双语新闻：八年之后，没有冰的北冰洋
The drastic melting of Arctic sea ice has finally ended for theyear, scientists announced Wednesday, but not beforedemolishing the previous record — and setting off newwarnings about the rapid pace of change in the region.科学家宣布，本年度的北冰洋海冰大融化总算是停止了，但还是打破了纪录，也对本地区的急剧变化发出了新警告。
The apparent low point for 2012 was reached Sunday, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, which said that sea ice that day coveredabout 1.32 million square miles, or 24 percent, of the surface of the Arctic Ocean. The previouslow, set in 2007, was 29 percent.
据美国国家冰雪数据中心(National Snow and Ice Data Center)统计，北冰洋的海冰覆盖率似乎于上周日达到2012年最低值。该中心称，那天北冰洋海冰面积为132万平方英里，覆盖了北冰洋洋面的24%。上一次最低点出现在2007年，当时的覆盖率为29%。
When satellite tracking began in the late 1970s, sea ice at its lowest point in the summer typicallycovered about half the Arctic Ocean, but it has been declining in fits and starts over the decades.
20世纪70年代末，卫星开始被用于纪录北冰洋海冰状况 。那时夏日海冰覆盖率最低时，也通常是50%左右 。但在过去十年，海冰覆盖率一直时有下降。
“The Arctic is the earth’s air-conditioner,” said Walt Meier, a research scientist at the snow and icecenter, an agency sponsored by the government. “We’re losing that. It’s not just that polar bearsmight go extinct, or that native communities might have to adapt, which we’re already seeing — there are larger climate effects.”
国家冰雪数据中心是一家由政府赞助的机构。该中心的研究员瓦尔特·迈耶(Walt Meier)说，“北极是地球的空调。我们正在失去这个空调。不仅仅是北极熊可能灭绝，或者是当地人需要适应新环境，这些我们都已经看到了——还有更大的气候影响。”
His agency waited a few days before announcing the low to be sure sea ice had started to refreeze, as it usually does at this time of year, when winter closes in rapidly in the high Arctic. A shell of icewill cover much of the Arctic Ocean in coming months, but it is likely to be thin and prone tomelting when summer returns.
在宣布最低覆盖率之前，该中心等了几天，以确保海水开始重新结冰。每年此时，冬天迅速包围北极高纬度地区，海水重新结冰是常态。接下来的几个月里，一层冰壳会覆盖北冰洋大部分洋面。但这层冰壳通常很薄，夏季再来时，容易融化。
Scientists consider the rapid warming of the region to be a consequence of the human release ofgreenhouse gases, and they see the melting as an early warning of big changes to come in the restof the world.
科学家认为，本地区迅速变暖，是因为人类排放温室气体。他们认为海冰融化是未来全球巨变的早期征兆。
Some of them also think the collapse of Arctic sea ice has already started to alter atmosphericpatterns in the Northern Hemisphere, contributing to greater extremes of weather in the UnitedStates and other countries, but that case is not considered proven.
一些科学家也认为，北极海冰融化已经开始改变北半球的气候模式，导致美国等国出现更加极端的气候现象。但这个观点并未得到证实。
The sea ice is declining much faster than had been predicted in the last big United Nations reporton the state of the climate, published in 2007. The most sophisticated computer analyses forthat report suggested that the ice would not disappear before the middle of this century, if then.
联合国最新的一个主要气候报告发布于2007年。而海冰目前的减少速度比该报告预测的速度快得多。 该报告指出，在进行了最精密的电脑分析后，结果显示，即使北极冰川最终消失，这种情况也不会在本世纪中叶之前发生。
Now, some scientists think the Arctic Ocean could be largely free of summer ice as soon as 2020. But governments have not responded to the change with any greater urgency about limitinggreenhouse emissions. To the contrary, their main response has been to plan for exploitation ofnewly accessible minerals in the Arctic, including drilling for more oil.
现在，一些科学家认为，可能到2020年，北冰洋夏天就没有冰块存在了。但是各国政府并未在遏制温室气体排放方面表现出更大的急迫性，以对这一变化做出反应。相反，他们的主要反应是计划开采北冰洋新近可采的资源，包括钻取更多石油。
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