美国国家公共电台 NPR Polar Vortex Causes Midwest States Of Emergency As Cold Pushes Farther South

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

You know it's cold in Chicago when TV video shows the railroad tracks on fire. Steel rails contract in exceptional cold. So to warm them up, transit¹ workers stretch rope soaked in kerosene² along the tracks, and they burn it. The temperature in Chicago was 18 degrees below zero this morning, and it was even colder elsewhere. What's it feel like to be in that cold? NPR's David Schaper found out, so you don't have to.

(SOUNDBITE OF WALKING THROUGH SNOW)

DAVID SCHAPER, BYLINE³: When it's this cold outside, pens won't write. You got to use pencil. And batteries and digital recorders die quickly, so I got to talk fast. One of the ways to tell it's getting really, really cold is how the snow sounds when you walk on it. The colder it gets, the more it kind of crunches⁴ and squeaks⁶. Anyone under the age of about 35 living in Chicago their whole lives has probably never heard the snow squeak⁵ like this because the last time it was this cold here was 1985.

RICHARD VARGAS: Oh, this cold is very dangerous. Hypothermia can set in within minutes.

SCHAPER: Richard Vargas is with The Salvation⁷ Army in Chicago.

VARGAS: So if someone's out here and they're exposed or don't have the adequate amount of clothing on, it could be very treacherous⁸ actually.

SCHAPER: In addition to providing hot meals out of their large, red, canteen food trucks...

UNIDENTIFIED SALVATION ARMY EMPLOYEE: You've got gloves, bro?

SCHAPER: ...The Salvation Army is handing out gloves, scarves and hats, giving rides to warming shelters and making extra nighttime trips out to check up on homeless camps. And this kind of outreach is going on in cities all across the Midwest, as the coldest weather in decades drops temperatures well below zero and will likely keep them there for days. The polar vortex, which usually sits over the Arctic, is being pushed south by an unseasonably warm air mass to the north. National Weather Service meteorologist Rich Otto says that bitterly cold air is being whipped by strong northerly winds, creating dangerous wind chills.

RICH OTTO: Values as cold as minus 30 to minus 50 degrees in a couple of locations - and even colder as you get farther north into parts of Minnesota, where some of those wind chills could get down to minus 60.

SCHAPER: Wind-chill warnings and advisories⁹ stretch from the Dakotas to western Pennsylvania. Airlines have canceled thousands of flights as they tried to limit outdoor workers' exposure to the cold. And the governors of Wisconsin, Michigan and Illinois have declared emergencies. Here's Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

J.B. PRITZKER: This is very serious weather, and my administration is not underestimating the gravity of this in how we respond. We are undertaking¹⁰ a coordinated¹¹ effort to keep people safe, but we need all Illinoisans to do their part.

SCHAPER: Colleges - from the University of South Dakota to Kent State in Ohio - are canceling classes. Schools in Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, St. Louis and Minneapolis are all closed. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz considered shuttering all schools statewide but decided¹² against it.

TIM WALZ: In many cases, these local officials know best. And one of the things that I'm concerned about is - is when you close a school sometimes, that is the place of warmth and food that is not available elsewhere.

SCHAPER: The U.S. Postal¹³ Service is suspending mail delivery today in Minnesota, Iowa, western Wisconsin and western Illinois. But not everyone is dreading¹⁴ this deep freeze.

STEVE FAIVRE: We were generally pretty happy to see it coming.

SCHAPER: Steve Faivre farms with his family in northern Illinois.

FAIVRE: These frosts are really kind of good - these deep-cold cycles - because it'll generally help freeze out and knock off some of the pests in the field. It also helps break up the soil with the freezing and thawing¹⁵.

SCHAPER: The other good news is that forecasters call for a heat wave this weekend with temperatures in Chicago expected to climb into the 40s - above zero. David Schaper, NPR News, Chicago.

(SOUNDBITE OF MICHITA'S "MIZORE")

1 transit   

n.经过，运输；vt.穿越，旋转；vi.越过

参考例句：

• His luggage was lost in transit.他的行李在运送中丢失。
• The canal can transit a total of 50 ships daily.这条运河每天能通过50条船。

2 kerosene   

n.(kerosine)煤油，火油

参考例句：

• It is like putting out a fire with kerosene.这就像用煤油灭火。
• Instead of electricity,there were kerosene lanterns.没有电，有煤油灯。

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 crunches   

n.（突发的）不足( crunch的名词复数 )；需要做出重要决策的困难时刻；紧要关头；嘎吱的响声v.嘎吱嘎吱地咬嚼( crunch的第三人称单数 )；嘎吱作响；（快速大量地）处理信息；数字捣弄

参考例句：

• I can't bear the way she crunches the sugar. 我简直看不惯她嚼糖的那副样子。 来自辞典例句
• Crunches with a twisting motion (to hit obliques) are excellent. 做仰卧起坐时加上转体动作更好。 来自互联网

5 squeak   

n.吱吱声，逃脱；v.（发出）吱吱叫，侥幸通过；（俚）告密

参考例句：

• I don't want to hear another squeak out of you!我不想再听到你出声！
• We won the game,but it was a narrow squeak.我们打赢了这场球赛，不过是侥幸取胜。

6 squeaks   

n.短促的尖叫声，吱吱声( squeak的名词复数 )v.短促地尖叫( squeak的第三人称单数 )；吱吱叫；告密；充当告密者

参考例句：

• The upper-middle-classes communicate with each other in inaudible squeaks, like bats. 那些上中层社会的人交谈起来象是蚊子在哼哼，你根本听不见。 来自辞典例句
• She always squeaks out her ideas when she is excited. 她一激动总是尖声说出自己的想法。 来自互联网

7 salvation   

n.（尤指基督）救世，超度，拯救，解困

参考例句：

• Salvation lay in political reform.解救办法在于政治改革。
• Christians hope and pray for salvation.基督教徒希望并祈祷灵魂得救。

8 treacherous   

adj.不可靠的，有暗藏的危险的；adj.背叛的，背信弃义的

参考例句：

• The surface water made the road treacherous for drivers.路面的积水对驾车者构成危险。
• The frozen snow was treacherous to walk on.在冻雪上行走有潜在危险。

9 advisories   

n.（有关进展、动向、建议等的）报告( advisory的名词复数 )；公告；通告；通报

参考例句：

• Compliance with Practice Advisories is optional. 是否遵守实务公告由审计师自行选择决定。 来自互联网
• Hardened-PHP: not as such a PHP security information website, but it does have security advisories. 增强PHP:不仅仅是一个PHP安全新的网站，它还提供安全建议。 来自互联网

10 undertaking   

n.保证，许诺，事业

参考例句：

• He gave her an undertaking that he would pay the money back with in a year.他向她做了一年内还钱的保证。
• He is too timid to venture upon an undertaking.他太胆小，不敢从事任何事业。

11 coordinated   

adj.协调的

参考例句：

• The sound has to be coordinated with the picture. 声音必须和画面协调一致。
• The numerous existing statutes are complicated and poorly coordinated. 目前繁多的法令既十分复杂又缺乏快调。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

12 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

13 postal   

adj.邮政的，邮局的

参考例句：

• A postal network now covers the whole country.邮路遍及全国。
• Remember to use postal code.勿忘使用邮政编码。

14 dreading   

v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• She was dreading having to broach the subject of money to her father. 她正在为不得不向父亲提出钱的事犯愁。
• This was the moment he had been dreading. 这是他一直最担心的时刻。

15 thawing   

n.熔化，融化v.（气候）解冻( thaw的现在分词 )；（态度、感情等）缓和；（冰、雪及冷冻食物）溶化；软化

参考例句：

• The ice is thawing. 冰在融化。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• It had been snowing and thawing and the streets were sloppy. 天一直在下雪，雪又一直在融化，街上泥泞不堪。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹