Australia’s Great Barrier Reef can be saved only if urgent steps are taken to reduce global warming, new research has warned.

　　新的研究警示道，只有采取紧急措施减缓全球变暖，澳大利亚的大堡礁才能被拯救。

　　Attempting to stop coral bleaching through any other method will not be sufficient, according to scientists.

　　根据科学家的说法，试图通过任何其他方法停止珊瑚褪色是不够的。

　　The research, published in the journal Nature, said bleaching events should no longer be studied individually, but as threats to the reef’s survival.

　　发表在《自然》期刊上的研究称，褪色事件不应再被当作个别事件进行研究，而是关乎珊瑚生存的威胁。

　　The bleaching - or loss of algae - in 2016 was the worst on record.

　　2016年的珊瑚褪色是史上最糟糕的。

　　"Climate change is the single greatest threat to the Great Barrier Reef," said co-author Prof Morgan Pratchett, from Queensland’s James Cook University.

　　来自昆士兰州詹姆斯库克大学的合著者摩根教授说：“气候变化是大堡礁的最大威胁。

　　"It all comes down to what the governments in Australia and around the world do in terms of mitigating further rises in temperatures."

　　“这一切都归结于澳大利亚和世界各国政府在减缓全球变暖方面的作为。”

　　Lead author Prof Terry Hughes warned bleaching events had become "the new normal".

　　主要作者泰瑞教授警告道，褪色事件已经成为“新常态”。

　　Last week, he said an aerial survey had shown evidence of mass bleaching in consecutive summers for the first time.

　　他说，上周的一次航空调查显示，史上首次出现夏季连续大规模珊瑚褪色。

　　The scale of the damage will be examined in the next three weeks by the National Coral Bleaching Taskforce, a collaboration of scientists and reef managers.

　　破坏规模将在未来三个星期里由国家珊瑚褪色工作组审查，该审查组是科学家和珊瑚礁管理者合作成立的。

　　Prof Pratchett said he remained optimistic the reef could recover, but the "window of opportunity" to curb emissions was closing.

　　泰瑞教授说，他仍然乐观珊瑚可以恢复，但是减排的“机会之窗”正在关闭。

　　"It’s the number one thing we need to think about now to save the reef," he told the BBC.

　　他告诉BBC：“这是我们首先需要考虑的如何拯救珊瑚的事情”。

　　Improving fishing practices or water quality would not be enough, he said.

　　他说，改进捕鱼方法或者水质是不够的。

　　The reef - a vast collection of thousands of smaller coral reefs stretching from the northern tip of Queensland to the state’s southern city of Bundaberg - was given World Heritage status in 1981.

　　1981年，从昆士兰北端到该州南部城市邦达堡的数以千计的小型珊瑚群被授予世界遗产名号。

　　The UN says it is the "most biodiverse" of all the World Heritage sites, and of "enormous scientific and intrinsic importance".

　　联合国说，在所有世界遗产地中，它是“最具生物多样性”的，具有“巨大的科学和自然重要性”。

（编辑：何莹莹）