| China's soaring coal consumption in the last decade held back global warming as sulfur emissions served as a coolant, according to a study that takes head-on a key argument of climate skeptics, AFP reports. |
据法新社报道，一项质疑影响气候因素的讨论及研究显示，过去十年间，中国煤炭消耗急剧上升，但由于燃烧排放的硫磺具有冷却作用，从而遏制了全球变暖。 |
| Coal emits sulfur, which stops the Sun's rays from reaching Earth. |
煤炭燃烧排出硫磺，可以阻挡太阳光到达地球。 |
| Robert Kaufmann, a professor at Boston University, said that there was a precedent – greenhouse gas emissions also soared in the post-World War II economic boom in Western countries and Japan. "What happened was at the same time, sulfur emissions increased very rapidly, thereby canceling much of the greenhouse gas effect," Kaufmann said. |
波士顿大学的罗伯特•考夫曼教授称，这种现象有过先例，二战后西方国家与日本进入经济繁荣期，此间温室气体排放陡增，“而硫磺排放同时猛增，便抵消了温室气体的作用。” |
| Global temperatures rose after the early 1970s when major developed nations started to take action to curb sulfur emissions, the study said. |
研究显示，19世纪70年代初期后，主要发达国家都采取措施，遏制硫排放，因此全球气温开始上升。 |
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Global coal consumption again rose by 26 percent between 2003 and 2007, with China accounting for more than three quarters of the increase.
(China.org.cn July 7, 2011) |
2003至2007年间，全球煤炭消耗增长26%，而中国占据了增长额的四分之三。 |
