"Water Cube" in the "Earth Hour". This year, 85 Chinese cities pledged to turn their lights off - more than double from last year.(dailymail.co.uk) |
More than 134 countries across the world, including the UK, switched off their lights for an hour on Sunday to support action to create a sustainable future for the planet. Environmental charity World Wildlife Fund has organised the Earth Hour event which saw iconic buildings such as Big Ben, the BT Tower, Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, Edinburgh Castle, Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol, Stormont in Northern Ireland and Cardiff's Millennium Centre blacking out for an hour. The event, which took place at 8.30pm Sunday around the world, started in Fiji, New Zealand and Australia. The aim is to highlight the charity's call on governments, organisations and individuals to pledge their commitment to tackling climate change. At the Royal Albert Hall in London, television presenter Kirsty Gallacher led a team of 60 cyclists from the UK-World Wildlife Fund to create a huge human-powered projection with images of endangered species including dolphins and tigers being shone on to the building. Colin Butfield, head of campaigns, WWF-UK, said: 'Our event at the Royal Albert Hall, alongside the hundreds of thousands of events across the world, shows global support for the need to tackle climate change and protect the natural world. 'The challenge for our future well-being could not be greater. WWF's Earth Hour is about creating a message so powerful that governments and businesses cannot fail to take notice.' Earth Hour started in 2007 in Sydney, Australia, when 2.2 million individuals and more than 2,000 businesses turned their lights off for one hour to take a stand against climate change. The following year, Earth Hour had become a global sustainability movement with more than 50 million people across 35 countries participating. Four of the world's five tallest buildings turned off their lights with the tallest, the 828-metre Burg Khalifa in Dubai, switching off about half a million lights. Also darkening for the occasion were floodlights at natural wonders such as Niagara and Victoria Falls and Table Mountain in South Africa. (Read by Renee Haines. Renee Haines is a journalist at the China Daily Website.)
(Agencies)
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上周日(譯者注:北京時(shí)間上周六),全球超過(guò)134個(gè)國(guó)家和地區(qū)的若干城市熄燈一小時(shí),以支持為地球創(chuàng)建可持續(xù)發(fā)展未來(lái)的環(huán)保行動(dòng)。英國(guó)也參與了這項(xiàng)活動(dòng)。 “地球一小時(shí)”活動(dòng)由環(huán)保機(jī)構(gòu)世界自然基金會(huì)組織,參與活動(dòng)的英國(guó)標(biāo)志性建筑包括大本鐘、英國(guó)電信塔、白金漢宮、溫莎城堡、愛(ài)丁堡城堡、布里斯托爾的克利夫頓吊橋、北愛(ài)爾蘭的斯托蒙特城堡、以及加的夫千禧中心。 這項(xiàng)活動(dòng)于上周日晚八點(diǎn)半(譯者注:北京時(shí)間上周六晚八點(diǎn)半)在全球開(kāi)始,首先熄燈的是斐濟(jì)、新西蘭和澳大利亞。 活動(dòng)旨在強(qiáng)調(diào)世界自然基金會(huì)發(fā)出的呼吁,號(hào)召政府、有關(guān)機(jī)構(gòu)和個(gè)人踐行應(yīng)對(duì)氣候變化問(wèn)題所作出的承諾。 在倫敦的艾伯特演奏廳,電視主持人柯蒂斯?加拉徹帶領(lǐng)60位英國(guó)自然基金會(huì)的環(huán)保人士用腳踏車為投影設(shè)備提供電力,在音樂(lè)廳的外墻上展現(xiàn)包括海豚、老虎在內(nèi)的各種瀕危動(dòng)物的影像。 活動(dòng)負(fù)責(zé)人、來(lái)自英國(guó)自然基金會(huì)的科林?巴特菲爾德說(shuō):“我們?cè)诎匮葑鄰d的活動(dòng),以及在全球舉辦的成百上千場(chǎng)熄燈活動(dòng),體現(xiàn)出全球?qū)τ趹?yīng)對(duì)氣候變化、保護(hù)自然界的支持。 “人類未來(lái)的福祉現(xiàn)在正面臨最大的挑戰(zhàn)。世界自然基金會(huì)的‘地球一小時(shí)’活動(dòng)旨在傳達(dá)這樣一個(gè)強(qiáng)有力的信息,讓政府和有關(guān)行業(yè)都無(wú)法忽視。” “地球一小時(shí)”活動(dòng)于2007年首次在澳大利亞悉尼舉辦,當(dāng)時(shí)有220萬(wàn)人和超過(guò)兩千家機(jī)構(gòu)熄燈一小時(shí),以示應(yīng)對(duì)氣候變化的決心。 在2008年,“地球一小時(shí)”活動(dòng)就成為了一項(xiàng)全球的環(huán)保運(yùn)動(dòng)。當(dāng)年有來(lái)自35個(gè)國(guó)家的超過(guò)五千萬(wàn)人參加。 全球最高的五座建筑中有四座都參與了這項(xiàng)活動(dòng)。全球第一高樓、高達(dá)828米的迪拜“哈利法塔”關(guān)掉了大約50萬(wàn)盞燈。 尼亞加拉瀑布、維多利亞瀑布、以及南非的桌山等世界著名的自然景觀照明燈也熄燈一小時(shí),呼吁環(huán)保。 相關(guān)閱讀 世界各地響應(yīng)“地球一小時(shí)”活動(dòng) “熄燈一小時(shí)”環(huán)保行動(dòng)全球接力 (中國(guó)日?qǐng)?bào)網(wǎng)英語(yǔ)點(diǎn)津 Julie 編輯:Helen) |
Vocabulary: black out: to extinguish all of the stage lights(熄燈) floodlight: 泛光燈,照明燈 |