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The ABCs of Global Warming
全球變暖基本情況
Ruth Gamberg
魯思·甘伯格
Everything in nature changes, including the climate. This is a universal law of nature. Through the process of evolution, over very long periods of time, animal and plant species can adapt to these gradual changes. This is another universal law of nature. However, the speed with which the climate has been changing in the last 20 or so years is unprecedented. Human beings as a species are unique: we are a part of the natural world, but we are also apart from it in the sense that the actions of our species can dramatically change the world we live in. These changes are not always beneficial, either to humans or to other species.
自然界的一切都在發生變化，氣候也不例外。這是大自然的一個普遍法則。經過很長一段時間的進化過程，動物和植物才能適應這些漸進的變化。這是大自然的另一個普遍法則。然而，在過去二十多年以來，氣候變化的速度卻是前所未有的。人類是一種特別的物種，我們是大自然的一部分，但我們的行為卻可以極大地改變我們生活的這個世界，從這種意義上來說，我們又不屬于大自然。這些變化對于人類或其他物種并不總是有益的。
The Industrial Revolution in the West, which began nearly 200 years ago, provides the best example of this. During these last two centuries, human beings have been responsible for enormous technical developments which are transforming the natural world. The speed and magnitude of these changes are far too great to enable many of the earth's living things, including humans, to adapt. Let us examine some of the ways in which this is occurring.
約200年前開始于西方的工業革命就是最好的例子。在過去的兩個世紀里，人類取得了巨大的技術進步，改變了大自然。如此快速的發展和劇烈的變化使得地球上的許多生物，包括人類，都很難適應。讓我們來分析一下這些正在發生的變化。
Undisturbed by human action, the earth's atmosphere has been able to maintain a delicate balance for thousands of years. The radiation from sunlight (solar energy) penetrates the atmosphere, a thin layer that encompasses the earth.
如果不受人類行為的干擾，地球的大氣能夠在數千年間維持一種微妙的平衡。陽光的輻射（太陽能）會穿透一層薄薄的環繞地球的大氣層。
