纽约时报 美国西部再度被大火吞没(1)

Relentless¹ Blaze Engulfs² the West in Smoke and Fear

无情的大火在烟雾和恐惧中吞没了美国西部

By Thomas Fuller and Jack³ Healy

文/托马斯·富勒，杰克·希利

Across a hellish landscape of smoke and ash,

周日，在烟尘滚滚，犹如人间地狱的一片景象中，

authorities in Oregon, California and Washington State battled to contain mega-wildfires on Sunday

俄勒冈州、加利福尼亚州和华盛顿州当局奋力控制着燎原巨火的火势，

as shifting winds threatened to accelerate blazes that have burned an unimaginable swath of land across the West.

截至此时，大火已经烧毁西部大地的大片土地，受灾面积难以想象，不仅如此，风向的变化随时可能进一步加速大火的蔓延。

The arrival of the stronger winds on Sunday tested the resolve of fire crews already exhausted⁴ by weeks of combating blazes

周日强风的到来考验着已经被持续数周的灭火工作压榨得筋疲力尽的消防官兵们的决心，

that have consumed around 5 million acres of desiccated forests, incinerated numerous communities

在那期间，大火吞噬了大约500万英亩的森林，烧毁了许多社区，

and created what in many places was measured as the worst air quality on the planet.

还导致许多地方测量出来的空气质量沦为了地球上最糟糕的空气质量。

"There's just so much fire," said Ryan Walbrun, a fire weather meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

“火实在是太大了，”国家气象局火灾气象学家瑞安·沃尔布伦说。

"And so much smoke."

“而且烟实在是太浓了。”

The fires, which have killed at least 24 people in the last week alone, have engulfed⁵ the region in anguish⁶ and fear,

此次火灾，上周一周就造成了至少24人死亡，整个西部地区都陷入了深深的痛苦和恐惧之中，

as fairgrounds have turned into refugee camps for many who have been forced from their homes.

游乐场已经变成了无数被迫弃家而逃之人的避难所。

The choking smoke cast a dark pall⁷ over the skies and created a vision of climate-change disaster

令人窒息的烟雾给天空蒙上了一层乌云，营造出一幅气候变化灾难的景象，

that made worst-case scenarios⁸ for the future a terrifying reality for the present.

将原本未来可能出现的最糟糕的情形提前兑现成了当前的可怕现实。

"I drove 600 miles up and down the state, and I never escaped the smoke,"

“我开了600英里都没有逃出浓烟。”

Senator Jeff Merkley, Democrat⁹ of Oregon, said Sunday on the television program, "This Week."

周日俄勒冈州民主党参议员杰夫·默克利在电视节目《本周》中说道。

"We have thousands of people who have lost their homes. I could have never envisioned this."

“成千上万的百姓没有了家。我从未想过会发生这样的事。”

As the West burns there is consensus¹⁰ among scientists of the role that climate change is playing in the size and intensity¹¹ of the fires.

就在西部大火肆虐之际，科学家们达成了一致看法，认为气候变化在此次火灾的规模和强度中扮演了重要角色。

"Fundamentally the science is very, very simple," said Philip B. Duffy,

“从根本上说，这一结论依据的科学原理非常、非常简单，”

a climate scientist who is president of the Woodwell Climate Research Center.

伍德韦尔气候研究中心主席、气候科学家菲利普·B·达菲说。

"Warmer and drier conditions create drier fuel," said Dr. Duffy, a physicist¹².

“温暖、干燥的环境会让（火灾所需的）燃料也变得更为干燥，”（是气候学家）也是物理学家的达菲博士说道。

"What would have been a fire easily extinguished now just grows very quickly and becomes out of control."

“就导致原本应该很容易扑灭的大火现在变得气势汹汹，超出了我们的控制范围。”

Winds are often the decisive factor between fires that can be controlled

一场大火究竟是人力可控范围内的大火，

and those that move with such ferocity and speed that the best the authorities can do is move people out of the way.

还是蔓延速度强劲到当局能做的最大努力就是转移灾区民众的大火，完全取决于风势。

1 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。

2 engulfs   

v.吞没，包住( engulf的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Hemingway suppresses emtion, Wolfe engulfs the reader in feeling. 海明威感情压抑，沃尔夫却把读者卷进感情的漩涡。 来自辞典例句
• Consumption ideological trend engulfs the entire world at present age. 当今时代，消费主义呈现席卷全球之势。 来自互联网

3 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

4 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

5 engulfed   

v.吞没，包住( engulf的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was engulfed by a crowd of reporters. 他被一群记者团团围住。
• The little boat was engulfed by the waves. 小船被波浪吞没了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 anguish   

n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼

参考例句：

• She cried out for anguish at parting.分手时，她由于痛苦而失声大哭。
• The unspeakable anguish wrung his heart.难言的痛苦折磨着他的心。

7 pall   

v.覆盖，使平淡无味；n.柩衣，棺罩；棺材；帷幕

参考例句：

• Already the allure of meals in restaurants had begun to pall.饭店里的饭菜已经不像以前那样诱人。
• I find his books begin to pall on me after a while.我发觉他的书读过一阵子就开始对我失去吸引力。

8 scenarios   

n.[意]情节；剧本；事态；脚本

参考例句：

• Further, graphite cores may be safer than non-graphite cores under some accident scenarios. 再者，根据一些事故解说，石墨堆芯可比非石墨堆芯更安全一些。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• Again, scenarios should make it clear which modes are acceptable to users in various contexts. 同样，我们可以运用场景剧本来搞清楚在不同情境下哪些模式可被用户接受。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

9 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

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 intensity   

n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度

参考例句：

• I didn't realize the intensity of people's feelings on this issue.我没有意识到这一问题能引起群情激奋。
• The strike is growing in intensity.罢工日益加剧。

12 physicist   

n.物理学家，研究物理学的人

参考例句：

• He is a physicist of the first rank.他是一流的物理学家。
• The successful physicist never puts on airs.这位卓有成就的物理学家从不摆架子。