考研英語時文賞讀（91）：北極冰蓋正在加速融化

　　Soaring Temperatures Speed Up Spring Thaw on Greenland’s Ice Sheet

　　氣溫驟升使得春季的格陵蘭冰蓋正在加速融化

　　The Arctic spring thaw has begun with a bang, with extensive melting of the Greenland ice sheet and sea ice loss that is already several weeks ahead of normal, scientists said.

　　科學家們表示，春季的北極已經(jīng)開始冰雪消融，格陵蘭島冰蓋的大面積融化和海冰的消融相較于以往正常情況提前了幾周。

　　A stagnant zone of high-pressure air over Greenland last week brought warm air from the south, raising temperatures as much as 40 degrees Fahrenheit above normal. That, coupled with cloudless conditions, led to a pulse of melting across much of the ice sheet surface.

　　上周，格陵蘭島上空形成的高壓空氣停滯區(qū)留住了來自南方的暖空氣，使氣溫比正常水平高出了40華氏度。再加上無云的天氣狀況，導致冰蓋表面大部分融化。

　　Melting last Wednesday was the most extensive, at 275,000 square miles, or about 45 percent of the surface, said Marco Tedesco, a geophysicist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, which is part of Columbia University.

　　哥倫比亞大學拉蒙特-多爾蒂地球觀測站的地球物理學家馬可·特德斯科說，上周三的融化面積最大，達到了27.5萬平方英里，約占冰蓋表面積的45%。

　　That represents a record early date for such extensive melting, which has been measured by satellites since 1979. In 2012, an exceptionally warm year in the Arctic, there was slightly greater melting a few days later in June.

　　這是自1979年采取衛(wèi)星測量以來，觀測到冰蓋大規(guī)模融化創(chuàng)紀錄性提前的日期。2012年是北極異常溫暖的一年，那年6月晚些時候北極冰川的融化量略有增大。

　　The early melt is in keeping with the overall trend in the Arctic, where the warming effects of climate change are amplified. Overall, the region is warming about twice as fast as the global average.

　　格陵蘭島冰蓋提早融化符合北極變化的總體趨勢，北極地區(qū)因氣候變化導致的溫室效應會被放大?？偟膩碚f，北極地區(qū)變暖的速度是全球平均速度的兩倍。

　　But day-to-day conditions in the Arctic can vary, and by Saturday somewhat cooler air led to reduced melting of about 215,000 square miles, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, in Boulder, Colo.

　　但據(jù)科羅拉多州博爾德市的國家冰雪數(shù)據(jù)中心的數(shù)據(jù)，北極地區(qū)的日常情況可能差別很大，到周六，些許冷空氣可能會使冰蓋融化面積縮小到21.5萬平方英里。

　　(全文共227個詞，紐約時報)

　　重難點詞匯：

　　stagnant ['stægn?nt] adj. 停滯的；不景氣的；污濁的；遲鈍的

　　slightly ['sla?tli] adv. 些微地，輕微地；纖細地，瘦小的

　　amplify ['æmpl?fa?] vt. 放大，擴大；增強；詳述 vi. 詳述

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