美国国家公共电台 NPR California's Near-Record Snowpack Is Melting Into Raging Rivers

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

It's Independence Day tomorrow, which for most Americans means fireworks, barbecues and a day out in the sun. In California, it could mean skiing on the Fourth of July. The wet winter covered the Sierra Nevada and many of the western mountain ranges in a deep, lingering snowpack. Now some of that snow is melting, and it's proving dangerous for people downstream, some who are just looking to cool off. Here's NPR's Nathan Rott.

NATHAN ROTT, BYLINE¹: The Kern River, nature's equivalent to taking a bucket of water to the highest point in the continental² U.S. - more than 2 miles above sea level - and dumping it into a granite³ chute, a chute that twists, turns, dips and drops some 160 miles to the flat floor of California's Central Valley below. About halfway⁴ down that path at a wider, more placid⁵ stretch of the river is the town of Kernville and a gentleman named Tom Moore.

TOM MOORE: How is it?

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Unintelligible).

MOORE: All right.

ROTT: Moore is the owner of Sierra South, a rafting and kayaking company here in town. And this isn't the first time that he's had an NPR microphone shoved in his face. I visited him two years ago near the end of California's devastating⁶ five-year drought when he looked out at the depleted⁷ river from this very spot and said...

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

MOORE: We call that a creek⁸.

(LAUGHTER)

MOORE: Yep.

ROTT: Today, we just say...

MOORE: Yeah...

ROTT: ...It's a river.

MOORE: ...This is not a creek.

(LAUGHTER)

MOORE: This - this is a raging river.

ROTT: Two years ago, the Sierra Nevada snowpack, the source of this water, was just 5 percent of normal. This year, the snowpack was pushing 200 percent. It was one of the largest snowpacks ever recorded. And as temperatures have risen, the river has reacted in kind.

MOORE: Two years ago, I'd look at it as my teenager that was just sitting on the couch doing nothing. Now it's my raging teenager that is just all over the map.

ROTT: Moore says that's been good for business. Whitewater recreation, after all, is far more lucrative⁹ when there's actually white water. But it's also come with a price. At the bottom of the Kern River Canyon¹⁰ where it hits the flats near the city of Bakersfield, there's a sign by the road.

ZACH BITTLE: That says that we've lost 280 lives since 1968 to the Kern River.

ROTT: This is Sergeant¹¹ Zach Bittle with Kern County Search and Rescue.

BITTLE: That was updated the Friday before Memorial Day. And since then, we've lost six. So next year, we're going to have to add at least six to that sign.

ROTT: Six and possibly seven - at least one other man has since gone missing upstream. Some were recreating. Some just went out for a wade¹². Bittle says that people need to know.

BITTLE: This is not the same river that you may have visited last year.

ROTT: The water is moving with 10 times the force that it was a year ago, Bittle says. Riverbanks are less stable. Hazards are submerged. And this isn't unique to the Kern. Rivers up and down the Sierra Nevada - and throughout the West - are experiencing flooding with the snowmelt, aided by recent hot, summer days. Homes have been evacuated¹³ by the King River, further up California's Central Valley. And water experts like David Rizzardo, with California's Department of Water Resources, aren't sure how much snowmelt is still yet to come.

DAVID RIZZARDO: Most of the snowpack has melted off. But what we've noticed even during the heat wave is that the area of snow that is still covered up there didn't really reduce.

ROTT: It just got shallower.

Rizzardo says, it's hard to look for any sort of historical perspective for guidance because what we've seen in the last few years from near-record drought to near-record moisture, is so unusual - or at least it was.

RIZZARDO: One of the worries with climate change is that we see extremes more often. And the extremes are even more extreme than we've seen in the past.

ROTT: Back in Kernville...

UNIDENTIFIED GUIDE: Awesome¹⁴. Go ahead, and exit the boat. Hold onto your paddles for me.

ROTT: A group of rafters gets off the river. Olivia Vantol is the one with a big smile on her face.

OLIVIA VANTOL: That was my first time river rafting. I chose a great year to start apparently¹⁵ (laughter).

ROTT: Her mom, Judy, looks a little less thrilled.

JUDY: I was really nervous.

ROTT: Olivia shakes her head.

You weren't that nervous?

VANTOL: No - and the fact that you have a life jacket and everything. And they'd done this how many times?

JUDY: Yeah, that's true.

ROTT: Mom still looks a little unsure. But it's time to load up. They're signed up to go down the river one more time.

Nathan Rott, NPR News, Kernville, Calif.

(SOUNDBITE OF SIGNAL HILL'S "AMBER LANTERN")

1 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。

2 continental   

adj.大陆的，大陆性的，欧洲大陆的

参考例句：

• A continental climate is different from an insular one.大陆性气候不同于岛屿气候。
• The most ancient parts of the continental crust are 4000 million years old.大陆地壳最古老的部分有40亿年历史。

3 granite   

adj.花岗岩，花岗石

参考例句：

• They squared a block of granite.他们把一块花岗岩加工成四方形。
• The granite overlies the older rocks.花岗岩躺在磨损的岩石上面。

4 halfway   

adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途

参考例句：

• We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路，天就黑了。
• In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上，最忌讳的是有始无终。

5 placid   

adj.安静的，平和的

参考例句：

• He had been leading a placid life for the past eight years.八年来他一直过着平静的生活。
• You should be in a placid mood and have a heart-to- heart talk with her.你应该心平气和的好好和她谈谈心。

6 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

7 depleted   

adj. 枯竭的, 废弃的 动词deplete的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• Food supplies were severely depleted. 食物供应已严重不足。
• Both teams were severely depleted by injuries. 两个队都因队员受伤而实力大减。

8 creek   

n.小溪，小河，小湾

参考例句：

• He sprang through the creek.他跳过小河。
• People sunbathe in the nude on the rocks above the creek.人们在露出小溪的岩石上裸体晒日光浴。

9 lucrative   

adj.赚钱的，可获利的

参考例句：

• He decided to turn his hobby into a lucrative sideline.他决定把自己的爱好变成赚钱的副业。
• It was not a lucrative profession.那是一个没有多少油水的职业。

10 canyon   

n.峡谷，溪谷

参考例句：

• The Grand Canyon in the USA is 1900 metres deep.美国的大峡谷1900米深。
• The canyon is famous for producing echoes.这个峡谷以回声而闻名。

11 sergeant   

n.警官，中士

参考例句：

• His elder brother is a sergeant.他哥哥是个警官。
• How many stripes are there on the sleeve of a sergeant?陆军中士的袖子上有多少条纹？

12 wade   

v.跋涉，涉水；n.跋涉

参考例句：

• We had to wade through the river to the opposite bank.我们只好涉水过河到对岸。
• We cannot but wade across the river.我们只好趟水过去。

13 evacuated   

撤退者的

参考例句：

• Police evacuated nearby buildings. 警方已将附近大楼的居民疏散。
• The fireman evacuated the guests from the burning hotel. 消防队员把客人们从燃烧着的旅馆中撤出来。

14 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.

15 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。