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YvonneAkiSawyerr_2020T-_计划在两年内种植一百万棵树的城市_-
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| It was December 2015, a month since the end of the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone , and I was driving along the Grafton Road on the outskirts of our capital city, Freetown . |
那是 2015 年 12 月, 也就是塞拉利昂 埃博拉疫情结束的一个月后, 我正沿着首都弗里敦郊外的 格拉夫顿路行驶。 |
| I'd driven along that road so many times over the past 18 months, but honestly, I'd been so preoccupied , I didn't notice my surroundings . |
在过去的 18 个月里, 我沿着这条路行驶了很多次, 但老实说,我从没有 注意过周围的情况。 |
| But that afternoon, |
但是那天下午, |
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Ebola:n.埃博拉病毒; outbreak:n.(战争的)爆发;(疾病的)发作;vi.爆发; Sierra:n.(尤指西班牙和美洲的)锯齿状山脉; Leone:n.利昂(塞拉利昂货币单位); outskirts:n.郊区;市郊;(市镇的)边缘地带;(outskirt的复数) Freetown:n.弗里敦(塞拉利昂的首都); preoccupied:adj.心事重重; v.使日夜思考; (preoccupy的过去分词和过去式) surroundings:n.周围的环境;环境;(surrounding的复数)
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| I wasn't distracted , and I took it all in. |
我没有分心,而是看到了一切。 |
| I was shocked. |
眼前的一幕让我十分震惊: |
| So much of the once-lush green forest cover had simply disappeared . |
曾经郁郁葱葱的绿色森林 已经消失了。 |
| I felt physically sick as I parked my car and looked at the barren hills around me. |
我停好车,看着周围的荒山, 心中五味杂陈。 |
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distracted:adj.心烦意乱; v.转移(注意力); (distract的过去分词和过去式) disappeared:adj.消失的;消失了的;v.消失,失踪;(disappear的过去式和过去分词) barren:n.不毛之地;adj.贫瘠的;不毛的;不结果实的;不育的;
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| I wasn't just witnessing and mourning the loss of beauty, crushing though that was. |
我不仅目睹和痛惜着失去的美景—— 尽管那令我心痛不已—— |
| I was witnessing and mourning the very real impact of climate change, which is felt in ways both large and small in my city, my country and on my continent . |
我也目睹和痛惜着 气候变化的真实影响, 它在以不同的程度影响着 我的城市、我的国家 和我的大陆。 |
| Sierra Leone now regularly experiences extreme weather patterns, particularly abnormally heavy rainfall or delayed rains, both of which can lead to crop failures and in turn fuel the migration of people from rural areas to cities. |
现在的塞拉利昂 经常经历极端天气模式, 特别是反常的暴雨或延迟降雨, 这两种情况都可能导致作物歉收, 并反过来促使人们 从农村地区向城市迁移。 |
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witnessing:v.当场看到,目击;是发生…的地点;见证;(witness的现在分词) mourning:n.伤逝;哀悼;丧服;v.哀悼,忧伤;(mourn的现在分词) crushing:adj.惨重的,毁坏性的;v.压碎;压坏;压伤;挤压变形;(crush的现在分词) impact:n.影响;效果;碰撞;冲击力;v.挤入,压紧;撞击;对…产生影响; continent:n.大陆,洲,陆地;adj.自制的,克制的; regularly:adv.经常地;有规律地;定期的 extreme:adj.极端的;极度的;偏激的;尽头的;n.极端;末端;最大程度;极端的事物; particularly:adv.特别地,独特地;详细地,具体地;明确地,细致地; abnormally:adv.反常地;变态地;不规则地; rainfall:n.降雨;降雨量; migration:n.迁移;迁徙;转移;移居; rural:adj.农村的,乡下的;田园的,有乡村风味的;
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| In Freetown, a city of 1.2 million people, the pressure for housing and the absence of development control has led to the establishment of over 70 informal settlements in the past 20 years. |
在弗里敦这个有着 120 万人口的城市, 住房压力和发展调控的缺失 导致在过去的 20 年里 出现了 70 多个非正规居住区; |
| This, combined with the sale of forested land to house builders , has resulted in the deforestation which came into such sharp focus for me that afternoon. |
再加上因森林和土地 被不断出售给房屋建筑商 而导致的严重乱砍滥伐, 都在那天下午引起了我的注意。 |
| Less than two years later, in August 2017, a massive landslide near that area led to the loss of about 1,000 lives in less than five minutes. |
不到两年后,在 2017 年 8月, 该地区附近发生了 大规模的山体滑坡, 在不到五分钟的时间内 导致了约 1000 人丧生。 |
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absence:n.没有;缺乏;缺席;不注意; establishment:n.大型组织;企业;旅馆;权威人士;建立; informal:adj.非正式的;不拘礼节的;通俗的;日常使用的; settlements:n.协议:处理:结算:定居点;(settlement的复数) builders:n.[建]施工人员(builder的复数);生成器; deforestation:n.采伐森林;森林开伐; sharp:锋利的,尖的 massive:adj.大量的;巨大的,厚重的;魁伟的; landslide:n.[地质]山崩;大胜利;vi.发生山崩;以压倒优势获胜;
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| This is not an abstract crisis . |
这不是一次抽象的危机。 |
| The loss of our forests is not just about the loss of some shade . |
森林的消失, |
| It's about the loss of our ability to live. |
更意味着人类生存能力的丧失。 |
| Wanting to do something about this was one of the factors that led to my decision to run for mayor of Freetown, a position I've held since 2018. |
不愿坐以待毙,是我最终决定 竞选弗里敦市长的因素之一, 我自 2018 年以来 一直担任这一职务。 |
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abstract:n.摘要; adj.抽象的; vt.摘要; vi.做摘要; crisis:n.危机;危险期;决定性时刻;adj.危机的;用于处理危机的; shade:n.阴凉处;色度;灯罩;背阴;v.给…遮挡(光线);加灯罩;把…涂暗;画阴影; factors:n.因素(factor的复数); v.做代理商; mayor:n.市长;镇长;
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| And one of my favorite initiatives is to make Freetown a tree town once again. |
我最喜欢的倡议之一是, 让弗里敦再次成为 一个树林密布的小镇。 |
| Our goal: to increase vegetation cover by 50 percent in Freetown by the end of my term in 2022. |
我们的目标是, 在 2022 年我的任期结束前, 将弗里敦的植被覆盖率提高 50%。 |
| That means we will plant a million trees within the next two years. |
这意味着我们将在未来两年内 种植 100 万棵树。 |
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initiatives:n.积极性;主动权(initiative的复数);创始; vegetation:n.植被;植物,草木;呆板单调的生活;
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| And we start by planting the first 500,000 seedlings this rainy season. |
我们会从在今年雨季种植 第一批 50 万株幼苗开始。 |
| For this to work, we need to involve everyone. |
要做到这一点, 我们需要每个人的参与。 |
| We need to make our city collectively proud of what we can do together to protect ourselves and our homes. |
我们需要让我们的城市 为我们能够 共同保护自己和家园 而感到自豪。 |
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seedlings:n.[植]籽苗(seedling的复数); involve:v.包含;需要;牵涉;牵连;影响;(使)参加; collectively:adv.共同地,全体地;
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| For nearly a year now, 15 different species of trees have been nursed on 11 sites across the city. |
近一年来, 我们已经在全市的 11 个不同地点 培育了 15 个不同的树种。 |
| And now each tree will be planted in a home, a school, an office, a public space, on a hillside or in a mangrove by a tree steward . |
现在,每棵树苗都将 被种植在家里、学校、 办公室、公共场所和山坡上, 或由树木管理员种植在红树林中。 |
| Anyone in Freetown can opt to be a tree steward. |
弗里敦的任何人 都可以选择成为树木管理员。 |
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species:n.[生物]物种;种类; sites:n.网站(site的复数);遗址,举办地点;v.使...位于(site的单三形式); hillside:n.山坡,山腹;山腰; mangrove:n.红树林; steward:n.管家;乘务员;膳务员;工会管事;vi.当服务员;当管事;vt.管理; opt:vi.选择;
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| And the growth of the trees will be tracked by our community-based growing teams using our custom-made Treetracker app. |
树木的生长将由 基于社区的植树团队, 使用我们定制的 树木跟踪器应用程序 进行跟踪。 |
| This isn't just about planting trees, it's about growing trees, and it's about ensuring that each one of us is part of the process . |
植树仅仅是起点, 我们还要保证让树木健康生长, 确保我们每个人 都是这个过程的一部分。 |
| A million trees will not fix climate change. |
100 万棵树还远不足以 解决气候变化问题, |
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tracked:v.跟踪;追踪;(track的过去分词和过去式) community-based:adj.社区的;以社区为基础的; custom-made:adj.定制的;v.定做(custom-make的过去式); ensuring:v.保证;确保;担保(ensure的现在分词); process:v.处理;加工;列队行进;n.过程,进行;方法,adj.经过特殊加工(或处理)的;
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| But they will reduce the risk of landslides and flooding, and they will reintroduce biodiversity -- |
但它们会降低滑坡和洪水的风险, 并会重新引入生物多样性—— |
| I've already seen the butterflies back in the park. |
我已经在公园里见过蝴蝶了。 |
| And they will protect our water catchments . |
它们还会保护我们的集水区。 |
| A million trees is our city's small contribution to increasing the much-needed global carbon sink. |
100 万棵树,让我们的城市 能够为急需的全球碳汇添砖加瓦。 |
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landslides:n.[地质]滑坡; v.在竞选中以压倒优胜获胜; reintroduce:vt.再引入;再提出;再介绍; biodiversity:n.生物多样性; catchments:n.流域;集水; contribution:n.捐款;捐资;定期缴款;贡献;促成作用;稿件; global:adj.全球的;总体的;球形的; carbon:n.[化学]碳;碳棒;复写纸;adj.碳的;碳处理的;
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| Perhaps you should plant some trees, too. |
或许你也应该种些树。 |
| Thank you. |
谢谢。 |