泥炭由泥炭蘚與其他苔蘚組成，這些苔蘚含有大量水分和按捺分化的複合物。泥炭經過幾個世紀慢慢堆集擴大，因為每年成長的速度超過分化的速度。
只有為數甚少的泥炭被利用：看成燃料燃燒，為後院花園增加營養，或為蘇格蘭威士忌增添泥炭煙燻味。
絕大多數的泥炭則留在原地，並且由於泥炭積累二氧化碳這麼長時候，泥炭的二氧化碳含量比全球樹木和植物的含量還多，幾乎跟大氣中的含量相當。“it’s carbon that has accumulated over several thousands of years,” said mike waddington翻譯社 a mcmaster professor who has been researching peat in alberta and elsewhere for more than two decades. “if it were to be released翻譯社 the global co2 concentration would be much higher.”
plug平日是插頭或塞子，本文中的plug輕易誤解為園藝術語peat plug「泥炭育苗塊」，但育苗塊不會有幾百年歷史，所以在本文中應解作「從較大的物品切下的圓柱或圓錐狀小塊，每每作為樣本」。
peat is made up of sphagnum and other mosses, which hold a large amount of water and contain compounds that inhibit decomposition. the peat slowly builds up over centuries because the annual growth exceeds the decay.
幾乎所有的蘇格蘭威士忌都含有泥炭成份，只是大大都泥炭度（peatiness）不高，一般人喝不出來。以「用泥炭烘乾的大麥」製作威士忌，會產生怪異的煙燻味。
（文／李京倫）
“there’s literally tons of carbon here,” she said, looking around the bog, which covers several acres off a muddy oil-company road amid the vast flatness of northern alberta.
（文／henry fountain 譯／李京倫）
like forests, peatlands are threatened by climate change. warming temperatures can dry out bogs, making them more susceptible to fires, and to deeper翻譯社 more intense burning. a peat fire翻譯社 which can smolder like a cigarette for months翻譯社 can release a lot of carbon.
泥炭已在這片池沼中堆集幾世紀，這裡鬆軟的苔蘚中穿插著一些黑雲杉，暮春淩晨的空氣中盡是蚊子翻譯郝斯曼是加拿大安大略省哈密爾頓市麥克馬斯特大學的研究生研究員，她說，這個樣本從地下3呎獲得，最少已有幾百年歷史。
克麗斯汀．郝斯曼抓起一個採樣用螺旋鑽的尾端，鑽進一個濕潤、含有纖維且部分腐爛的圓柱形泥炭樣本中翻譯她的兩位同事才方才用這種鋼管，鑽探泥炭池沼中一座長滿苔蘚的小丘翻譯
說文解字看新聞
池沼廣達幾英畝，位在加拿大亞伯達省北部這片廣袤平原中一條泥濘的石油公司道路四周。她一邊說「這裡真的有好幾噸二氧化碳」，一邊環視沼澤。
在「大自然如何調理大氣中二氧化碳」的相關討論中，叢林以吸收和貯存二氧化碳的能力取得最多注重，不外，泥炭地也扮演主要腳色。氣溫升高讓池沼乾涸，更容易受火警和深層、強烈悶燒影響。
泥炭地跟森林一樣受天氣變遷威脅。
泥炭地火警能像香菸一樣悶燒數月，釋出大量二氧化碳。這個世界已有大量二氧化碳從印尼的泥炭地釋出。去年泥炭地為了轉作農業用處被抽乾水份，又因與聖嬰現象相幹的高溫天色變得更乾燥，起火燃燒了數月，冒出的煙霧從太空都能看到，且導致很多人的健康問題翻譯
泥炭（peat）由石楠、苔蘚、蕨類等植物殘骸經細菌蛻化分化而成，又稱為草炭或泥煤，是煤化水平最低的煤。蘇格蘭盛產泥炭，泥炭不僅作為平常生涯中的燃料，也用來製造蘇格蘭威士忌翻譯
in discussions of how nature regulates carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, forests receive most of the attention for their ability to absorb and store carbon. but peatlands play an important role, too.
kristyn housman grabbed the end of a sampling auger翻譯社 a steel tube that two colleagues had just drilled into a moss-covered hummock in a peat bog, and poked through a damp翻譯社 fibrous plug of partly decomposed peat.
there are an estimated 1.6 million square miles of peatlands, or about 3 percent of the earth’s land surface翻譯社 mostly in northern latitudes in canada, alaska, europe and russia.
麥克馬斯特大學教授沃丁頓在亞伯達和其他地方研究泥炭跨越20年，他說：「這些二氧化碳已經積累了好幾千年，一旦釋出，全球二氧化碳濃度就會高上很多。」
peat has been building up for centuries in this bog, where the spongy moss is interspersed with black spruces and, on a late spring morning翻譯社 the air is teeming with mosquitoes. the sample翻譯社 taken from 3 feet down, is at least several hundred years old, said housman, a graduate researcher at mcmaster university in hamilton, ontario.
地球上約有160萬平方哩泥炭地，占地表陸地面積3%，大多位於北半球加拿大、美國阿拉斯加州、歐洲和俄國。
teem是指雨「傾注」，teem with則是「充滿許多」（人或動物），例如：the camps teem with about 135,000 refugees.（棲流所內擠了大概13萬5000個難民。）
literally是「照字面地」，translate literally就是「照字面直譯」，本文的literally為非正式用法「確實地、不誇大地」，例如：this orangutan is literally using a carrot and stick to teach its baby. （這隻猩猩真的是用胡蘿蔔和棍棒教導本身的小孩。）
a relatively small amount of peat is mined to burn as fuel, to improve backyard gardens or to add smokiness to scotch. but most of it stays where it is, and because it accumulates carbon over such a long time, it contains more carbon than is in all the world’s trees and plants, and nearly as much as the atmosphere does.
the world has already had vast releases of carbon from peat翻譯社 in indonesia. last year翻譯社 bogs that had been drained for agriculture, and were drier because of el nino-related warmth, burned for months, creating a haze visible from space and causing widespread health problems.
本篇文章引用自此: https://udn.com/news/story/6948/1967365有關翻譯的問題歡迎諮詢華碩翻譯
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