2019年考研英语二阅读 Text 2 原文翻译及答案解析
本页收录2019年考研英语二阅读理解 Part A 第 2 篇的原文、全文翻译与逐题解析。Part A 共 4 篇、20 题、40 分，是考研英语分值最高的部分，题型以细节题、推断题、主旨题与词义题为主。
Forests give us shade, quiet and one of the harder challenges in the fight against climate change. Even as we humans count on forests to soak up a good share of the carbon dioxide we produce, we are threatening their ability to do so. The climate change we are hastening could one day leave us with forests that emit more carbon than they absorb.
森林为我们提供阴凉、宁静，同时也是应对气候变化中最为艰巨的挑战之一。尽管我们人类依赖森林来吸收我们产生的大量二氧化碳，但我们正在威胁它们的这种能力。我们加速的气候变化有朝一日可能会使森林排放的碳多于吸收的碳。
Thankfully, there is a way out of this trap — but it involves striking a subtle balance. Helping forests flourish as valuable "carbon sinks" long into the future may require reducing their capacity to absorb carbon now. California is leading the way, as it does on so many climate efforts, in figuring out the details.
幸运的是，有一条出路——但这需要找到微妙的平衡。帮助森林长期作为宝贵的“碳汇”茁壮成长，可能需要在现阶段减少其吸碳能力。加州在探索细节方面走在前列，就像它在许多气候努力中那样。
The state's proposed Forest Carbon Plan aims to double efforts to thin out young trees and clear brush in parts of the forest. This temporarily lowers carbon-carrying capacity. But the remaining trees draw a greater share of the available moisture, so they grow and thrive, restoring the forest's capacity to pull carbon from the air. Healthy trees are also better able to fend off insects. The landscape is rendered less easily burnable. Even in the event of a fire, fewer trees are consumed.
该州提出的森林碳计划旨在加倍努力，在森林部分区域疏伐幼树和清除灌木丛。这暂时降低了碳承载能力。但剩余的树木能吸收更多可用的水分，因此它们生长茂盛，恢复了森林从空气中吸收碳的能力。健康的树木也更能抵御昆虫。景观变得不那么容易燃烧。即使发生火灾，被烧毁的树木也更少。
The need for such planning is increasingly urgent. Already, since 2010, drought and insects have killed over 100 million trees in California, most of them in 2016 alone, and wildfires have burned hundreds of thousands of acres.
这种规划的需求日益紧迫。自2010年以来，干旱和昆虫已经导致加利福尼亚州超过1亿棵树死亡，其中大多数是在2016年一年内死亡的，野火烧毁了数十万英亩的土地。
California plans to treat 35, 000 acres of forest a year by 2020, and 60,000 by 2030 — financed from the proceeds of the state's emissions-permit auctions. That's only a small share of the total acreage that could benefit, about half a million acres in all, so it will be vital to prioritize areas at greatest risk of fire or drought.
加州计划到2020年每年治理35,000英亩森林，到2030年治理60,000英亩——资金来自该州排放许可拍卖的收益。这只占可能受益总面积的一小部分，总计约50万英亩，因此优先处理火灾或干旱风险最高的地区至关重要。
The strategy also aims to ensure that carbon in woody material removed from the forests is locked away in the form of solid lumber or burned as biofuel in vehicles that would otherwise run on fossil fuels. New research on transportation biofuels is already under way.
该战略还旨在确保从森林中移除的木质材料中的碳以固体木材的形式被封存，或作为生物燃料在原本使用化石燃料的车辆中燃烧。关于运输生物燃料的新研究已经在进行中。
State governments are well accustomed to managing forests, but traditionally they've focused on wildlife, watersheds and opportunities for recreation. Only recently have they come to see the vital part forests will have to play in storing carbon. California's plan, which is expected to be finalized by the governor next year, should serve as a model.
州政府非常习惯于管理森林，但传统上他们关注的是野生动物、流域和休闲机会。直到最近，他们才意识到森林在储存碳方面将发挥的关键作用。加州的计划预计明年由州长最终确定，应作为一个榜样。