又中又英｜Sit on your hands

Sit on your hands

Many world leaders are sitting on their hands while climate change breathes down our necks. Climate change wants the world to know it’s breathing down our necks, but some world leaders and politicians are skeptical about climate change. They are playing a game of chicken with climate change. They don’t seem to understand they will lose the game of chicken. To sit on your hands means to do nothing about a problem that needs to be solved. To breathe down your neck means to watch you carefully and constantly. A game of chicken is a dangerous game in which neither side will back down for fear of looking like a coward.

There is plenty of proof that climate change is affecting our weather patterns. I have spent time in the past few months in Atlanta, the Texas city of Austin, and Indianapolis. Austin normally has hot summers, but a heat dome hung over Texas when I was there in June. A heat dome is an area of high pressure that traps heat, which can last for weeks. The temperature reached 38 degrees while I was there. Similar heat domes hung over Indianapolis and Atlanta. Europe and other parts of the world were also affected by unusually hot weather.

Climate change was also responsible for a category 4 hurricane that hit Mexico, weakened a bit, then affected Southern California. It was the first tropical storm to affect Southern California in 84 years. The world should not sit on its hands. World leaders should not play a game of chicken with climate change because they will lose.

當氣候變化正監視着我們（breathes down our necks）時，許多世界領袖卻是坐視不理（sitting on their hands）。氣候變化也想全世界知道，它在緊緊盯着我們看（breathing down our necks），但一些世界領袖和政客對於氣候變化卻抱懷疑的態度。他們在跟氣候變化玩懦夫賽局（a game of chicken）；他們卻似乎不很明白，自己會在懦夫賽局（the game of chicken）中輸掉。To sit on your hands是指當有一個問題需要解決時，你卻在「等運到」、置之不理。To breathe down your neck是指持續地緊緊盯着你、監視你。A game of chicken是個危險的遊戲，兩邊對弈時，誰也不想打退堂鼓，害怕自己看來像個懦夫。

現在已經有大量的證據證明，氣候變化正在影響着我們的天氣模式。我這幾個月待在亞特蘭大、德州的城市柯士甸，以及印第安納坡里斯。柯士甸的夏天通常都是炎熱的，但我六月到訪時，就有heat dome威脅着德州。A heat dome就是熱蓋現象，即一個地區有高氣壓困着熱空氣，而這個情況可以持續數周。我在那兒時，氣溫就高達三十八度。類似的熱蓋現象（heat domes）亦威脅着印第安納坡里斯和亞特蘭大。歐洲和世界其他地方也同樣受着異常酷熱的天氣影響。

那侵襲墨西哥的四級颶風，也是由氣候變化所引起的。該颶風經過墨西哥後減弱了一些，然後又吹襲加州南部。這是八十四年來首度有熱帶風暴吹襲南加州。全世界都不應坐視不理（sit on its hands）。世界領袖不應再跟氣候變化玩懦夫賽局（a game of chicken）了，因為他們必輸無疑。

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Michael Chugani褚簡寧
中譯：七刻