文明恐瓦解
Tesla CEO Elon Musk sounded alarm bells on a looming problem facing humanity — the mounting trend of people not having children.
特斯拉執行長馬斯克對人類面臨的迫切問題發出警訊——大家不生孩子的趨勢日益增加。
sound alarm bells敲響警鐘;發出危險信號looming(adj.)迫近的;逼近的the looming crisis迫切的危機mounting(adj.)增加的mounting debts日益累積的債務
Musk dismissed the concern of overpopulation during a Wall Street Journal event, arguing that low birth rates could contribute to a societal collapse.
馬斯克在《華爾街日報》的活動中駁斥人口過剩的擔憂，認為低出生率可能導致社會瓦解。
dismiss(v.)解散、駁回、不考慮;不理會overpopulation人口過剩underpopulation人口不足collapse(n.)(v.)倒塌;崩潰;垮掉=crumble
“I think one of the biggest risks to civilization is the low birth rate and the rapidly declining birth rate,” Musk said.
馬斯克說：「我認為文明最大的風險之一是低生育率以及快速下降的生育率。」
birth rate生育率
He said there are “not enough people” on earth, pointing to labor shortages.
他說，地球上「人不夠」，指出勞動力短缺。
shortage(n.)缺乏;缺少a labor shortage勞力短缺a chip crunch晶片短缺
“And yet so many people, including smart people, think that there are too many people in the world and think that the population is growing out of control. It is completely the opposite,” he added. “Please look at the numbers. If people don’t have more children, civilization is going to crumble. Mark my words.”
他補充說：「可是很多人，包括聰明人，認為世界上人太多了，認為人口成長失控。事實完全相反。」「請看看這些數字。如果大家不多生小孩，文明就會瓦解。記住我的話。」
out of control失控under control在控制中mark my words記住我的話
The global birth rate has been steadily declining since 1963, with a slight recovery around the early 1980s, according to data from the World Bank.
根據世界銀行的資料，從1963年以來，全球出生率一直穩定下降，1980年代初左右有稍微回升。
For some people, climate change looms large when they consider whether or not to have children. A survey conducted by data and polling company Morning Consult in 2020 found that one in four childless adults cited climate change as a main reason they don’t have children.
對有些人來說，他們考慮是否要小孩時，氣候變遷就相當重要。數據和民調公司Morning Consult在2020年進行的一項調查發現，四分之一沒有子女的成年人把氣候變遷作為他們不生小孩的主要原因之一。
loom large顯得突出;變得嚴重consult(v.)諮詢;請教;查閱;商量;商討consult a doctor看醫師consult a dictionary查字典cite(v.)引用;提及
While climate change was less cited in the survey than other reasons for not having children, like financial issues, political and career concerns, a quarter of respondents suggested that its impacts are becoming increasingly visible to the public.
雖然在調查中，氣候變遷比起其他不生孩子的原因，例如財務問題、政治和職業考量，比較少提到，但是有四分之一的受訪者表示，其影響對大眾來說越來越引人注目。
respondent(n.)受訪者visible(adj.)顯眼的;引人注目的
Such fears are not necessarily unfounded.
這種擔心不一定是沒有根據的。
unfounded(adj.)無事實根據的unfounded rumors無中生有的謠言
In July, analysts at Morgan Stanley wrote in a note to investors that the “movement to not have children owing to fears over climate change is growing and impacting fertility rates quicker than any preceding trend in the field of fertility decline.”
7月，摩根士丹利分析師給投資人的報告中寫道：「由於對氣候變遷的擔憂而不生孩子的運動正在成長，對生育率的影響比之前生育下降方面的任何趨勢都還要快。」
fertility(n.)生育fertility rate生育率=birth ratepreceding(adj.)在前的;前面的