2015考研英语阅读温室气体监测_大学英语阅读

2015考研英语阅读温室气体监测

　　In those 50 years measuring carbon-dioxide levels has gone from being a fun problem for apostdoc to a crucial issue for the planet. But the amount of effort put into it remainssurprisingly small. America s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration runsthe biggest network of monitoring sites. A dozen other countries run a few here and there aswell, with an expanded European effort getting under way. However, the scientists involvedhave been pointing out for years that it would take a very small investment, in a scientificworld of satellites and supercomputers, to make such networks a lot more capable. OnJanuary 12th, such an investment was at last revealedbut not by any of the governments towhich the pleas had been addressed.

　　在测量二氧化碳含量的这50 年间，二氧化碳含量已不仅是一个博士后感兴趣的问题，而成为了全球至关重要的问题。但让人吃惊的是，为此所做的努力依然很少。美国国家海洋和大气局管理着最大的监测站网络。其它一些国家也在各处零星分布着一些网络，欧洲方面展开的努力正在进行中。然而，参与其中的科学家们几年前就指出，只要一些小额的投资以及科学界的人造卫星和超级计算机，就能使这些网络发挥更大的能力。1月12日，对监测网络的这类投资终于浮出水面但政府方面没出上力，这些要求已得到解决。

　　A private company in Maryland, known until recently as AWS Convergence Technologies butnow called Earth Networks, has announced that over the next five years it will spend $25minstalling 100 state-of-the-art carbon-dioxide and methane monitors around the world. Fiftywill be sited in America. According to Pieter Tans, the doyen of the field at NOAA, the countrycurrently has 17 or 18, so that will improve things by a factor of four. In someless-well-covered places things will improve even more.