Hundreds of scientists, writers and
academics sounded a warning to humanity in an open letter published last
December: Policymakers and the rest of us must engage openly with the risk of
global collapse. Researchers in many areas have projected the widespread
collapse as “a credible scenario (情景)
this century”.
翻译：数百名科学家、作家和学者在去年12月发表的一封公开信中向人类发出了警告:政策制定者以及其他所有人必须公开面对全球崩溃的风险。许多领域的研究人员预测普遍崩溃是”这个世纪的一个可信的场景”。
A survey of scientists found that
extreme weather events, food insecurity, and freshwater shortages might create
global collapse. Of course, if you are a non-human species, collapse is well
underway.
翻译：科学家的一项调查发现，极端天气引发的事件、食品不安全以及淡水短缺可能造成全球崩溃。当然，如果你是非人类物种，崩溃已经开始了。
The call for public engagement with
the unthinkable is especially germane in this moment of still-uncontrolled
pandemic and economic crises in the world’s most technologically advanced
nations. Not very long ago, it was also unthinkable that a virus would shut
down nations and that safety nets would be proven so disastrously lacking in
flexibility.
翻译：在世界上技术最先进的国家仍面临疫情得不到控制和经济危机的时刻，呼吁公众参与令人无法想象的事情尤为重要。就在不久前，人们还无法想象一种病毒会让一些国家关闭，而且安全防护网被证明是如此灾难性地缺乏灵活性。
The international scholars’ warning
letter doesn’t say exactly what collapse will look like or when it might
happen. Collapseology, the study of collapse, is more concerned with
identifying trends and with them the dangers of everyday civilization. Among the
signatories (签署者) of the warning
was Bob Johnson, the originator of the “ecological footprint” concept, which
measures the total amount of environmental input needed to maintain a given
lifestyle. With the current footprint of humanity, “it seems that global
collapse is certain to happen in some form, possibly within a decade, certainly
within this century,” Johnson said in an email.
翻译：许多国家的学者发出的警告信并没有具体说明崩溃时的情形以及何时发生。崩溃学是一门研究崩溃的学科，它更关注于识别未来的趋势及其随之而来对日常文明带来的危害。鲍勃•约翰逊是警告信的签署人之一，也是“生态足迹”的概念发起人。该概念衡量维持一个设定的生活方式所需要的环境输入总量。约翰逊在一封电子邮件中说：根据目前人类的足迹，“似乎全球崩溃肯定会以某种形式发生，有可能在未来10年内，但肯定在本世纪内。”
Only if we discuss the consequences of
our biophysical limits, the December warning letter says, can we have the hope
to reduce their “speed, severity and harm”. And yet messengers of the coming
disturbance are likely to be ignored. We all want to hope things will turn out
fine. As a poet wrote,
Man
is a victim of dope (麻醉品)
In
the incurable form of hope.
翻译：十二月份的警告信说，只有我们讨论了生物物理极限的后果，我们才有希望降低它到来的“速度、严重性和危害”。然而，即将到来的混乱的所发出的信号可能会被忽视。我们都希望事情会好转。正如一位诗人写道：“人类受害于毒，却无望获救。”
The hundreds of scholars who signed
the letter are intent (执着) on quieting hope
that ignores preparedness. “Let’s look directly into the issue of collapse,”
they say, “and deal with the terrible possibilities of what we see there to
make the best of a troubling future.”
翻译：签署了这封信的数百位学者希望丢掉不做应对准备的幻想。他们说:“让我们直接研究崩溃的问题，应对我们所看到的令人恐惧的可能性，以便让一个令人不安的未来能最大可能地为我所用。”
28. What does the underlined word “germane” in Paragraph 3 probably mean?
A. Scientific.
B. Credible.
C. Original.
D. Relevant.
28. 第三段中划线的单词“germane”大概是什么意思?
A. 科学的
B. 可信的
C. 原创的
D. 相关的
29. As for the public awareness of global collapse, the author is ______.
A. worried
B. puzzled
C. surprised
D. scared
29. 至于公众对全球崩溃的意识，作者是______。
A: 担心
B. 困惑
C. 惊讶
D. 害怕
30. What can we learn from this passage?
A. The signatories may change the biophysical limits.
B. The author agrees with the message of the poem.
C. The issue of collapse is being prioritized.
D. The global collapse is well underway.
30.我们能从这篇文章中了解到什么?
A. 签署人可能会改变生物物理极限。
B. 作者同意这首诗传递的信息。
C. 崩溃的问题正在被优先考虑。
D. 全球崩溃已经开始
……登录下载word文档……
