You may not have felt it, but the earth beneath our feet is getting twitchier(更不安分的，更躁动的), and global heating is to blame(应受责备，是罪魁祸首). As temperatures surge(急剧上升，飙升) and climate breakdown accelerates, interactions between climate and geology are becoming ever more apparent – as marked by last week’s horrific events in Nepal and Tibet. We still have a bit of a blind spot when it comes to the idea that a changing climate can impact what scientists call the geosphere, but the evidence has long been incontestable.(我们对于气候变化影响岩石圈的观点仍有些忽视，但证据早已无可辩驳。)
你可能没有感觉到，但我们脚下的地球正变得越来越躁动，而罪魁祸首就是全球变暖。随着气温飙升、气候崩溃加速，气候与地质之间的相互作用日益明显——上周发生在尼泊尔和西藏的可怕事件就是明证。对于气候变化会影响科学家所称的“岩石圈”这一观点，我们仍有些视而不见，但证据早已无可辩驳。
In 2021, a similar deluge(洪水，暴雨) ripped through(猛烈冲过，席卷) a series of mountain valleys in the Indian Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, severely damaging two hydroelectric power plants and taking about 200 lives. In August 2025, a colossal(巨大的，庞大的) landslide in an Alaskan fjord(峡湾) created a 500-metre-high wave in an area frequented by(常被…光顾的) cruise ships. A few months earlier, the collapse of part of a glacier in Switzerland’s Valais canton caused a debris-laden torrent that destroyed and buried most of the already evacuated village of Blatten.(几个月前，瑞士瓦莱州部分冰川崩塌，引发夹杂碎石的洪流，摧毁并掩埋了已疏散的布拉滕村的大部分区域。)
2021年，一场类似的洪水席卷了印度喜马拉雅山脉北阿坎德邦的一系列山谷，严重损毁了两座水电站，并夺走了约200人的生命。2025年8月，阿拉斯加一处峡湾发生大规模山体滑坡，在游轮常经的区域掀起了500米高的巨浪。几个月前，瑞士瓦莱州部分冰川崩塌，引发夹杂碎石的洪流，摧毁并掩埋了已疏散的布拉滕村的大部分区域。
What all four events have in common is that they involve what is known as the cryosphere – the sum total of the planet’s frozen water.(这四个事件的共同之处在于它们都涉及所谓的“冰冻圈”——地球上冻结水的总和。) The fact that ice, snow and permafrost are severely affected by global heating should come as no surprise, and this means that the poles and high mountain regions are bearing the brunt. Everywhere, the cryosphere(冰冻圈（地球冻结水部分）) is receding(消退，后退) rapidly, and this is bad news.
这四个事件的共同之处在于它们都涉及所谓的“冰冻圈”——地球上冻结水的总和。冰、雪和永久冻土受到全球变暖的严重影响，这一点不足为奇，这意味着极地和高山地区正首当其冲。在世界各地，冰冻圈正在迅速消退，这是个坏消息。