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Global warming is now increasing at a phenomenal rate, so much so that it could reach a point of no return. Scientists have found that there is more carbon dioxide and methane—the two major greenhouse gases—in the atmosphere now than there has been for 650,000 years.
現在，全球變暖的速度異常驚人，已達到一種無法挽回的程度?？茖W家們發現，大氣中的兩種主要溫室氣體——二氧化碳和甲烷——含量已經超過了65萬年來的整體水平。
So far, the earth has warmed an average of 6℃ above pre-industrial levels, which does not sound like very much. However, the warming is not uniform in all parts of the planet. It is much greater in the polar regions, and this is already having serious consequences. Land and water absorb most of the solar energy that reaches it, whereas ice reflects most of it back into space. The increase in greenhouse gases warms the atmosphere, with the result that less snow and ice form and they melt more quickly. A cycle is created: as the ice and snow melt, the sea and land absorb an increasing amount of heat, causing even more melting. In the Arctic, this process has recently speeded up to the point where it is happening at a rate 10 to 15 times faster than it had been for the previous several decades. Huge chunks of the polar ice caps are breaking off, accelerating the process even further and causing the sea level to rise.
到目前為止，地球的平均溫度比工業革命前高出6℃，這聽上去并不是很多。然而，氣候變暖在全球各地并不均勻。極地地區變化更大，已經帶來了嚴重后果。土地和水會吸收大部分到達其表面的太陽能，而冰卻將大部分反射回太空中。溫室氣體增多了，氣候變暖了，結果雪和冰變少了，融化也變快了。于是形成了這樣一種循環：由于冰雪消融，海洋和陸地吸收的熱量會增加，進而致使融化進一步加劇。在北極，最近這一過程已經加速到前幾十年的10到15倍。大塊的極地冰帽正在融化，極大地加速了這一過程，并使海平面不斷上升。
Essentially the same process is occurring in Greenland and in the Antarctic.
事實上，同樣的過程也發生在格陵蘭島和南極洲。
