And I’m Sam. It’s hard to feel positive when you hear about climate change, don’t you think, Neil?
我是山姆。当你听到气候变化时，你很难感到积极，你不觉得吗，尼尔？
Neil(尼尔)
Yes, according to the UN’s Cop 26 conference, we’re heading for a catastrophic global temperature rise of three degrees by the end of this century… Fires are blazing from the Amazon to the Arctic... And even if we stopped burning all fossil fuels tomorrow, it would take decades to feel the effects. It’s all very depressing!
I agree, but there is hope that catastrophes can be avoided thanks to some amazing ideas by some very imaginative scientists. In this programme, we’ll be discussing geoengineering – the name for a collection of new scientific plans to remove carbon from the atmosphere and stop global warming.
Also called ‘climate repair’, geoengineering is still in the experimental stages. Some technologies are controversial because they interfere with natural climate systems, and others may not even be possible.
One ingenious idea to cool the planet involves spraying diamond dust in the sky to deflect the Sun’s rays.
冷却地球的一个巧妙想法是在天空中喷洒钻石尘埃以偏转太阳光线。
Neil(尼尔)
Amazing! But before we find out more, I have a question for you, Sam. Spraying diamond dust in the sky sounds futuristic, but in the 1960s there was a band who wrote a song called ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’. But which band? Was it: a) The Rolling Stones? b) The Beach Boys? or c) The Beatles?
了不起！但在我们了解更多信息之前，我有一个问题要问你，山姆。在天空中喷洒钻石尘埃听起来很有未来感，但在 1960 年代，有一个乐队写了一首名为“Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”的歌曲。但是哪个乐队呢？是：a）滚石乐队吗？b） 海滩男孩？或 c） 披头士乐队？
Sam(山姆)
I think most people would say the answer is c) The Beatles.
我想大多数人会说答案是 c） 披头士乐队。
Neil(尼尔)
OK, we’ll find out the answer later in the programme. Now, throwing diamonds in the sky might sound crazy but it’s far from the wildest idea scientists have thought up to decarbonise the planet.
Oceans hold sixteen times more carbon than the Earth’s atmosphere and could hold even more if the fish and plankton living there had more available nutrients – food that animals and plants need to grow.
But how to provide these nutrients? Believe it or not, one answer involves - you guessed it - whale poo!
但是如何提供这些营养呢？信不信由你，一个答案涉及 - 你猜对了 - 鲸鱼便便！
Sam(山姆)
David King chairs the Centre for Climate Repair at Cambridge University. He explained how his unusual idea would work to BBC World Service programme, Discovery:
Image now a pod of whales all coming up and pooing in the same area of the ocean. This could be in an eddy current, and it could lead to something like 10,000 to 20,000 square kilometres being covered in nutrients, including iron. And as we know from observations today, within three months that region is chock-a-block with fish.
Whales live in groups called pods. They swim up to the ocean surface to poo, and this poo can be spread in an eddy – a large current of water moving in a circular motion, like a giant whirlpool.
As a result, huge areas of the ocean are covered in nutrients, and become chock- a-block with fish – an informal way to say ‘full of fish’.
结果，海洋的大片区域被营养物质覆盖，并被鱼塞得一团糟 —— 这是一种非正式的说法，“到处都是鱼”。
Neil(尼尔)
Another original idea being explored is ‘rock weathering’. Carbon is slowly locked into rocks and mountains over thousands of years by natural geological processes. This literally ground-breaking idea would speed up the process by locking carbon into rocks that have been dug up through industrial mining.
Listen as geochemist, Professor Rachael James, explains her idea to BBC World Service’s, Discovery:
请听地球化学家Rachael James教授向BBC世界频道的Discovery节目解释她的想法：
Rachael James(雷切尔·詹姆斯)
For every tonne of rock that’s mined, only a very tiny proportion, a couple of grams of that, is actually diamond. The rest of it is effectively waste. So, mine waste material is potentially a really great source of material that could be repurposed for enhanced rock weathering and I think that’s really good because it creates a circular economy.
Mining for diamonds creates tonnes of waste rock which could be used to capture carbon. Professor James wants to repurpose this rock – to find a new use for it.
钻石开采会产生数吨废石，可用于捕获碳。詹姆斯教授希望重新利用这块岩石 —— 为它找到新的用途。
Neil(尼尔)
Not only would this lock more carbon, it also creates a circular economy – an economic model which involves sharing, reusing and recycling products for as long as possible to avoid waste and to reduce levels of carbon.
While these ideas might sound strange, they’re all theoretically possible. And looking to science for positive solutions reminds some people of the early ecological movement which started in the 1960s and now, fifty years later, is being taken seriously.
Speaking of the 1960s, it’s time to reveal the answer to my question, Sam.
说到 1960 年代，是时候揭晓我问题的答案了，山姆。
Sam(山姆)
Ah yes, you asked me which sixties band wrote the song, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. I said, confidently, c) The Beatles.
啊，是的，你问我是哪个六十年代的乐队写的这首歌，《Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds》。我自信地说，c）披头士乐队。
Neil(尼尔)
Which was, of course… the correct answer! John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote the song in 1967 but I doubt even they could have predicted that it would inspire a scientific idea to save the planet!
Whales and other sea mammals like dolphins live in a group called a pod.
鲸鱼和其他海洋哺乳动物生活在一个称为豆荚的群体中。
Sam(山姆)
An eddy is a large current of water moving in a circular motion.
漩涡是以圆周运动移动的大水流。
Neil(尼尔)
Chock-a-block is an informal way to say ‘full of something’.
Chock-a-block 是一种非正式的表达方式，表示“充满东西”。
Sam(山姆)
If you repurpose something, you find a new use for it – a use other than what was originally intended.
如果你重新利用某样东西，你就会发现它的新用途 —— 一种与最初预期不同的用途。
Neil(尼尔)
And finally, the planet’s future might depend on the circular economy – an economic system which values sharing, reusing and recycling over consumption and waste.
最后，地球的未来可能取决于循环经济 —— 一个重视分享、再利用和回收的经济体系，而不是消费和浪费。
Sam(山姆)
These incredible scientific innovations might mean that time is not yet up for planet Earth - but time is up for this programme.
这些不可思议的科学创新可能意味着地球的时间还没有到来，但这个计划的时间已经到了。
Neil(尼尔)
Join us again soon for more trending topics and related vocabulary here at 6 Minute English. Goodbye for now!
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