美国有线新闻 CNN 美国加州多地山火肆虐 强风加剧火势

 

We're starting in the U.S. state of California. Officials there don't know yet what started a new surge of wildfires. But they're spreading extremely fast and one of them, in Ventura County, northwest of Los Angeles, is almost three times larger than the worst fire we reported on in October.

It'???s k???nown as the Thomas Fire. At one point, it was scorching¹ an acre every second. And as of last night, it was only 5 percent contained, which means most of this fire was burning wherever it could without boundaries.

Throughout southern California, 110,000 people have had to leave their homes, hundreds of schools have been closed, 5,000 firefighters are involved in the fight and witnesses have described affected² areas as looking like a warzone.

There are several factors making these blazes worse. For one thing, the summer heat dried out a lot of the region's vegetation, which is like fire fuel. Humidity in the area is a very low 7 percent. It's usually between 20 percent and 30 percent.

And then there's the Santa Ana winds. They usually blow in from the desert this time of year. They're not usually this powerful, blasting gusts³ of dry, 80 mile per hour winds across higher elevations⁴.

A state spokesman says the Santa Ana winds can push a fire the length of a football field in a minute and they've been so strong that planes which could normally drop thousands of gallons of fire retardant have had to stay on the ground.

1 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

2 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

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 elevations   

（水平或数量）提高( elevation的名词复数 )； 高地； 海拔； 提升

参考例句：

• Weight of the crust changes as elevations are eroded and materials are deposited elsewhere. 当高地受到侵蚀，物质沉积到别的地方时，地壳的重量就改变。
• All deck elevations are on the top of structural beams. 所有甲板标高线均指结构梁顶线。