- Exercise 1. Listen to the speech of Greta Thunberg, Swedish 16 years old environmental activist, on climate change at the United Nations. Write down new words in your dictionary and translate them.
How dare you!
“My message is that we’ll be watching you.
This is all wrong. I shouldn’t be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you!
You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I’m one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!
For more than 30 years, the science has been crystal clear. How dare you continue to look away and come here saying that you’re doing enough when the politics and solutions needed are still nowhere in sight.
You say you hear us and that you understand the urgency. But no matter how sad and angry I am, I do not want to believe that. Because if you really understood the situation and still kept on failing to act, then you would be evil. And that I refuse to believe.
The popular idea of cutting our emissions in half in 10 years only gives us a 50% chance of staying below 1.5 degrees [Celsius], and the risk of setting off irreversible chain reactions beyond human control.
Fifty percent may be acceptable to you. But those numbers do not include tipping points, most feedback loops, additional warming hidden by toxic air pollution or the aspects of equity and climate justice. They also rely on my generation sucking hundreds of billions of tons of your CO2 out of the air with technologies that barely exist.
So a 50% risk is simply not acceptable to us — we who have to live with the consequences.
To have a 67% chance of staying below a 1.5 degrees global temperature rise – the best odds given by the [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] – the world had 420 gigatons of CO2 left to emit back on Jan. 1st, 2018. Today that figure is already down to less than 350 gigatons.
How dare you pretend that this can be solved with just ‘business as usual’ and some technical solutions? With today’s emissions levels, the remaining CO2 budget will be entirely gone within less than 8 1/2 years.
There will not be any solutions or plans presented in line with these figures here today, because these numbers are too uncomfortable. And you are still not mature enough to tell it like it is.
You are failing us. But the young people are starting to understand your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us, I say: We will never forgive you.
We will not let you get away with this. Right here, right now is where we draw the line. The world is waking up. And change is coming, whether you like it or not.
Thank you.”
- Exercise 2. Practice reading the difficult words
entire [ɪnˈtaɪə $ -ˈtaɪr], to rely [rɪˈlaɪ], an ecosystem [ˈiːkəʊˌsɪstɪm $ ˈiːkoʊ-], consequence [ˈkɒnsəkwəns $ ˈkɑːnsə-kwens], extinction [ɪkˈstɪŋkʃən], fairy [ˈfeəri $ ˈferi], eternal [ɪˈtɜːnəl $ -ɜːr-], politics [ˈpɒlətɪks $ ˈpɑː-], irreversible [ˌɪrɪˈvɜːsəbəl◂ $ -ɜːr-], urgency [ˈɜːdʒənsi $ ˈɜːr-], emission [ɪˈmɪʃən], to matter [ˈmætə $ -ər], evil [ˈiːvəl], chain [tʃeɪn].
- Exercise 3. Match these Russian collocations with the English ones in the Greta’s speech.
вне контроля человека; вызвать необратимые цепные реакции; вы подводите нас; сократить выбросы вдвое; быть зрелым; быть злым; бюджет полностью исчезнет; продолжать бездействовать; группа экспертов по изменению климата; не важно; наилучшие шансы; понимать срочность; риск просто не приемлем; на виду; мириться с последствиями; необходимые решения; высасывать углекислый газ из воздуха; кристально ясный; едва существовать; сказки о вечном экономическом росте; полагаться на поколения; массовое вымирание; справедливость; целые экосистемы рушатся; токсичное загрязнение воздуха; люди умирают; вы украли мое детство; проводить черту; переломные моменты; как вы смеете; понимать предательство; петли обратной связи.
- Exercise 4. Find 3 sentences for each of the Tenses we got to know so far: Present Simple, Present Continuous, Present Perfect, Future Simple and Past Simple. Revise the grammar rule on the verbs indicating the state.
- Exercise 5. Write down these collocations in your dictionary.
вне контроля человека – beyond human control
вызвать необратимые цепные реакции – to set off irreversible chain reactions
вы подводите нас! – you are failing us!
сократить выбросы вдвое – to cut emissions in half
быть зрелым – to be mature
быть злым – to be evil
бюджет полностью исчезнет – the budget will be entirely gone
продолжать бездействовать – to keep on failing to act
группа экспертов по изменению климата – panel on climate change
не важно – no matter
наилучшие шансы – the best odds
понимать срочность – to understand the urgency
риск просто не приемлем – risk is simply not acceptable
на виду, в поле зрения – in sight
мириться с последствиями – to live with the consequences
необходимые решения – solutions needed;
высасывать углекислый газ из воздуха – to suck CO2 out of the air
наука была кристально ясной – the science has been crystal clear
едва существовать – to barely exist
сказки о вечном экономическом росте – fairy tales of eternal economic growth
полагаться на поколения – to rely on generations
массовое вымирание – a mass extinction
справедливость – justice
целые экосистемы рушатся – entire ecosystems are collapsing
токсичное загрязнение воздуха – toxic air pollution
люди умирают – people are dying
вы украли мое детство – you have stolen my childhood
проводить черту – to draw the line
переломные моменты, критические факторы изменения климата – tipping points
как вы смеете! – how dare you!
понимать предательство – to understand betrayal
петли обратной связи – feedback loops
как смеете вы продолжать (после глагола dare инфинитив употребляется без частицы to) – how dare you continue
fifty percent – 50%
hundreds of billions of tons – сотни миллиардов тонн
the eyes of all future generations are upon you – глаза всех будущих поколений на вас
- Exercise 6. Practice smooth translation while reading the text.
Как вы смеете!
“My message is that we’ll be watching you.
Все не верно. I shouldn’t be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to us young people for hope. Как вы смеете!
Вы украли мои мечты and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I’m one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. Люди умирают. Целые экосистемы рушатся. We are in the beginning of массовое вымирание, and all you can talk about is money and сказки о вечном экономическом росте. Как вы смеете!
For more than 30 years, наука была кристально ясной. Как вы смеете продолжать to look away and come here saying that you’re doing enough, when the politics and необходимые решения are still nowhere в поле зрения.
You say you hear us and that вы понимаете срочность. Но не важно how sad and angry I am, I do not want to believe that. Because if you really understood the situation and все еще продолжали бездействовать, тогда вы были бы злонамерными (злыми). And that I refuse to believe.
Популярная идея сокращения эмиссий вдвое in 10 years only gives us a 50% chance of staying below 1.5 degrees [Celsius], and риск вызывания необратимых цепных реакций вне контроля человека.
Fifty per cent may be acceptable to you. But those numbers do not include точки отклонения (переломные моменты), most петли обратной связи, additional warming hidden by токсичное загрязнение воздуха or аспекты равенства и климатической справедливости. They also rely on my generation высасывая сотни миллиардов тонн углекислого газа из воздуха with technologies that едва существуют.
So a 50% risk is simply not acceptable to us — we who have мириться с последствиями.
To have a 67% chance of staying below a 1.5 degrees global temperature rise – наилучшие шансы given by the [Intergovernmental группа экспертов по изменению климата] – the world had 420 gigatons of CO2 left to emit back on Jan. 1st, 2018. Today that figure is already down to less than 350 gigatons.
How dare you pretend that this can be solved with just ‘business as usual’ and some technical solutions? With today’s emissions levels, that remaining CO2 budget will be entirely gone within less than 8 1/2 years.
There will not be any solutions or plans presented in line with these figures here today, because these числа слишком неудобные. And вы все еще не достаточно зрелые (повзрослевшие) to tell it like it is.
Вы подводите нас. But the young people are starting понимать ваше предательство. Глаза всех будущих поколений на вас. And if you choose to fail us, I say: We will never forgive you.
We will not let you get away with this. Right here, right now is where мы проводим черту. The world is waking up. And change is coming, whether you like it or not.
Thank you.”
- Exercise 7. Translate into Russian.
beyond human control,
to set off irreversible chain reactions,
you are failing us!
to cut emissions in half
to be mature
to be evil
the budget will be entirely gone
to keep on failing to act
a panel on climate change
no matter
the best odds
to understand the urgency
risk is simply not acceptable
in sight
to live with the consequences
solutions needed
to suck CO2 out of the air
the science has been crystal clear
to barely exist
fairy tales of eternal economic growth
to rely on generations
a mass extinction
justice
entire ecosystems are collapsing
toxic air pollution
people are dying
you have stolen my childhood
to draw the line
tipping points
how dare you!
to understand betrayal
feedback loops
how dare you continue
50%
сотни миллиардов тонн
глаза всех будущих поколений на вас