读者文摘:关于雷暴雨你不知道的13件事(3)

11 Lightning can strike the same place twice—and it often does, especially objects that are tall, pointy, and isolated¹.

11闪电可以两次击中同一个地方，而且经常如此，特别是那些孤立的高尖物体。

The Empire State Building, for example, is hit almost 100 times a year, according to the CDC.

例如，据美国疾病控制与预防中心的数据，帝国大厦每年受到近100次袭击。

12 Covering your windows with tape will not protect them from wind or flying objects.

12用胶带盖住窗户并不能保护窗户不受风和飞行物体的破坏。

Experts promoted this idea long ago, before they realized that taping does nothing to strengthen windows and may even increase the potential for harm.

很久以前专家们就提出了这个想法，当时他们还没有意识到胶带对加固窗户非但没有任何作用，反而会增加潜在危害。

(Picture giant taped-together shards² of glass flying at you.)

（想象一下巨大的玻璃碎片朝你飞来。）

Covering your windows with storm shutters³ or plywood is the only way to prevent them from breaking.

用百叶窗或胶合板盖住是防止窗户破裂的唯一方法。

13 And nothing is going to save you if you get caught in the hailstorm from you-knowwhere.

13如果你遇上了冰雹，什么也救不了你。

Ice particles form when water droplets⁴ reach cold temperatures in a thunderstorm,

雷雨天气，水滴遇冷形成冰颗粒，

but they achieve a measurable size only when a storm's updraft is strong enough to hold the ice aloft as more water droplets freeze onto the initial⁵ crystal.

更多水滴冻结为小水晶，但当风暴的上升气流强大到足以支撑冰层时，这些小水晶才能达到可测量的大小

The largest hailstone ever recorded in the United States was found in July 2010 in Vivian, South Dakota.

2010年7月，美国南达科塔维维安发现了有史以来最大的冰雹。

It was almost 19 inches around and weighed almost two pounds. Ouch.

约19英寸长，2磅重。

1 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

2 shards   

n.（玻璃、金属或其他硬物的）尖利的碎片( shard的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Eyewitnesses spoke of rocks and shards of glass flying in the air. 目击者称空中石块和玻璃碎片四溅。 来自辞典例句
• Ward, Josh Billings, and a host of others have survived only in scattered shards of humour. 沃德、比林斯和许多别的作家能够留传下来的只是些幽默的残章断简。 来自辞典例句

3 shutters   

百叶窗( shutter的名词复数 )； （照相机的）快门

参考例句：

• The shop-front is fitted with rolling shutters. 那商店的店门装有卷门。
• The shutters thumped the wall in the wind. 在风中百叶窗砰砰地碰在墙上。

4 droplets   

n.小滴( droplet的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Droplets of sweat were welling up on his forehead. 他额头上冒出了滴滴汗珠。 来自辞典例句
• In constrast, exhaled smoke contains relatively large water droplets and appears white. 相反，从人嘴里呼出的烟则包含相当大的水滴，所以呈白色。 来自辞典例句

5 initial   

adj.最初的，开始的，词首的；n.首字母，姓名的开头字母；vt.标注姓名的首字母于

参考例句：

• After she'd overcome her initial shyness,she became very friendly.她克服了起初的羞怯之后，变得十分友善。
• The experiments have given initial results eventually.那些试验总算初见成效了。