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THE DEFINING YEAR
決定性的一年
The world was ready to tackle climate change.
國際社會剛準備好直面氣候問題。
Then 2020 happened.
2020就來了。
BY JUSTIN WORLAND
文/賈斯汀·沃蘭
From our vantage point today, 2020 looks like the year when an unknown virus spun out of control,
從當前形勢來看，2020年似乎是一種前所未見的病毒逐漸失控
killed hundreds of thousands and altered the way we live day to day.
扼殺千萬人性命，并一舉改變了我們所有人的日常生活的一年。
In the future, we may look back at 2020 as the year we decided to keep driving off the climate cliff—or to take the last exit.
等到未來我們再回頭看2020年，這一年或許也是我們決定沖下氣候懸崖——或走向最后一個出口的一年。
Taking the threat seriously would mean using the opportunity presented by this crisis to spend on solar panels and wind farms,
認真對待氣候威脅就意味著要轉危為機，投資太陽能電池板和風力發電場，
push companies being bailed out to cut emissions and foster greener forms of transport in cities.
推動正在接受救助的公司減排，意味著要在城市推行更綠色的交通出行方式。
If we instead choose to fund new coal-fired power plants and oil wells and thoughtlessly fire up factories to urge growth,
如果我們反其道而行之，選擇出資建設新的煤電廠和油井，為了推動增長輕率地啟動工廠，
we will lock in a pathway toward climate catastrophe.
我們就會被鎖死在一條通往氣候災難的道路上。
There’s a divide about which way to go.
至于究竟走那條路，國際社會并未達成一致。
In early April, as COVID-19 spread across the U.S. and doctors urgently warned
4月初，也即新冠肺炎就已經在全美蔓延開來，醫生紛紛發出緊急告誡，
that New York City might soon run out of ventilators and hospital beds,
紐約市的呼吸機和病床或許很快就會耗盡的時候，
President Donald Trump gathered CEOs from some of the country’s biggest oil and gas companies
特朗普總統召集美國最大的石油和天然氣公司的CEO們，
for a closed-door meeting in the White House Cabinet Room.
在白宮內閣會議室召開了一次閉門會議。
The industry faced its biggest disruption in decades,
該行業陷入了數十年未見的業務中斷的困境，
and Trump wanted to help the companies secure their place at the center of the 21st century American economy.
特朗普希望幫助這些公司鞏固他們在21世紀的美國占有的經濟支柱地位。
Everything was on the table, from a tariff on imports to the U.S. government itself purchasing excess oil.
從進口關稅到美國政府自己購買過剩的石油，所有的方案都擺到了臺面上。
"We’ll work this out, and we’ll get our energy business back," Trump told the CEOs.
“我們會想到辦法的，我們會奪回我們的能源業務。”特朗普對CEO們說道。
"I’m with you 1,000%."
“我1000%支持你們。”
A few days later, he announced he had brokered a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin
沒過幾天，特朗普就宣布他已經牽頭俄羅斯總統弗拉基米爾·普京
and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to cut oil production and rescue the industry.
沙特王儲穆罕默德·本·薩勒曼達成了一項削減石油產量，拯救該行業的協議。
Later in April, Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission,
4月晚些時候，歐盟委員會主席烏蘇拉·馮·德·萊恩在從大西洋彼岸發布的一段視頻中
in a video message from across the Atlantic, offered a different approach for the continent’s economic future.
為歐洲大陸的經濟未來規劃了一條不一樣的道路。
A European Green Deal, she said, would be the E.U.'s "motor for the recovery."
歐盟“復蘇的發動機”，她說，是一份具有歐洲特色的綠色協議。
"We can turn the crisis of this pandemic into an opportunity to rebuild our economies differently," she said.
“我們可以將這場大流行危機轉化為以另一種方式重建我們的經濟的機會，”她說。
On May 27, she pledged more than $800 billion to the initiative, promising to transform the way Europeans live.
5月27日，她承諾為該倡議提供逾8000億美元的資金，以改變歐洲人的生活方式。
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