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.

当气候变化正监视着我们（breathes down our necks）时，许多世界领袖却是坐视不理（sitting on their hands）。气候变化也想全世界知道，它在紧紧盯着我们看（breathing down our necks），但一些世界领袖和政客对于气候变化却抱怀疑的态度。他们在跟气候变化玩懦夫赛局（a game of chicken）；他们却似乎不很明白，自己会在懦夫赛局（the game of chicken）中输掉。To sit on your hands是指当有一个问题需要解决时，你却在「等运到」、置之不理。To breathe down your neck是指持续地紧紧盯着你、监视你。A game of chicken是个危险的游戏，两边对弈时，谁也不想打退堂鼓，害怕自己看来像个懦夫。

现在已经有大量的证据证明，气候变化正在影响着我们的天气模式。我这几个月待在亚特兰大、德州的城市柯士甸，以及印第安纳坡里斯。柯士甸的夏天通常都是炎热的，但我六月到访时，就有heat dome威胁着德州。A heat dome就是热盖现象，即一个地区有高气压困着热空气，而这个情况可以持续数周。我在那儿时，气温就高达三十八度。类似的热盖现象（heat domes）亦威胁着印第安纳坡里斯和亚特兰大。欧洲和世界其他地方也同样受着异常酷热的天气影响。

那侵袭墨西哥的四级飓风，也是由气候变化所引起的。该飓风经过墨西哥后减弱了一些，然后又吹袭加州南部。这是八十四年来首度有热带风暴吹袭南加州。全世界都不应坐视不理（sit on its hands）。世界领袖不应再跟气候变化玩懦夫赛局（a game of chicken）了，因为他们必输无疑。

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Michael Chugani褚简宁
中译：七刻