かもめの英語ハッピーブログ

英語講師、翻訳者、元外資系航空会社客室乗務員のkamomeskyが、英語学習法、実践の記録、日々の気付きなどについて日本語と英語で書いています。

実践ビジネス英語 ディクテーション (4/26, 27ほか)

こんにちは。NHKラジオ「実践ビジネス英語」”Talk the Talk”のディクテーションです。

Lesson 2のテーマは、‘Climate Change’(気候変動)でした。Vignetteでは、昨年夏の暑さに始まり、気候変動がもたらすリスクと対策、二酸化炭素の排出量を減らすために個人レベルでできることなどが主な話題になりました。

Talk the Talk”では、なぜ世界中の人がこの問題を最優先課題にしないのかという、もっともな疑問についても話されています。

 

★英文の終わりに語注をつけました。

 

Climate Change

(S: 杉田敏先生 H: Heather Howardさん)

 

S: Our current vignette talks about the threat of climate change.

The repercussions may surely be catastrophic one day.

Scientists fear climate effects so severe that they might destabilize governments, produce waves of refugees and melt the polar ice, causing the seas to rise high enough to flood many of the world’s coastal cities.

 

H: It’s a frightening prospect, isn’t it?

There’s a famous science fiction film from the 1970s that might be a pretty good indication of where we’re headed.

I mentioned it in our talk about vertical farming a few years ago.

It’s set in a massively overcrowded New York city in 2022, where fresh food is extremely rare and extremely expensive.

Most of the population lives on ration wafers manufactured by a certain company.

And there are riots in the streets when supplies run out.

I could easily see that kind of situation developing in real life with millions and millions of people being forced away from coasts or toward more hospitable climes.

They put an unbearable strain on resources of food, water and shelter, not to mention jobs.

There couldn’t possibly be enough work to go around, which would of course lead to rampant crime.

Sometimes it’s very hard to understand why the entire world doesn’t make dealing with this their top priority.

If the foundation of our house was crumbling, wouldn’t we deal with that before anything else?

 

S: It may be partly because climate change has a somewhat vague image.

We can clearly visualize plastic pollution through, say, a dead whale with massive amounts of garbage in its stomach, like dozens of plastic cups, bottles and bags.

But climate change is much less tangible.

 

H: I see what you mean.

It may be a cliché, but the old metaphor of the frog in the pot holds true, I think.

If the temperature of the water immediately rises, the frog will jump right out, but if it gradually rises, bit by bit, the frog will just sit there and let itself be cooked until it’s too late.

We humans are often not the most long-sighted creatures in the world, are we?

We tend to focus only on what’s right in front of us, especially when it involves our current comfort and convenience, and not worry too much about the repercussions down the road.

 

S: The time may soon come when we can’t ignore it.

As we’ve seen in recent years, extremely hot weather is getting more common in Japan and elsewhere in the world.

I know there are skeptics and deniers, many motivated ideologically, but science says climate change is a real existential risk.

It’s happening here and now.

And sooner we act, the lower the risk and cost.

On a more personal note, do you take any steps to reduce your carbon footprint, Heather?

 

H: Honestly speaking, I don’t do nearly as much as I should.

I have a reusable shopping bag, for example, but I often forget it at home.

So I end up getting more plastic bags of the grocery store.

I need to be more conscientious about that.

There’s been a lot of attention on straws lately, particularly for the harm they do to marine life.

I almost never use those.

The vignette mentions flying less as one big way to reduce our footprint.

I sincerely hope that someday we can make flying environmentally friendly.

I would hate to see a world where flying becomes taboo for environmental reasons and most people never leave their own country or even their own part of their own country.

Interacting with other cultures makes us better people.

And I don’t want to see the world mired in isolation.

 

--------------------------------------------------

Words and Expressions

rampant: 蔓延した

frog in the pot: ゆでガエルの法則 ゆでガエル現象

long-sighted: 先見の明のある

repercussion: 影響、反響

down the road: いつか、将来

denier: 否定論者

existential risk: 存亡の危機

be mired in : ~に陥って

 

お疲れさまでした。お読みくださり、ありがとうございます♪