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The ABCs of Global Warming
全球变暖基本情况
Ruth Gamberg
鲁思·甘伯格
Everything in nature changes, including the climate. This is a universal law of nature. Through the process of evolution, over very long periods of time, animal and plant species can adapt to these gradual changes. This is another universal law of nature. However, the speed with which the climate has been changing in the last 20 or so years is unprecedented. Human beings as a species are unique: we are a part of the natural world, but we are also apart from it in the sense that the actions of our species can dramatically change the world we live in. These changes are not always beneficial, either to humans or to other species.
自然界的一切都在发生变化，气候也不例外。这是大自然的一个普遍法则。经过很长一段时间的进化过程，动物和植物才能适应这些渐进的变化。这是大自然的另一个普遍法则。然而，在过去二十多年以来，气候变化的速度却是前所未有的。人类是一种特别的物种，我们是大自然的一部分，但我们的行为却可以极大地改变我们生活的这个世界，从这种意义上来说，我们又不属于大自然。这些变化对于人类或其他物种并不总是有益的。
The Industrial Revolution in the West, which began nearly 200 years ago, provides the best example of this. During these last two centuries, human beings have been responsible for enormous technical developments which are transforming the natural world. The speed and magnitude of these changes are far too great to enable many of the earth's living things, including humans, to adapt. Let us examine some of the ways in which this is occurring.
约200年前开始于西方的工业革命就是最好的例子。在过去的两个世纪里，人类取得了巨大的技术进步，改变了大自然。如此快速的发展和剧烈的变化使得地球上的许多生物，包括人类，都很难适应。让我们来分析一下这些正在发生的变化。
Undisturbed by human action, the earth's atmosphere has been able to maintain a delicate balance for thousands of years. The radiation from sunlight (solar energy) penetrates the atmosphere, a thin layer that encompasses the earth.
如果不受人类行为的干扰，地球的大气能够在数千年间维持一种微妙的平衡。阳光的辐射（太阳能）会穿透一层薄薄的环绕地球的大气层。
