华盛顿邮报 美国近几年气候灾害频发，天灾为何屡创纪录？(4)

 

    You said that California has always had, you know, these kind of extreme-weather incidents. So what is it that's going on now?

    你说加州一直都有这种极端天气事件。那么现在的情况是怎么回事?

    Yeah, the whiplash we've experienced has always been this way, but I would say that it's becoming more extreme and sudden and where we oscillate between much more intense droughts and much more intense rainstorms.

    是的，我们经历的天气鞭打一直是这样的，但我想说，气候变得更加极端、更加突然，我们在更严重的干旱和更猛烈的暴雨之间变化。

    And our infrastructure¹ just isn't set up to handle that constant back-and-forth.

    我们的基础设施还无法应对这种持续的反复变化。

    And they're coming at really bizarre times.

    气候灾难出现的时间也很怪异。

    And, like, we -- The last time we had a tropical storm here, I think, was in 1939.

    我想，加州上一次热带风暴是在1939年。

    We never get rain like that in August.

    我们八月从来没有下过那样的雨。

    In August, we're, like, praying for rain.

    我们会在八月祈求下雨。

    And then, all the sudden, it's like, "Oh, well, we might be washed away."突然之间，“雨大的可能会把我们冲走。”

    So, those types of events -- I would say that is different.

    这些气候类型——我想说存在不同之处。

    And I think it can seem like, "Oh, great. It's drought. There's fires, rains. Great. Like, rain's going to help this stuff."我认为这感觉像是，“哦，太好了。天气干旱。这儿先是大火、后是大雨。太好了。大雨会帮助缓解干旱和大火。”

    Is that true? Does the rainfall help?

    这是真的吗？降雨有帮助吗?

    Well, I mean, it does and it doesn't.

    好吧，有帮助，也没有帮助。

    I think about the Thomas Fire, which torched a ton of Ventura County at the end of 2017.

    我想到了托马斯大火，这场大火在2017年底烧毁了文图拉县的大片土地。

    A relentless² and behemoth blaze, the Thomas Fire forced thousands of new evacuations today in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.

    托马斯大火不停地烧着、火势凶猛，迫使圣巴巴拉和文图拉县数千人再次撤离。

    And then, a few weeks later, we get this really big, powerful storm, and all of the sudden, that land becomes a massive mudslide that goes straight into these homes in Montecito.

    几周后，我们遇到了一场猛烈的暴雨，突然之间，这片土地变成了大规模的泥石流，直接冲进了蒙特西托的这些房屋里。

    Hundreds of emergency responders are searching for victims right now, breaking through roofs and sifting³ through mud.

    数百名紧急救援人员正在寻找受灾人群，他们冲破屋顶，在泥土中仔细搜寻。

    There are 17 confirmed dead and another 17 that remain missing.

    目前已确认有17人死亡，另有17人失踪。

    And that's what can happen to communities who are in burn scars, who then experience these big, powerful storms.

    这就是那些住在火灾迹地的人群所遭遇的事情，这些人群之后又经历了猛烈的大暴雨。

    In some ways, yes, the rain is great, but when it comes at such a deluge⁴ and all at once, like, we -- the land is already suffering.

    在某些方面，下雨很好，但当雨水突然如洪水般涌来时，土地在遭受灾难。

    We don't have the plants to hold the soil together, so the impact of those rains actually causes more damage.

    因为没有植物将土壤抓在地上，所以这些雨水的影响实际上造成了更大的破坏。

    And we're also kind of grappling, trying to figure out a way to save all this water. We've been behind on that for sure.

    我们也在努力应对灾难，试图找到一种方法来存储所有的水。我们肯定已经落后了。

1 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

2 relentless   

adj.残酷的，不留情的，无怜悯心的

参考例句：

• The traffic noise is relentless.交通车辆的噪音一刻也不停止。
• Their training has to be relentless.他们的训练必须是无情的。

3 sifting   

n.筛，过滤v.筛( sift的现在分词 )；筛滤；细查；详审

参考例句：

• He lay on the beach, sifting the sand through his fingers. 他躺在沙滩上用手筛砂子玩。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I was sifting the cinders when she came in. 她进来时，我正在筛煤渣。 来自辞典例句

4 deluge   

n./vt.洪水，暴雨，使泛滥

参考例句：

• This little stream can become a deluge when it rains heavily.雨大的时候，这条小溪能变作洪流。
• I got caught in the deluge on the way home.我在回家的路上遇到倾盆大雨。