硕士学位英语2.doc

Call for a climate culture shiftPart I Introduction 1、In the fight against climate change, humans will need to do more than switch to energy-efficient light bulbs and buy green goods. As environmental scientist David Orr points out in Down to the Wire, what is needed is a radical shift in culture that alters our priorities(主题句T.S.). The question is whether that task, which seems impossible, can be made to happen. Orrs book, along with recent research and social initiatives, give hope that it can.Part II Elucidation （阐明，说明，解释） 2、There is a growing scientific consensus that humanity is rapidly approaching a global climate catastrophe. Although we have increasing knowledge of the dangers and costs ahead there is little time to avert a disaster. Orr acknowledges these dire circumstances, but does not wallow in despair or defeatism. His book is a clear-sighted view of what we need to change now. (本段小结We need to change sth. under the circumstances of a global climate catastrophe)3、He describes three essential categories of radical change（T.S.）, in increasing order of difficulty. The first and most easily achievable is a redesign of the infrastructure for producing food, energy, water and other commodities so that it is powered by renewable sources. Second is an overhaul of education systems to develop ecological literacy and encourage creative, real-world problem solving. The third is to reform our political systems from the current corporate plutocracies to true democracies with real leaders.4、We live, as Orr says, amid the ruins of failed-isms. Both communism and capitalism have pursued policies of growth at all costs that has failed to account adequately for the value of natural and social capital assets, such as a stable climate, functioning ecosystems and successful human communities. An alternative solution is needed to formulate a fundamentally different set of economic goals for society（T.S.）,. Orr prescribes three such goals that presently appear to be utterly impossible: First, he advocates a change in priority: instead of economic growth, we should switch to development that genuinely improves the quality of life for everyone. Second, consumer culture should be focused on needs, not wants; and third-hardest of all-we should summon the compassion and wisdom to fairly distribute wealth, opportunity and risk.”5、These goals and the policies to achieve them have long been on social and political agendas. Why have things not changed, and how can they be made to change? Orr addresses this adroitly, showing that human nature is flexible and that rapid cultural shifts have happened before（T.S.）. In the United States after the Second World War, for example, the culture changed to allow new social and taxation policies that created the middle class. The rapid fall of the Soviet Union resulted from the slow build一up of social problems until a tipping point was reached. It may only be a matter of time before people who share the goals of quality of life; fairness and sufficiency begin to outweigh those whose world view is locked into growth at all costs.6、Some evidence that such attitudes are on the rise （T.S.）comes from the work of sociologist Paul H. Ray and psychologist Sherry Ruth Anderson, who have surveyed and categorized world views in the United States over the past four decades. In their book The Cultural Creatives (Crown Publishing; 2000), they break the US population into three groups: traditional; who include the religious right and others who hark back to the past; moderns; who are the current dominant group and include the growth at all costs type; and cultural creatives; including those with the values and goals that Orr promotes. The percentage of cultural creatives in the United States increased from almost nothing in the 1960s to 25% the year 2000, and is now close to 30% by some estimates. A political tipping point will occur when this percentage is large enough to begin to radically change the political dynamics of the country and, by extension, the world.7、As Orr points out, many varied initiatives are already pressing towards a cultural shift（T.S.）. Examples include the transition town movement, spearheaded by the charity Transition Network in Tomes, UK, which aims to help communities reduce their carbon emissions; the sustainable cities effort based in Vancouver, Canada, which supports urban sustainability projects worldwide; and Orrs own initiative to plan and construct sustainable buildings in the city of Oberlin, Ohio.8、Other indicators of this shift include the thousands of organizations that are devoted to restoring the environment and fostering social justice（T.S.）, as described by Paul Hawken in his 2007 book Blessed Unrest (Viking).And a French government commission, set up in 2008 to assess economic performance, is one of many attempts to account for the limitations of the gross domestic product as a measure of social progress. Such examples are evidence of the growing global dialogue on providing real solutions to the problem of building a sustainable and desirable future. A journal entitled Solutions (of which I am editor-in-chief, and Orr and Hawken are associate editors) is due to launch soon to add to these discussions.Part III Conclusion9、All of this shows that a global cultural shift and transformation is indeed in progress（T.S.）结论. As Orr concludes, this transformation has grown into a worldwide movement that rejects the idea that we are fated to end the human experiment with a bang or a whimper on a scorched and barren Earth.”We still have a choice, but it is now or never. Orrs book will do much to help achieve the required cultural transformation, hopefully just in time.(总-分-总) Introduction - Elucidation Conclusion议论文最完美的结构总分总号召气候文化变革1. 在应对气候变化这场斗争中，人类需要做的不仅仅是改用节能灯泡和购买“绿色环保”商品。正如环境科学家大卫奥尔在其题为坚持到底的书中所指出的那样，我们所需要的是一个改变我们优先考虑的事的一个彻底的文化变革。问题是那个看起来不可能完成的任务是否能够实现。奥尔的书，加之最近的研究和积极的社会行动给了我们希望。（Part One需要一个彻底的文化变革，且有希望实现彻底的这个变革）2. 科学界正逐渐达成一个共识：人类正在迅速走向一个全球性的气候灾难。尽管针对我们所面临的危险和代价的认识越来越多，我们能够防止灾难发生的时间却所剩无几。奥尔注意到了形势的严峻，但是并没有沉溺于绝望和失败情绪之中。奥尔的书清晰地表明我们需要做出哪些改变。（Part Two为什么变）3. 书中，奥尔描述了三种类别的在难度上递增的变化。他所列举的第一类变化，也是最容易实现的，是重新设计用来生产食品、能量、水和其它商品的基础设施，以使这些基础设施依靠可再生资源运转。第二类变化是全面修订教育体系以提高人们的生态意识和促进富有创造力的、切实可行的问题解决能力。第三类变化是改革我们的政治体系，使其从当前的公司富豪统治（所谓的民主）变为由真正领导者领导的真正意义上的民主体制。（Part Two变什么）4. 如奥尔所说，我们生活“在各种失败了的主义的废墟之中。共产主义和资本主义贯彻的都是“不惜一切代价求增长”的政策，而这些政策都没有充分说明自然资本和社会资本资产的价值，这些资本资产包括诸如稳定的气候、正常运转的生态系统和成功的人类社区。我们需要一种超越古今的解决办法，以便构想出一套完全不同的社会经济目标。奥尔建议制定三种“目前看起来完全不可能实现的”目标。首先，奥尔主张改变我们需要优先考虑的事，即从经济增长转变为能够真正改善每个人生活质量的发展。第二，消费文化应该集中在必需品，而不是需求品上。第三，也是最难实现的，我们应该唤起人们的“同情心和智慧以便公平地分配财富、机会和风险”。 （Part Two变的目标是什么）5. 这些目标和用来实现这些目标的政策长久以来都是被列在社会和政治议程之内的。问题是为什么事情并未发生改变？我们如何才能使这些事情发生改变呢？奥尔机智地处理了这个问题，他指出人类的本性是灵活的，迅速的文化变革曾经发生过。比如，在二战后的美国，文化发生了改变，以允许新的社会和税收政策发挥其应有的作用，这些政策后来制造了美国的中产阶级。前苏联的解体是由于社会问题的缓慢积聚，直至达到了翻动点。由此可见，迟早有一天，那些以提高生活质量、追求公正和富足为目标的人开始胜过那些世界观锁定在不惜一切代价求增长的人。（Part Two变化需要时机opportunity; an opportune moment; 但迟早目标会实现）6. 这样的态度正处于上升趋势，这一论断的证据部分来自于社会学家保罗H雷和心理学家谢利鲁思安德森的著述，他们对过去40年美国的世界观进行了调查和分类。他们在题为文化创新者（该书2000年由Crown出版公司出版）的一书中将美国人口分为三大类：“传统派”，“现代派”和“文化创新派”。“传统派”包括宗教右翼和其他喜欢重提过去的人；“现代派”指的是当前占主导地位的群体，包括“不惜一切代价求增长”类型的人；“文化创新派”包括