The still-controversial Kyoto Protocol（议定书）, a pact（协约，协定） among 35 countries, aims to curb（抑制） industrial pollution.
By Brad Knickerbocker | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor （staff和monitor在这里怎么解释？？？）
<-- Begin Body Text -->（什么意思）More than a century ago, Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius warned that burning oil and coal（煤炭） could lead to an atmospheric（大气的） buildup（增进，增加） of carbon dioxide that would eventually warm the planet. It was a radical（激进的） idea back in those horse-and-buggy（马和马车） days.
Most experts now believe that to be true, and this week a group of nations（国家） took an important if modest step（适当的措施） in addressing the concern that motor（机动车的） vehicles, factories, and other development are changing Earth''s climate in ways that could be dangerous.
The Kyoto Protocol, which goes into effect（ 产生效果） Wednesday, commits（约定，约束） 35 industrialized countries to reducing by 2012 their emissions（发出物） of six "GREenhouse gases" that trap（解释为挡住吗？？？） heat in the earth''s atmosphere – principally（主要的） carbon dioxide - by 5 percent less than 1990 levels.
Seven years in the making and ratified（批准，认可） by 141 countries, the aGREement – formulated（规划，设计） in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997 - has been controversial from the start. Advocates（拥护者） see it as a baby step along the necessary road to reducing human impact on climate before the oceans rise and prairie（大草原） songbirds emigrate to the Arctic. Of(在这里作什么用？？？) opponents who accept the notion of global warming at all, some say the accord（一致，符合） is based on sketchy（粗略的，大体的） science and in any case（无论如何） would damage the economic growth most people demand.
Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, scientists have established, the concentration（含量） of atmospheric CO2（大气的二氧化碳含量） has increased 35 percent. While debates（讨论） have raged over the extent and causes, and even the reality（现实）, of global warming, the evidence of climate change keeps mounting（上升）. This has included record（记录） annual temperature levels, retreating（逃避，退却） glaciers（冰河，冰川）, shrinking(使缩小) Arctic ice, and shifting改变） global rainfall patterns.
Last week, NASA said a combination of weather conditions and GREenhouse gases could make this year the warmest on record. Earlier this month, experts at a government-sponsored（赞助，提供） conference in England reported "greater clarity（清楚，明晰） and reduced uncertainty about the impacts of climate change."（“非常清晰而且减少不确定的影响关于气候变化”是这样解释吗？？？）
Countries will use a variety of means to comply（遵守） with Kyoto. The European Union, for example, just launched（开始从事） a program in which some 12,000 power plants and factories can buy and sell carbon dioxide allowances（津贴，补助） on the way to meeting their carbon-reduction goals by 2012. They can also earn credits（在这里解释为荣誉吗） against their targets（他们可以by financing（为…提供资金） clean-energy technology in developing countries.
While the US government declines（谢绝） to join the international Kyoto effort, businesses around the country already are moving in that direction.
A group of major companies (including DuPont, International Paper, and IBM), have formed the Chicago Climate Exchange to trade carbon dioxide emission reductions on a spot market basis. Member companies have aGREed to reduce their greenhouse emissions by 4 percent by 2006.
Another group of major corporations has joined the Pew Center on Global Climate Change''s Business Environmental Leadership Council（委员会）. They aGREe that "enough is known about the science and environmental impacts of climate change for us to take actions to address（address解释为提出吗，和mention的用法有时们不同呢？？？） its consequences.（重要性）"（整句话的意思是“科学和环境的影响已经足够使我们去采取行动提出它的重要 ”，是这样解释吗）Businesses, they say, "can and should（什么用法，倒装吗） take concrete（具体的，实在的） steps now in the US and abroad to（abord to在这里解释为广泛的估计吗） assess（估计估算，和estimate的用法有和区别？？？ ）opportunities for emission reductions; establish and meet emission reduction objectives（目标，目的）; and invest in （invest in—投资，投入）new, more efficient products, practices(在这里解释为业务吗？？？) and technologies.（工业技术）"（整句话的意思是“商人们说具体的措施在美国已经实施并且广泛的估计排放放减少，建立并迎合排放物的减少的目标，向更新，更有效率的产品，业务，工业技术投资“吗？？？？）
还想问一下从”While the US government declines（谢绝） to join the international Kyoto effort到”and” invest in （invest in—投资，投入）new, more efficient products, practices(在这里解释为业务吗？？？) and technologies.”是在讲美国政界的反映和美国商界反映的不同，且文章中“A group of…..”和“ Another group of….”是在讲两个不同的意见吧，可是我怎么看不出来（我太愚钝了，大家要帮我）
