美国有线新闻 CNN 山火肆虐美国加州 大风再起影响灭火

 

In northern California, the winds were forecast to pick back up Wednesday, and there was no rain in sight. That could make things worse for the 8,000 firefighters trying to get a handle on the state's wildfires and that tens of thousands of people who were ordered to evacuate¹ their homes.

There are more than 12 fires burning in the northern part of the state. At one point, they were scorching² the equivalent of a football field every three seconds.

Part of the reason why this has been so hard to control are wind gusts³ of up to 79 miles per hour. That's hurricane force, and they're able to blow burning embers across the landscape, which helps the fire spread.

At least 21 people have died and more than 170,000 acres have been burned so far. These are not the most destructive wildfires the state has ever seen, at least not at this point, but they are among the deadliest.

The sheriff of Sonoma County, which is just north of San Francisco, has told residents to go ahead and leave if they have somewhere else to say, even if they haven't been ordered to evacuate yet. Some people have had only minutes to get their families together and leave their homes. And for some of those who have gone, there is nothing left to come back to.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is just utter devastation⁴. In fact, more than 8,000 people live in this neighborhood. That won't happen any longer because you can see the devastation that's left here. It looks like a warzone. All the homes in this neighborhood are gone, burned to a crisp.

But if you look back here, the only thing we've been able to make out is the washer and dryer⁵ that's in the back of this home where maybe the laundry room was, and this repeats itself over and over again.

And then you think about that video that we've been showing time and time again, when you see the flames that were everywhere. This was a fast-moving fire, with hurricane force like winds that was just moving through the area. Twenty thousand people have had to evacuate so far, 183 people are still missing. They're telling us they don't believe all of the people are dead because the communications in this area has been so spotty. So, what they're hoping is some of these people will turn up in those evacuation centers when they tried to flee this area.

1 evacuate   

v.遣送；搬空；抽出；排泄；大(小)便

参考例句：

• We must evacuate those soldiers at once!我们必须立即撤出这些士兵！
• They were planning to evacuate the seventy American officials still in the country.他们正计划转移仍滞留在该国的70名美国官员。

2 scorching   

adj. 灼热的

参考例句：

• a scorching, pitiless sun 灼热的骄阳
• a scorching critique of the government's economic policy 对政府经济政策的严厉批评

3 gusts   

一阵强风( gust的名词复数 )； （怒、笑等的）爆发； （感情的）迸发； 发作

参考例句：

• Her profuse skirt bosomed out with the gusts. 她的宽大的裙子被风吹得鼓鼓的。
• Turbulence is defined as a series of irregular gusts. 紊流定义为一组无规则的突风。

4 devastation   

n.毁坏；荒废；极度震惊或悲伤

参考例句：

• The bomb caused widespread devastation. 炸弹造成大面积破坏。
• There was devastation on every side. 到处都是破坏的创伤。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 dryer   

n.干衣机，干燥剂

参考例句：

• He bought a dryer yesterday.他昨天买了一台干燥机。
• There is a washer and a dryer in the basement.地下室里有洗衣机和烘干机。