| 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. |
據法新社報道，一項質疑影響氣候因素的討論及研究顯示，過去十年間，中國煤炭消耗急劇上升，但由于燃燒排放的硫磺具有冷卻作用，從而遏制了全球變暖。? |
| Coal emits sulfur, which stops the Sun's rays from reaching Earth. |
煤炭燃燒排出硫磺，可以阻擋太陽光到達地球。 |
| 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. |
波士頓大學的羅伯特?考夫曼教授稱，這種現象有過先例，二戰后西方國家與日本進入經濟繁榮期，此間溫室氣體排放陡增，“而硫磺排放同時猛增，便抵消了溫室氣體的作用。” |
| Global temperatures rose after the early 1970s when major developed nations started to take action to curb sulfur emissions, the study said. |
研究顯示，19世紀70年代初期后，主要發達國家都采取措施，遏制硫排放，因此全球氣溫開始上升。 |
|
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年間，全球煤炭消耗增長26%，而中國占據了增長額的四分之三。 |
