学术综合英语1-5课课文及翻译

世纪

60

年代成本 低廉的燃煤火电站和水力发电站相比，仅从成本考虑，

以上各种资源用于大规模发电的可 能性极小。

因此，

即使不考虑能源开采的环境成本，

价格居高不下已成无可改变的定局。

The

capacity

of

the

environment

to

absorb

the

effluents

and

other

impacts

of

energy

technologies

is

itself

a

finite

resource.

The

finitude

is

manifested

in

two

basic

types

of

environmental costs. External costs are those imposed by environmental disruptions on society but

not reflected in the monetary accounts of the buyers and sellers of the energy. “Internalized costs”

are increases in monetary costs imposed by measures, such as pollution-control devices, aimed at

reducing the external costs.

环境吸纳由于能源利用而产生的废弃物和其他影响的能力本身也是有限度的，

表现在两

方面的环境成本上。

所谓

“外延成本” 即由于环境遭到破坏对社会造成的影响，但尚未反映

到能源买卖双方的交易价格上；

所谓

“内涵成本”即为降低外延成本而采取的各种措施（如

污染防治措施）所引起的货币成本的增长。

Both types of environmental costs have been rising for several reasons. First, the declining

quality of fuel deposits and energy- conversion sites to which society must now turn means more

material must be moved or processed, bigger facilities must be constructed and longer distances

must

be

traversed.

Second,

the

growing

magnitude

of

effluents

from

energy

systems

has

led

to

saturation

of

the

environment’s

capacity

to

absorb

such

effluents

without

disruption.

Third,

the

monetary costs of controlling pollution tend to increase with the percentage of pollutants removed.

两种环境成 本均一直呈增长趋势，

原因是多方面的。

首先，

社会发展所依赖的燃料矿藏

和加工地质量下降，

必然要 求矿物运输和加工的数量增加、

设施扩大、

运输距离延长。

第二，

能源利用所产生的废弃物不断增加，

使得环境自我净化能力达到了极限。

第三，

污染防治所

需的资金成本亦将随着消除污染物比例的提高而提高。

Despite

these

expenditures,

the

remaining

uninternalized

environmental

costs

have

been

substantial

and

in

many

cases

are

growing.

Those

of

greatest

concern

are

the

risk

of

death

or

disease as a result of emissions or accidents at energy facilities and the impact of energy supplied

on the global ecosystem and on international relations. < /p>

尽管代价高昂，

尚未内化的环境成本一直居高不下，

并在许多情形下呈增长趋势，

其中

最引人关注的是由 能源设施排放废物或发生事故所带来的死亡和疾病，

以及由于能源供应对

全球生态系统和国际关系造成的影响。

The impacts of energy technologies on public health and safety are difficult to pin down with

much confidence. In the case of air pollution from fossil fuels, in which the dominant threat to

public health is thought to be particulates formed from sulfur dioxide emissions, a consensus on

the number of deaths caused by exposure has proved impossible. Widely differing estimates result

from different assumptions about fuel compositions, air pollution control technology, power-plant

sitting in relation to population distribution, meteorological conditions affecting sulfate formation,

and, above all, the relation between sulfate concentrations and disease.

能源技术对于大众健康和安全所造成的影响难以确定。以矿物燃料造 成的空气污染为

例，

一般认为其对大众健康的主要危害是由排放 的二氧化硫形成的微粒，

但接触这种污染空

气究竟会导致多少人 死亡，

却无法取得一致意见。

各种估算数据千差万别，

原因在于对以下

各种因素的分析各不相同，

比如 燃料构成、

空气污染防治技术、

发电厂选址同人口分布之间

的关系、气象条件对硫化物形成的影响，最重要的是硫化物浓度与疾病之间的关系。

Large uncertainties also apply to the health and safety impacts of nuclear fission. In this case,

differing

estimates

result

in

part

from

differences

among

sites

and

reactor

types,

in

part

from

uncertainties about emissions from fuel-cycle steps that

are not

yet fully operational

(especially

fuel

reprocessing

and

management

of

uranium-mill

tailings)

and

in

part

from

different

assumptions

about

the

effects

of

exposure

to

low- dose

radiation.

The

biggest

uncertainties,

however, relate to the probabilities and consequences of large accidents at reactors, at reprocessing

5

plants and in the transport of wastes.

同样，

核反应堆对于大众健康和安全的影响亦无法确定。

对此影响的各种估测，

既有来

自关于反应堆选 址和类型的不同观点，又有因为核燃料反应过程

(

尤其是核燃料 回收以及铀

选矿尾矿管理

)

还不完备， 这些环节所产生的废弃物究竟会产生何种影响尚无法确定；同时

还有因为对于人类接触少 量核辐射所造成的后果各执己见。

然而，

最大的不确定性来自核 反

应堆、重新加工工厂以及核废料运输过程中可能发生重大事故的概率及所造成的后果。

Altogether,

the

ranges

of

estimated

hazards

to

public

health

from

both

coal- fired

and

nuclear-power plants are so wide as to extend from negligible to substantial in comparison with

other

risks

to

the

population.

There

is

little

basis,

in

these

ranges,

for

preferring

one

of

these

energy

sources

over

the

other.

For

both,

the

very

size

of

the

uncertainty

is

itself

a

significant

liability.

火电厂和核电厂危害大众健康的程度究竟有多 大，

众说纷

纭，莫衷一是。

有的人认为 这种影响微不足道，可以忽略不计；也有人认为这种影响程度严

重、危害巨大。无论影响 大小，都没有理由对种种能源亲此疏彼。无论是核电还是火电，其

对人类的危害都无法确 定，这本身就是一大憾事。

Often

neglected,

but

no

less

important,

is

the

public

health

menace

from

traditional

fuels

widely used for cooking and water heating in the developing world. Perhaps 80 percent of global

exposure to particulate air pollution occurs indoors in developing countries, where the smoke from

primitive stoves is heavily

laden with dangerous hydrocarbons. A disproportionate share of this

burden is borne, moreover, by women (who do the cooking) and small children (who indoors with

their mothers).

发展中国家普遍用于做饭烧 水的传统燃料对大众健康造成的危害常常不为人们所关注，

但同样十分严重。全球大约< /p>

80%

的颗粒空气污染来自发展中国家的室内烧煮，原始炉灶排< /p>

出的烟气中含有大量有害的烃

（或碳氢化合物）

< br>，

而且这种有害物质的受害者往往是妇女

（室

。

The ecological threats posed by energy supply are even harder to quantify than the threats to

human health and safety from effluents and accidents. Nevertheless, enough is known to suggest

they

portend

even

larger

damage

to

human

well-being.

This

damage

potential

arises

from

the

combination of two circumstances.

能源利用对生 态系统的威

胁更难以量化。

然而，

根据 已有认识足以判断这种威胁对人类健康造成的损失将会更大。

这

种潜在的损失是由两种情形同时存在导致的

First,

civilization

depends

heavily

on

services

provided

by

ecological

and

geophysical

processes

such

as

building

and

fertilizing

soil,

regulating

water

supply,

controlling

pests

and

pathogens,

and

maintaining

a

tolerable

climate;

yet

it

lacks

the knowledge

and

the resources

to

replace

nature’s

services

with

technology.

Second,

human

activities

are

now

clearly

capable

of

disrupting globally the processes that provide these services. Energy supply, both industrial and

traditional, is responsible for a striking share of the environmental impacts of human activity. The

environmental

transition

of

the

past

100

years

－

driven

above

all

by

a

20-fold

increase

in

fossil-fuel

use

and

augmented

by

a

tripling

in

the

use

of

traditional

energy

forms

－

has

amounted

to

no

less

than

the

emergence

of

civilization

as

a

global

ecological

and

geochemical

force.

首先，

人类文明严重依 赖于各种生态和地球物理过程所提供的各种服务，

诸如造土培肥

（或土壤的形成与增肥）

、水源调节、病虫害控制、适宜气候的维持等等。但是，人类缺 乏

知识和资源来利用技术代替自然界所提供的各种服务。

其次，

人类活动显然能够在全球范围

破坏提供这些服务的进程。

无论是工业能源还是传统能源使用，

在人类活动引起的环境问题

中均占有很大比重。过去

100

年以来的环境 巨变（首要驱动因素是化石燃料的使用增长了

20

倍，同时传统 能源的使用增长了

3

倍）

，可以说无异 于人类文明作为一支全球范围内的生

态和地球化学力量的崛起过程。

Of

all

environmental

problems,

the

most

threatening,

and

in

many

respects

the

most

intractable, is global climate change. And the greenhouse gases most responsible for the danger of

rapid climate change come largely from human endeavors too massive, widespread and central to

the functioning of our societies to be easily altered: carbon dioxide (CO2) from deforestation and

the combustion of fossil fuels; methane from rice paddies, cattle gusts and the exploitation of oil

and natural gas; and nitrous oxides from fuel combustions and fertilizer use.

在诸多环境问题中，

对人类 威胁最大、

在许多情况下却又最让人类无计可施的是全球气

候变 化。

而对气候剧变最起作用的温室气体主要来自人类活动，

这些 活动规模之大、

范围之

广、对人类社会运转作用之大，