我真的很關心環保的問題，看來我的美國同事Emily說，很快的我們就沒有魚可以吃了是真的在本世紀就會發生了。沒有吃魚，人類會變笨耶．．．那那部我看過的電影「蠢蛋進化論」不就會成真。希望大家多關心地球，要考IELTS的同學也要關心這個話題，因為最近環保議題很熱門。在看這篇文章時，大家不妨把它印出來（他有一種printable版），然後把每一句話的動詞用紅筆圈起來（在introduction段我有示範了，有的是be動詞，有的是一般動詞），可以增加文法概念囉～
Key coral reefs 'could disappear' (關鍵的珊瑚礁可能消失)
By Lucy Williamson
BBC News, Manado, Indonesia
Page last updated at 02:11 GMT, Wednesday, 13 May 2009 03:11 UK
The world's most important coral region is in danger of being wiped out (處於滅絕的危險中) by the end of this century unless fast action is taken, says a new report.
The international conservation group WWF (世界自然基金會) warns that 40% of reefs in the Coral Triangle (珊瑚金山角) have already been lost.
The area is shared between Indonesia and five other south-east Asian nations and is thought to contain 75% of the world's coral species.
It is likened to (被比喻為) the Amazon rainforest in terms of its biodiversity. (就生物多樣化來說, 這裏就像亞馬遜雨林)
Temperature change
It's 2099, and across south-east Asia, a hundred million people are on the march (步行著), looking for food.
“ The productivity of ocean... is plummeting (垂直下降) right now ”
Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg WWF report author
The fish they once relied on is gone. Communities are breaking down; economies destroyed.
That is what we can expect, says the new WWF report, if the world's richest coral reef is destroyed.
And that, it says, could happen this century.
It's billed as a worst-case scenario (這是以最糟的情況來說), but the report's chief author, Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, says it is not as bad as the future we're currently headed towards. (雖然這是最糟的情況, 但也沒有糟過我們目前行進的方向, 也就是說整個生態很完蛋)
"Up until now we haven't realized how quickly this system is changing," says Professtor Hoegh-Guldberg.
"In the last 40 years in the Coral Triangle, we've lost 40% of coral reefs and mangroves (紅樹林) - and that's probably an underestimate (一項低估). We've fundamentally changed the way the planet works in terms of currents (就海流來講) and this is only with a 0.7 degree change in terms of temperature.
"What's going to happen when we exceed two or four or six?"
Climate change consequences
Avoiding a worst-case scenario would need significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions (溫室效應氣體排放量) and better controls on fishing and coastal areas, says the report.
The Coral Triangle covers 1% of the earth's surface but contains a third of (三分之一) all the world's coral, and three-quarters of (四分之三) its coral reef species.
If it goes, an entire eco-system goes with it - and that, says Prof Hoegh-Gudberg, has serious consequences for its ability to tackle climate change.
"Pollution, the inappropriate use of coastal areas (污染以及沿岸地區不當使用), these are destroying the productivity of ocean (關代形容海洋的生產力 which is plummeting right now). That is the system (關代形容前面的系統 that traps CO2) - 40% of CO2 goes into the ocean. (這裏是說, 海洋系統含有地球上40%的二氧化碳量。下面那段則說, 若這系統被干擾, 地球的問題就會更嚴重。)
"Now if we interrupt that, the problems on planet earth become even greater," says Prof Hoegh-Gudberg.
Indonesia is hosting the World Ocean Conference (世界海洋會議) this week because, it says, oceans have been neglected so far in global discussions on climate change.
It wants the issue to have a bigger profile (更廣泛的討論) at UN climate talks (聯合國的氣候會談) later this year.
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