【读新闻学英语】谁来制止他们？这一地区的潜在战争将毁灭地球

By 2019年10月4日 14:46

学英语

人们似乎淡忘了古巴导弹危机的阴影和恐惧。

图片来源：NZ Herald

A nuclear war between India and Pakistan could kill up to 125 million people in a week and send the planet into ecological freefall with plummeting temperatures leading to mass starvation, a new study has claimed.

一项新的研究称，印度和巴基斯坦之间的核战争可能在一周内造成多达1.25亿人死亡，并使地球生态陷入自由落体状态，气温骤降会导致大规模饥荒。

nuclear war 核战争

freefall：自由下坠

plummet：陡然坠落，骤降

The study, published in Science Advances, looks at a war scenario that could play out between India and Pakistan in 2025 when it is predicted that the two nuclear powers could have a combined 500 nuclear weapons.

这项发表在《科学进展》（Science Advances）杂志上的研究，设想了2025年印度和巴基斯坦之间可能发生的战争场景。研究预计，这两个核大国总共可能拥有500件核武器。

scenario：场景，设想，情节

Co-author Alan Robock, a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences at Rutgers University, said that "such a war would threaten not only the locations where bombs might be targeted but the entire world".

罗格斯大学（Rutgers University）环境科学系著名教授、论文合著者Alan Robock表示，“这样一场战争不仅会威胁到可能成为炸弹目标的地区，还会威胁到整个世界。”

distinguished：著名的，受尊重的

The report details how, if nuclear weapons were used, up to 125 million people could be killed in one week in the crowded cities of India and Pakistan. For context, 50 million people were killed in the whole of World War II.

The world's annual death rate from all causes is about 56 million people per year, meaning this scenario would see the global death rate increase by a factor of 50.

And that's just the local and immediate effects.

报告详细说明了如果使用核武器，在一个星期内，多达1.25亿人可能在人口稠密的印度和巴基斯坦城市死亡。对这一数字的概念可以参考二战，在整个二战中有5000万人死亡。

每年，全球因各种原因导致的死亡人数约为5600万人。如果这场战争真的爆发，全球死亡人数将增加50倍。

这只是一些局部和直接的影响。

by a factor of：（增长或减少）…倍

Researchers found that the resulting nuclear fires could release 16 million to 36 million tons of soot (black carbon) that would rise into the upper atmosphere, spreading around the world within weeks.

The cloud would block the sunlight reaching the surface by up to 35 per cent, cooling temperatures by up to 5C and reducing precipitation by 15 to 30 per cent.

研究人员发现，由此引发的核爆炸可能会释放1600万到3600万吨烟尘（黑碳），这些烟尘将飘至高层大气，在几周内扩散到世界各地。

由此形成的云层将阻挡高达35%的阳光，使气温下降至多5摄氏度，并减少15%至30%的降水。

soot：煤烟，烟灰

precipitation：降水

Those sorts of temperatures haven't been seen on earth since the last ice age and would cause "severe disruption to natural ecosystems", according to the report.

This would have a huge impact on global food production, triggering mass starvation.

报告称，自上个冰河世纪以来，地球上从未出现过这样的温度，这将“严重破坏自然生态系统”。

这将对全球粮食生产造成巨大影响，引发大规模饥荒。

disruption：扰乱，破坏，中断

trigger：引发，触动

The report states that recovery from all these impacts would take over a decade as smoke lingers in the upper atmosphere.

"Nine countries have nuclear weapons, but Pakistan and India are the only ones rapidly increasing their arsenals," said Robock.

报告指出，从所有这些影响中恢复过来，需要10年以上的时间，因为烟雾会长时间萦绕在大气中。

“世界上有9个国家拥有核武器，但巴基斯坦和印度是唯一迅速扩张其核武库的国家，”Robock说。

linger in：徘徊，萦绕

arsenal：兵工厂，武器库

"Because of the continuing unrest between these two nuclear-armed countries, particularly over Kashmir, it is important to understand the consequences of a nuclear war.

"Nuclear weapons cannot be used in any rational scenario but could be used by accident or as a result of hacking, panic or deranged world leaders.

"The only way to prevent this is to eliminate them."

“由于这两个拥核国家之间持续发生动乱，特别是在克什米尔问题上，了解核战争的后果是重要的。”

“任何理智的情况下，人们都不会使用核武器，但难保发生意外，比如黑客攻击，或是世界领导人的恐慌和错乱。”

“防止这种情况发生的唯一方法就是消除核武器。”

unrest：动荡，动乱，不安

consequence：后果，影响

deranged：疯狂的，精神错乱的

eliminate：消除

The growing tension between India and Pakistan over the disputed region of Kashmir was brought to a head last week, when Pakistani leader Imran Khan made a chilling speech at the UN that warned of "consequences far beyond the borders".

上周，印巴围绕克什米尔地区的紧张局势不断加剧。巴基斯坦领导人伊姆兰·汗在联合国发表了一场令人恐惧的演讲，警告称“后果可能超越边界”。

bring to a head：使尖锐化，使加剧

chilling：令人恐惧的

"When a nuclear-armed country fights to the end, it will have consequences far beyond the borders. It will have consequences for the world.

Khan called India PM Narendra Modi's actions in Kashmir "stupid" and "cruel".

"That's not a threat," he said of his war comments. "It's a fair worry. Where are we headed?"

“当一个拥核国家战斗到最后，其后果将远远超出本国边界。它将对世界产生影响。”

伊姆兰·汗称，印度总理莫迪在克什米尔的行动“愚蠢”且“残忍”。

“这不是威胁，”他谈到自己的战争言论时说。“这是一个合理的担忧。我们即将去往哪里?”

fair：合理的，公平的

NZ Herald link

你可能还想看：