60秒讓英文聽力起死回生! Scientific American加到我的最愛!

練好英文聽力不需要多花錢。只要你有網路，就能免費獲得很多不錯的資源。今天我跟大家介紹一個非常棒的網站，Scientific American。很多同學有科學恐懼症，所以托福考試一碰到地質學、環境科學或是生物學天文學這類的主題，就會覺得害怕。前不久我接觸到這個網站，發現裡面有很多寶可以挖。所以趕緊在部落格跟大家分享。

請大家看看這個網站的樣子。網址是：http://www.scientificamerican.com/
也可以在google鍵入Scientific American這個關鍵字，第二筆搜尋才是。(第一筆搜尋是要你訂閱的網頁)。

進入首頁後，你可以隨性瀏覽。我個人最愛的是Videos & Podcasts這個單元。因為點進去裡面有好多寶可以淘。請繼續看下去。

不好意思，我的電腦技能不太優，請大家看我用紅線框起來的地方，給他點進去就對啦！

看到了嗎？很多60秒的單元可以收聽。你可以點選任何一個單元，直接進入。我來示範一下。裡面的聲音檔可以下載，又有transcript可以剪貼。真是太好用了。每天都聽一則，你的科學背景知識會增加不說，相關的英語單字也有了，相信我，若持之以恆聽個100則，托福要考爛都很難。

我選了一個60-Second Earth Podcast，這裡每一則都是由不同的人撰寫錄音的。有的人發音比較清楚(所以速度快一點也不影響理解，有些人的聲音語發音比較含糊。這一點大家可以線上先收聽，覺得不錯的再下載。)我選了這一則題目為Climate Change Getting Worse by the Minute。這一則主要在說明，地球人殘害環境不遺餘力，去年人類的溫室氣體排放又創新高，所以地球在本世紀內，溫度鐵定還會再上升三度。其實這些問題都有對應的策略的，我們要救地球，現在還來得及，只是大家都不願意努力。石油消費國尤其不配合，導致相關會談一直無法有具體成效。人類的短視，讓我們一切以經濟為導向，所以環保一直停留在口號的階段，沒有具體的成效。在此再度呼籲，大家多盡點心力，給我們的後代子孫一個永續的環境。這是我們的責任。吃素很好，多吃蔬果，對身體好，對地球也好。(不厭其煩地再度高聲疾呼)。大家要曉得，飼養家禽家畜，對環境的傷害非常大，動物排放出的氣體(甲烷)，是溫室效應的元兇之一。動物的糞便與其他排泄物，也會造成環境的污染。以全球而言，每年反芻動物共生產約80百萬噸之甲烷，佔全球溫室氣體排放量的33%左右。我們吃得太多也太好了。大家要愛惜資源，不要浪費。(我相信有同學會真的聽我的話，哪怕兩隻小貓也好。)

我將這則60秒科學新知整理好了，提供給有興趣的人下載。日後我要是有時間，會每周會推出一篇(跟NPR一樣)，大家也可以等我這邊上傳了再下載。請大家多幫忙他人，愛護動物跟珍惜自然資源。我的部落格不要廣告，也完全分享，希望能夠有拋磚引玉的作用。今天晚上吃素吧，感謝大家。

請繼續閱讀這篇文章。


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Climate Change Getting Worse by the Minute

u  The world is not on track to reduce, or even restrain global warming. David Biello reports

中文解析版在最下面喔！

What goes up and doesn't come down? Greenhouse gas emissions, apparently. The world set another record in 2012, spewing some 31.6 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide, methane,hydrofluorocarbons and other greenhouse gases into the air.

The 2012 contribution keeps us on pace for not one more degree Celsius of warming, or even two, as is the avowed goal of the international climate negotiations that saw another inconclusive roundconclude this past week. We are on track for 3 degrees C of warming or more, this century.

That calculation comes from the International Energy Agency, a kind of cartel for oil-consuming rich nations. But don't despair. The U.S. in recent years has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions back to levels last seen in the 1990s. That's thanks mostly to burning less coal.

And there are some quick and easy steps that could reduce emissions globally: more energy efficiency,less leaking methane, an end to fossil fuel subsidies and a ban on inefficient coal-fired power plants. If we did all of those, we might get on a new track that leads to a world that’s less hot and bothered.

—David Biello

中文字詞解析版

What goes up and doesn't come down? Greenhouse gas emissions溫室氣體排放, apparently. The world set another record締造另一項紀錄 in 2012, spewing 吐出/湧出some 31.6 billion metric tons公噸 of carbon dioxide二氧化碳, methane甲烷 ,hydrofluorocarbons氫氟碳化物 and other greenhouse gases into the air.

The 2012 contribution keeps us on pace for not one more degree Celsius攝氏(溫度) of warming, or even two, as is the avowed goal公開表示的目標 of the international climate negotiations that saw another inconclusive round 這場會談又再度沒有具體結果conclude this past week. We are on track for 3 degrees C of warming or more將會再上升攝氏三度(地球在本世紀的溫度), this century.

That calculation comes from the International Energy Agency國際能源總署, a kind of cartel聯合企業 for oil-consuming rich nations富庶的石油消費國. But don't despair. The U.S. in recent years has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions back to levels last seen in the 1990s. That's thanks mostly to burning less coal減少煤炭的燃燒.

And there are some quick and easy steps that could reduce emissions globally: more energy efficiency更節能,less leaking methane少一點甲烷外洩, an end to fossil fuel subsidies終止石化燃料的補貼and a ban on inefficient coal-fired power plants禁止不節能、以燃煤做為動力來源的工廠繼續運行. If we did all of those, we might get on a new track that leads to a world that’s less hot and bothered.

—David Biello