最新研究表明，若全球氣溫進一步升高2攝氏度，那么全球超過四分之一的土地，即15億多人口的家園都將陷入干旱。氣溫升高，干旱加劇還將導致旱災和山火在全球范圍內蔓延。

這是寧夏沙坡頭景區內騰格里沙漠一景（12月8日新華社記者隋先凱攝）。

An increase of just 2°C in global temperatures could make the world considerably drier and more desert-like, new research has warned.
最新研究提醒稱，全球氣溫升高2攝氏度，就會顯著增加干旱程度，使地球荒漠化程度加劇。

More than a quarter of the world's land surface, home to more than 1.5 billion people, would become more arid and droughts and wildfires could be widespread.
屆時，超過四分之一的陸地表面（15億多人口的家園）將會更加干旱荒蕪，野火肆虐。

Limiting global warming to 1.5°C (2.7°F) would dramatically reduce the percentage of the Earth's surface affected, scientists found.
科學家發現，將全球氣候變暖升溫控制在1.5攝氏度以內將顯著降低地球表面受影響的比例。

Aridity is a measure of the dryness of the land surface, obtained from combining precipitation and evaporation.
干燥度是衡量地表干燥程度的一項指標，通過綜合衡量降水量和蒸發量得出。

'Aridification would emerge over 20 to 30 percent of the world's land surface by the time the global temperature change reaches 2oC ', said Dr Manoj Joshi from the University of East Anglia's School of Environmental Sciences and one of the study's co-authors.
研究報告合著者、東安格利亞大學環境科學學院的馬努基-喬西博士說：“如果地球升溫2攝氏度，20%到30%的地表會干旱化。”

The research team studied projections from 27 global climate models and identified areas of the world where aridity will substantially change.
研究小組對27個全球氣候模型進行了推算，確定出嚴重受到干旱影響的地區。

The most affected areas are parts of South East Asia, Southern Europe, Southern Africa, Central America and Southern Australia.
受影響最大的包括東南亞、歐洲南部、非洲南部、中美洲和南澳的部分地區。

These areas are home to more than 20 percent of the world's population - that's over 1.5 billion people.
這些地區居住了超過15億人口，超過全球人口的20%。

The study looked at the current rate of global temperature increase and compared it to data from before the industrial revolution.
研究審視了目前全球溫度上升的速度，并將之與工業革命之前的數據進行對比。

The world has already warmed by 1°C since then.
自那時起，地球溫度已經上升了1攝氏度。

Two thirds of the affected regions could avoid significant aridification if warming is limited to 1.5oC (2.7°F), researchers found.
研究人員發現，如果升溫控制在1.5攝氏度以內，三分之二的受影響地區將免遭嚴重干旱化。

The Paris Agreement, which was first signed in 2015,is an international agreement to control climate change.
2015年首次簽署的《巴黎氣候協定》是一份控制氣候變化的國際協議。

It hopes to hold the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C.
該協定希望將全球平均增溫控制在2攝氏度以下，并努力將增溫控制在1.5攝氏度以下。

In June, President Trump announced his intention for the US, the second largest producer of greenhouse gases in the world, to withdraw from the agreement.
今年6月，美國總統特朗普宣布，全球第二大溫室氣體排放國美國將退出該協議。

A drier world may become a reality and the horrific scenes of the Californian wildfires may become more common.
地球更干旱可能將成為一個現實，加州山火的可怕景象會日益普遍。

The fire scorched more than 440 square miles of Ventura and Santa Barbara counties and destroyed more than 1,000 structures after breaking out in early December.
去年12月初爆發的這起山火燒焦了文圖拉市和圣巴巴拉市超過440平方英里的土地，毀掉了超過1000座建筑。

Drought is one of the biggest concerns in some parts of the world, where rainfall is rare and water scarce.
干旱是全球一些地區最大的擔憂之一，這些缺水地區干旱少雨。

Some parts of Kenya, for example, can go an entire year without a drop of rain.
比如，肯尼亞的部分地區可能全年無雨。

The research was published in Nature Climate Change.
這項研究結果發表在《自然氣候變化》期刊上。

英文來源：每日郵報
翻譯&編審：yaning