美国有线新闻 CNN 强飓风威拉袭击墨西哥 多地进入警戒状态

 

Three years to the day after a ferocious¹ category 5 hurricane made landfall in Western Mexico, the region was bracing² for another Pacific cyclone³ Tuesday evening. This time, it's Hurricane Willa. At one point when it was still out at sea, Willa had rapidly strengthened to category 5 status, the strongest classification on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale. Willa's sustained wind speeds reached 160 miles per hour, but the storm weakened as it approached Mexico. And on Tuesday afternoon, it was a category 3 hurricane with wind speeds of around 120 miles per hour.

The first area directly in its path was an archipelago of four Mexican islands called Islas Maria. And after it passed over them, Willa wa?s expected to arrive on the mainland between Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta. Airlines canceled their service to those cities as Hurricane Willa got closer, and Mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto directed his government to do everything it could to protect those in the storm's path.

On the ground, forecasters were expecting large and damaging waves, and rainfall of between 6 and 12 inches that could cause flash flooding and landslides⁴ in several Western Mexican states.

This has been an active hurricane season in the Pacific. Including Willa, there have been 10 major hurricanes in this region this year. That ties the record in the Northeast Pacific that was set in 1992.

1 ferocious   

adj.凶猛的，残暴的，极度的，十分强烈的

参考例句：

• The ferocious winds seemed about to tear the ship to pieces.狂风仿佛要把船撕成碎片似的。
• The ferocious panther is chasing a rabbit.那只凶猛的豹子正追赶一只兔子。

2 bracing   

adj.令人振奋的

参考例句：

• The country is bracing itself for the threatened enemy invasion. 这个国家正准备奋起抵抗敌人的入侵威胁。
• The atmosphere in the new government was bracing. 新政府的气氛是令人振奋的。

3 cyclone   

n.旋风，龙卷风

参考例句：

• An exceptionally violent cyclone hit the town last night.昨晚异常猛烈的旋风吹袭了那个小镇。
• The cyclone brought misery to thousands of people.旋风给成千上万的人带来苦难。

4 landslides   

山崩( landslide的名词复数 )； （山坡、悬崖等的）崩塌； 滑坡； （竞选中）一方选票占压倒性多数

参考例句：

• Landslides have cut off many villages in remote areas. 滑坡使边远地区的许多村庄与外界隔绝。
• The storm caused landslides and flooding in Savona. 风暴致使萨沃纳发生塌方和洪灾。