美国国家公共电台 NPR--Warm weather in the Northeast is hurting businesses that count on snow

Warm weather in the Northeast is hurting businesses that count on snow

Transcript¹

Businesses in the Northeast that rely on winter recreation activities are having a bad year. Warm temperatures are keeping snowmobilers and skiers off the trails.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Snowmobilers in the Northeast are having a disappointing winter. The multibillion-dollar industry relies on snow, and warmer winter temperatures mean less of that. North Country Public Radio's Emily Russell reports.

EMILY RUSSELL, BYLINE²: Big Moose, N.Y., is the kind of place that has one speed limit for cars and another just for snowmobiles. This tiny community in the Adirondack Mountains is big into snowmobiling. But it's been pretty quiet here lately.

MARK MAYER: We should be hearing snowmobiles, at least a couple this time of year.

RUSSELL: That's Mark Mayer. He lives in Big Moose and loves to snowmobile.

MAYER: As a matter of fact, if it were snowing, you would find me out on the trails instead of here giving an interview on how bad it is.

RUSSELL: And it is really bad right now.

(SOUNDBITE OF FOOTSTEPS)

RUSSELL: We walk through wet slush to see one of the main trails. This one still has some snow, but most are bare right now. That's a big deal in a place that sells itself as the snowmobile capital of the East. Mayer owns the Big Moose Inn and says snowmobile tourism has changed.

MAYER: Twenty, 30 years ago, you booked your reservation a year ahead. And if it snowed, it was great. If it didn't, you were still here. Now we're in that cycle of if it's rideable, we'll come. If not, we'll chase the snow.

RUSSELL: Mayer says he could lose up to $100,000 in a bad snow year, usually cuts back hours and hopes to make the money back in the summer. But not everyone can do that. Sara Shanahan runs the Big Moose Station, a bar and restaurant right next to a trail really popular with snowmobilers.

SARA SHANAHAN: On an average winter day, they're probably 98% of our clientele. You're far more likely to see sleds in the parking lot than we are to see cars in the parking lot.

RUSSELL: Winter is changing in northern New York, though. It's literally³ the writing on the wall inside the visitors center in nearby Old Forge⁴. A big board lists the annual snowfall totals since the 1960s.

MIKE FARMER: Up until about 2005, we were running an average of 200 inches per year.

RUSSELL: Mike Farmer is the director of tourism for the area.

FARMER: Now that has dropped, as you can see. But we are doing more with less.

RUSSELL: With just 80 to 150 inches of snow, they groom⁵ in a way that makes less snow last longer. But climate change doesn't mean just less snow in parts of the U.S. It also means warmer winters. Curt⁶ Stager is a professor at Paul Smith's College and a leading climate scientist in the Adirondacks.

CURT STAGER: We're going to have more thaws⁷ in the middle of winter and longer ones. We're in the middle of one right now. And it'll take away layers that would otherwise have built up. So we're going to see less and less reliable snowpack.

RUSSELL: Erica Murray owns a hardware and souvenir shop in Old Forge.

ERICA MURRAY: It's on our minds all of the time because both my husband and I, we moved back here. So he is a ski coach, and our kids are skiers. And that's a very huge part of why we live here are winters.

RUSSELL: This area is adapting. It's selling itself as a year-round destination for hikers, bikers and paddlers. But there is still a lot of winter left. Sara Shanahan from the Big Moose Station says she's cautiously⁸ optimistic.

SHANAHAN: Right now, the forecast doesn't look fabulous⁹. But when it does come back, my feeling is it will come back with a vengeance¹⁰.

RUSSELL: Shanahan and others say they'll be ready for when that happens.

For NPR News, I'm Emily Russell in Big Moose, N.Y.

(SOUNDBITE OF WILL VAN HORN'S "LOST MY MIND")

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

4 forge   

v.使形成，与...建立密切联系，伪造，假冒

参考例句：

• Everything new comes from the forge of hard and bitter struggle.一切新东西都是从艰苦斗争中锻炼出来的。
• Difficulties help to forge people into able folk.困难有助于把人们锻炼成能干的人。

5 groom   

vt.给（马、狗等）梳毛，照料，使...整洁

参考例句：

• His father was a groom.他父亲曾是个马夫。
• George was already being groomed for the top job.为承担这份高级工作，乔治已在接受专门的培训。

6 curt   

adj.简短的，草率的

参考例句：

• He gave me an extremely curt answer.他对我作了极为草率的答复。
• He rapped out a series of curt commands.他大声发出了一连串简短的命令。

7 thaws   

n.（足以解冻的）暖和天气( thaw的名词复数 )；（敌对国家之间）关系缓和v.（气候）解冻( thaw的第三人称单数 )；（态度、感情等）缓和；（冰、雪及冷冻食物）溶化；软化

参考例句：

• The sun at noon thaws the ice on the road. 中午的阳光很快把路上的冰融化了。 来自辞典例句
• It thaws in March here. 在此地化雪的季节是三月。 来自辞典例句

8 cautiously   

adv.小心地，谨慎地；小心翼翼；翼翼

参考例句：

• She walked cautiously up the drive towards the door. 她小心翼翼地沿着车道向门口走去。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 fabulous   

adj.极好的；极为巨大的；寓言中的，传说中的

参考例句：

• We had a fabulous time at the party.我们在晚会上玩得很痛快。
• This is a fabulous sum of money.这是一笔巨款。

10 vengeance   

n.报复，报仇，复仇

参考例句：

• He swore vengeance against the men who murdered his father.他发誓要向那些杀害他父亲的人报仇。
• For years he brooded vengeance.多年来他一直在盘算报仇。