每日阅读2021.12.09

“Usually when we walk through-the rain forest we hear a soft sound from all the moist leaves and organic debris on the forest floor,” says ecologist Daniel Nepstad. “ Now we increasingly get rustle and crunch. That’s the sound of a dying forest.”

Predictions of the collapse of the tropical rain forests have been around for years. Yet until recently the worst forecasts were almost exclusively linked to direct human activity, such as dear- cutting and burning for pastures or farms. Left alone, it was assumed, the world’s rain forests would not only flourish but might even rescue us from disaster by absorbing the excess carbon dioxide and other planet-warming greenhouse gases. Now it turns out that may be wishful thinking. Some scientists believe that the rise in carbon levels means that the Amazon and other rain forests in Asia and Africa may go from being assets in the battle against rising temperatures to liabilities. Amazon plants, for instance, hold more than 100 billion metric tons of carbon, equal to 15 years of tailpipe and chimney emissions. If the collapse of the rain forests speeds up dramatically, it could eventually release 3.5-5 billion metric tons of carbon into the atmosphere each year 一 making forests the leading source of greenhouse gases.

Uncommonly severe droughts brought on by global climate change have led to forest-eating wildfires from Australia to Indonesia, but nowhere more acutely than in the Amazon. Some experts say that the rain forest is already at the brink of collapse.

Extreme weather and reckless development are plotting against the rain forest in ways that scientists have never seen. Trees need more water as temperatures rise, but the prolonged droughts have robbed them of moisture, making whole forests easily cleared of trees and turned into farmland. The picture worsens with each round of El Nino, the unusually warm currents in the Pacific Ocean that drive up temperatures and invariably presage（预示）droughts and fires in the rain forest. Runaway fires pour even more carbon into the air, which increases temperatures, starting the whole vicious cycle all over again.

More than paradise lost, a perishing rain forest could trigger a domino effect—sending winds and rains kilometers off course and loading the skies with even greater levels of greenhouse gases— that will be felt far beyond the Amazon basin. In a sense, we are already getting a glimpse of what’s to come. Each burning season in the Amazon, fires deliberately set by frontier settlers and developers hurl up almost half a billion metric tons of carbon a year, placing Brazil among the top five contributors to greenhouse gases in the world.

单词

1. moist -adj 潮湿的
2. debris -n 碎片；残骸
3. rustle -v 沙沙;(使)发出轻轻的摩擦声;偷窃(牲口) -n轻轻的摩擦声;沙沙声
4. crunch -v嘎吱嘎吱地)嚼;(使)发出碎裂声;(在路上)行进发出响声 -n压碎声;碎裂声;紧要关头;困境;症结
5. collapse -n/v 崩溃；突然失败；倒塌
6. tropical -adj 热带的
7. exclusively -adv 唯一地；
8. pastures -n 牧场；牧草地
9. flourish -v 繁荣；茁壮成长
10. asset -n 资产
11. liabilities -n 债务；责任
12. tailpipe -n 排气管
13. chimney -n 烟囱
14. emission -n排放
15. brink -n 边缘
16. reckless -adj 鲁莽的
17. rob  -v 掠夺；抢劫
18. moisture -n 潮湿；水分
19. invariably -adv 一成不变的
20. vicious -adj 恶毒的；残酷的
21. paradise -n 天堂
22. perishing -adj 冰冷的；讨厌的

perish -v 毁灭；消亡

1. trigger -v 触发；引起；发动-n 触发器
2. glimpse -n/v 一瞥
3. deliberately -v 故意地
4. hurl -v 投掷；猛投
5. metric -adj 米制的；公制的

句子

        1.The picture worsens with each round of El Nino, the unusually warm currents in the Pacific Ocean that drive up temperatures and invariably presage（预示）droughts and fires in the rain forest.

随着厄尔尼诺的每一轮出现，情况变得更糟。厄尔尼诺是太平洋中异常温暖的洋流，导致温度升高，并总是预示着未来雨林中的干旱和火灾。

        2.More than paradise lost, a perishing rain forest could trigger a domino effect—sending winds and rains kilometers off course and loading the skies with even greater levels of greenhouse gases

与《失乐园》相比，正在消亡的热带雨林更可能引发多米诺骨牌效应，使风和雨偏离航线数公里，并使天空中的温室气体含量更高