美国国家公共电台 NPR Some Survivors Of Category 5 Hurricane Irma Want A Category 6

 

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

Last year, hurricanes devastated¹ Puerto Rico, parts of Florida and Houston. Scientists now say there's evidence hurricanes are getting stronger because of climate change. A new study from the National Center for Atmospheric² Research says, with global rising temperatures, hurricanes may bring more rain, move more slowly, and have higher wind speeds. With that in mind, NPR's Greg Allen reports that some researchers want to expand the scale used to classify hurricanes to include a new designation - Category 6.

GREG ALLEN, BYLINE³: When Hurricane Irma roared through the Virgin⁴ Islands, it had sustained winds of 185 mph and gusts⁵ 200 mph or higher. Tom Krall has lived on St. John in the Virgin Islands for more than 30 years and has hunkered down for many hurricanes. He says Irma's winds were dramatically worse than other Category 5 storms. He described what winds are like at 150 miles per hour.

TOM KRALL: It feels kind of like if you're driving in a car at 75, and you stick your head out the window. You've got that kind of an uncomfortable thing in your ears. But once you to get up around 185, 200, the roar is like you're inside a 747 jet engine. It's extremely intense.

ALLEN: Krall and many others in the Virgin Islands believe Irma should be designated as a Category 6 storm. Currently, the Saffir-Simpson Scale, which measures hurricane wind speeds, only goes up to Category 5 for storms with winds of 157 mph or higher. It's time to add a new designation, Category 6, to describe more powerful hurricanes like Irma. So says Mike Mann, an atmospheric science professor at Penn State University.

MIKE MANN: We are seeing a qualitatively⁶ different type of hurricane now posing a threat to us and our infrastructure⁷.

ALLEN: It's a proposal Chris Davis has heard before, after other powerful storms like Hurricane Allen in 1980 and Gilbert in 1988. Davis is a senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder⁸, Colo.

CHRIS DAVIS: When people ask me this question, I simply say, well, what would you do to prepare for a Category 6 that you wouldn't do for a Category 5? Category 5 is catastrophic damage.

ALLEN: That's also the position of researchers at the National Hurricane Center. The purpose of the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, they say, is to communicate the level of risk to the public. But in hurricanes, Davis says, it's not wind that causes the most deaths but water.

DAVIS: It is the storm surge, the rainfall, combination of inundation⁹ from waves and surge that really kills the most people and does the most damage.

ALLEN: There's a growing consensus¹⁰ among atmospheric scientists, although not all are convinced, that hurricanes are getting stronger. In the past three years, the world has seen the strongest wind speeds ever measured in a tropical cyclone¹¹ in the Pacific, Patricia, the strongest in the Southern Hemisphere, Winston, and the strongest in the open Atlantic, Hurricane Irma. Mike Mann of Penn State University says as the storms become more powerful, the danger to the public increases.

MANN: Frankly¹², a 200 mph monster like Patricia or a 185 mph monster like Irma for that matter, poses a far greater threat than a marginal 157 mph Cat 5 storm.

ALLEN: In the Virgin Islands, Tom Krall says most people don't evacuate¹³ even in a Category 5 storm. But storms like Irma, he says, require special measures.

KRALL: I think people would really behave differently if they knew something like that was coming.

ALLEN: Krall says you can prepare for 185 mph winds. He's a carpenter who built and reinforced his house himself to withstand hurricanes. He came through Irma with just minor¹⁴ damage. Greg Allen, NPR News, Miami.

1 devastated   

v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的

参考例句：

• The bomb devastated much of the old part of the city. 这颗炸弹炸毁了旧城的一大片地方。
• His family is absolutely devastated. 他的一家感到极为震惊。

2 atmospheric   

adj.大气的，空气的；大气层的；大气所引起的

参考例句：

• Sea surface temperatures and atmospheric circulation are strongly coupled.海洋表面温度与大气环流是密切相关的。
• Clouds return radiant energy to the surface primarily via the atmospheric window.云主要通过大气窗区向地表辐射能量。

3 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。

4 virgin   

n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的

参考例句：

• Have you ever been to a virgin forest?你去过原始森林吗？
• There are vast expanses of virgin land in the remote regions.在边远地区有大片大片未开垦的土地。

5 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。

6 qualitatively   

质量上

参考例句：

• In other words, you are to analyze them quantitatively and qualitatively. 换句话说，你们要对它们进行量和质的分析。
• Electric charge may be detected qualitatively by sprinkling or blowing indicating powders. 静电荷可以用撒布指示粉剂的方法，予以探测。

7 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。

8 boulder   

n.巨砾；卵石，圆石

参考例句：

• We all heaved together and removed the boulder.大家一齐用劲，把大石头搬开了。
• He stepped clear of the boulder.他从大石头后面走了出来。

9 inundation   

n.the act or fact of overflowing

参考例句：

• Otherwise, inundation would ensue to our dismay. 若不疏导，只能眼巴巴看着它泛滥。
• Therefore this psychology preceded the inundation of Caudillo politics after independence. 在独立后，这一心态助长了考迪罗主义的泛滥。

10 consensus   

n.(意见等的)一致，一致同意，共识

参考例句：

• Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗？
• What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么？

11 cyclone   

n.旋风，龙卷风

参考例句：

• An exceptionally violent cyclone hit the town last night.昨晚异常猛烈的旋风吹袭了那个小镇。
• The cyclone brought misery to thousands of people.旋风给成千上万的人带来苦难。

12 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

13 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。

14 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。