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The Earth is so hot this year that a limit for global warming agreed by world leaders at a climate summit in Paris just a few months ago is in danger of being breached.
今年全球是如此之热，以至于数月之前由几个国家的领导人签署的巴黎气候峰会协议几乎快要成为一纸空文了。
In December, almost 200 nations agreed a radical shift away from fossil fuels with a goal of limiting a rise in average global temperatures to well below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial times while "pursuing efforts" for 1.5C (2.7F).
去年12月份，近200个国家同意大幅削减化石燃料的使用，目标是把全球温度的上升幅度控制在2摄氏度（3.6华氏度）以内，通过努力使温度比前工业化时代只高出1.5摄氏度（2.7华氏度）。
But 2016 is on track to be the hottest year on record, also buoyed by a natural El Nino event warming the Pacific, according to the U.N.'s World Meteorological Organization. The first six months were a sweltering 1.3C above pre-industrial times.
但是根据联合国世界气象组织的报告显示，有了太平洋厄尔尼诺现象的火上浇油，2016年却是有记录以来最热的一年。前六个月已经比前工业化时代高出了1.3摄氏度。
"It opens a Pandora's box," said Oliver Geden, of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs. "The future debate about temperature targets will be about overshoot."
德国国际与安全事务研究所的奥利弗·戈登说道：“这就像打开了潘多拉的盒子。未来对温度目标的讨论将会集中在温度超标上。”
Many climate scientists say the Paris targets are likely to be breached in the coming decades, shifting debate onto whether it will be possible to turn down the global thermostat.
很多气候专家表示，巴黎峰会定下的目标在几十年内就会沦为一纸空文，讨论的重点将从“是否可行”转移到“降低全球温度”。
Developing nations see overshoot as a betrayal of commitments by the rich and a recipe to worsen heatwaves such as in the Middle East this year or a thaw of Greenland's ice sheet that could swamp island states by raising global sea levels.
发展中国家认为，温度超标是富有国家对协议条款的背叛，造成了中东地区的今年的热浪以及格陵兰岛冰盖的融化，导致岛国海平面上升，有被淹没的风险。
"There is a risk that 'overshoot' is a slippery slope towards lower ambition," said Emmanuel de Guzman, secretary of the Climate Commission of the Philippines, which chairs a group of 43 emerging nations in the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF).
领导着43国气候脆弱性论坛的菲律宾的气候委员会秘书长伊曼纽尔·德·古兹曼表示：“'温度超标'对小国家来说有急转直下的风险。”。
Developing nations say overshoot lets world leaders pay lip service to 1.5C while failing to act on pledges made in Paris for a trillion-dollar shift from coal and other fossil fuels towards renewable energies.
发展中国家宣称，温度超标使得各国领导人在巴黎峰会承诺的——把温度上升控制在1.5摄氏度、花费大量资金把化石燃料换成可再生能源——成了空头支票。
The 1.5C threshold could be in jeopardy within five years on current trends of world greenhouse gas emissions, led by China and the United States, and 2C within about 25 years, according to U.N. calculations of the amount of carbon that can be emitted into the atmosphere. Brazilian scientist Thelma Krug, who will lead the Geneva meeting of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), said a "wholesale transformation" of economies and society will be required to achieve the Paris targets.
根据联合国测算的二氧化碳排放量，按照现在温室气体的排放趋势（以中国和美国为主），1.5摄氏度的目标很有可能在五年内化为泡影，2摄氏度的目标也将在25年内破产。在日内瓦主持联合国政府间气候变化专门委员会会议的巴西科学家席尔玛·克鲁格表示，要想达成巴黎协议定下的目标，经济和社会必须要有“大规模改革”。
Many IPCC scenarios in recent years discuss ways to extract heat-trapping carbon dioxide from nature. If applied at a wide enough scale, such "negative emissions" could reduce temperatures after an overshoot. But there are many pitfalls.
近几年，很多IPCC的提案都讨论了从大自然中抽取导致温室效应的气体——二氧化碳的方法。如果范围足够广的话，这种“反向排放”能够在温度超标以后降低温度。但是这也有很多隐患。
The simplest natural aid - planting trees that absorb carbon dioxide from the air to grow - would probably require too much farmland to be feasible. Industrial technologies for extracting carbon from the air are costly and in their infancy.
最简单的方法——种树，能够吸收空气中的二氧化碳，但是这种办法要占用很多的耕地。从空气中提取二氧化碳的工业技术尚在起步阶段，而且成本很高。
