中，這自然會加快全球氣候變暖的速度。

In the last few months, the rate of deforestation here has suddenly increased. The new government of Brazil wants to encourage development. So Erika's research is all the more urgent.

在過去的數月里，這里的森林濫伐率激增。巴西新政府想鼓勵當地的發展。因此，艾瑞卡的研究愈顯緊迫。

In this lab, she studies the leaves collected from the forest, to work out how much carbon the Amazon holds. It's the equivalent of America burning fossil fuels for nearly a century.

在這個研究室里，她通過研究從森林中收集到的樹葉，算出了亞馬遜雨林中的碳含量。結果相當于美國燃燒了近一個世紀的化石燃料。

Dr Erika Berenguer, Oxford Environmental Change Institute
We're never going to be able to build an Amazon. It's going to be gone forever. So once it's gone, it's just gone.

艾瑞卡·貝倫格爾博士     牛津大學環境變化研究所
“我們永遠也沒法建造出一個亞馬遜雨林。它將一去不復返。所以它一旦消失了，就再也回不來了?！?

All that's left where forest once stood. A stark reminder of what's vanishing, and of consequences for the rest of the world.

這是昔日的樹林所剩無幾的模樣。這幅景象提醒人們關注日益消失的樹林，以及這對世界其它地區所帶來的嚴重后果。

詞匯

carbon dioxide 二氧化碳

heating up 加熱、使……升溫

global warming 全球氣候變暖

deforestation （大面積）濫砍濫伐森林

fossil fuels 化石燃料

問題答案

The carbon stored inside the trees will be released back to the atmosphere which speeds up global warming.