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確かに100年も先のことを考えて...

eeky

先輩
8 Jun 2010
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Hi, this is another passage from a text about global warming, which I will take a chunk at a time:


1. 確かに100年も先のことを考えて今何かしようという気持ちになるのは難しいものだ。心配してばかりいてもしょうがない。

My translation: "Certainly, it's troubling to think of things in 100 years' time, and to have the feeling that we should be doing something now. It's no use just worrying."

Is this OK? Especially:

a) Is 難しい = "troubling" OK?

b) Can しょうがない mean "it's no use..."? I thought originally it was more like "One can't help worrying", but then ばかり doesn't seem to fit so well.


2. それだけの時間があればきっとだれかがいい知恵を出して問題を解決してくれるだろうと考えたくなる。

My translation: "If (since) we only have that much time (i.e. 100 years), I would like to think that someone will surely be smart enough to solve the problem for us."

Is this OK?

a) What is the best way to translate 考えたくなる?

b) I was assuming from だけ that それだけの時間 has the connotation that there isn't very much time, but I'm wondering if the sentence as a whole (e.g. きっと) would make more sense if the connotation was of a reasonably long period of time.


3. しかし、今何かしなければいけない。それが、「平均温度」で1.8度上がるということの意味だ。

I get: "However, we must do something now. That is the consequence of (the threat of) temperatures rising on average by 1.8 degrees."

I'm not exactly sure what 意味 means here (I tried to translate as "consequence", but I'm not sure it totally makes sense). Is this part essentially saying that because of the (threat of) 1.8 degree rise, we must act now?
 
1)
This -te form is not used continuously but means more likely 100年も先のことのために今何かしよう "do something for(= thinking about) things in 100 years' time".

a)
simply "hard/difficult"

b)
Yes, that's "useless".

2) a)
We tend to think~/It is tempting to think~

b)
それだけ is the same to それほど here. Thus, your translation "that much time" is correct.

[3] それくらい。その程度。

―あれば十分だ
「それだけ」の検索結果 - Yahoo!辞書

3)
Yeah, I think "consequence" is a good translation.👍

3 価値。重要性。「―のある集会」「全員が参加しなけれ ば―がない」
http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/leaf/jn2/15002/m0u/意味/
 
Thanks Totitoribe. Could I just clarify that in #2 the implication is that 100 years is quite a long time (as opposed to not a very long time)?
 
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