PBS高端访谈:加利福尼亚州的大火

Hari Sreenivasan: Firefighters from around the country began arriving in California to help battle some of the largest wildfires in the state's history. There are more than 550 fires burning throughout the state, but three clusters of fires in Northern California are causing the most damage. Together, these three blazes, which consist of dozens of fires each, have scorched¹ more than 1,045 square miles as of this morning. There are currently more than 12,000 people helping² fight the fires. Each of the three big blazes is 15 percent contained or less. So far, more than 500 structures have been destroyed, more than 100,000 people are under evacuation orders, and at least six people have been killed. The fires were sparked by lightning earlier this week. Forecasters said there was a chance of more thunderstorms this weekend, which could bring wind and more lightning. The massive amounts of smoke and and ash from the blazes were visible on satellite images, and is making the air unhealthy to breathe around the San Francisco Bay Area. For more, we caught up with Bay Area News Group reporter Julia Sulek yesterday. She was in the town of Bonny Doon, northwest of Santa Cruz, where the CZU lightning complex fire had burned 57,000 acres, and was only 2 percent contained at the time we spoke³. You've gone from fire to fire in this region. Why is this happening so frequently?

哈里·斯雷尼瓦桑：来自全国各地的消防队员开始抵达加利福尼亚州，帮助扑灭该州历史上最大的一些野火。全州共有550多处火灾，但加州北部的三组大火造成的损失最大。这三起大火，每起都有几十起火灾，到今天早上为止已经烧焦了1045平方英里。目前有超过1.2万人在帮助灭火。三起大火中的每一处都被控制在15%以下。到目前为止，已经有500多座建筑物被毁，超过10万人接到疏散令，至少6人死亡。火灾是本周早些时候闪电引起的。天气预报说，本周末有可能会有更多的雷雨，这可能带来风和更多的闪电。从卫星图像上可以看到大火产生的大量烟雾和灰烬，这使得旧金山湾区的空气变得不健康。更多信息，我们昨天采访了湾区新闻集团记者朱莉娅·苏莱克。她当时在圣克鲁斯西北部的邦尼杜恩镇，在那里，八月闪电综合大火烧毁了5.7万英亩，在我们谈话的时候只有2%被控制住了。你在这一地区经历了一次又一次的火灾。为什么这种情况经常发生？

Julia Sulek: Well, you know, here in California, everything is just so dry. And this has been a very unusual fire. There are so many that were sparked by lightning and lightning in California is such a thrill for northern Californians is because we never see it. And admiring the lightning on Sunday night. And here they are. It's become so destructive and all these tiny little fires everywhere, it's essentially⁴ bringing Silicon⁵ Valley.

朱莉娅·苏莱克：好吧，你知道，在加州，一切都是那么的干燥。这是一场非常不寻常的火灾。有很多都是闪电引起的，而加州的闪电对于北加州民众而言是一种快乐的经历，因为我们从没有见过。欣赏着周日晚上的闪电。然后是现在这样，它变得如此具有破坏性，所有这些小的火灾无处不在，而且已经到了硅谷地区。

Hari Sreenivasan: And what are the impacts to that local region? When we say Silicon Valley, that's a pretty large stretch. How many people are having to move? How many people are having problems breathing because of the air quality?

哈里·斯雷尼瓦桑：对当地有什么影响？当我们说硅谷，这是一个相当大的延伸。有多少人要搬家？有多少人因为空气质量而呼吸困难？

Julia Sulek: Well, luckily, what we know as Silicon Valley, you know, the big companies, everything on the valley floor, none of those are threatened. So we're in the hillsides around the valley and the mountains, the Santa Cruz Mountains to the south. There's fire burning, as a matter of fact, right across the street from me. There's fires on the east side of Silicon Valley and way to the north up in Vacaville. So it's very thick smoke when you're on the valley floor. There are so many fires you don't know from where the fires and smoke are coming from. They're all mingling⁶ and raining ash everywhere.

朱莉娅·苏莱克：好吧，幸运的是，我们所知道的硅谷，你知道，大公司，谷底的所有东西，都没有受到威胁。所以我们在山谷和山脉周围的山坡上，南边是圣克鲁斯山脉。事实上，就在我对面的街上，着火了。硅谷东侧和瓦卡维尔北部都有火灾。所以当你在谷底的时候是很浓的烟。有那么多的火灾，你不知道从哪里来的火和烟。它们都混在一起，到处都是灰烬。

Hari Sreenivasan: And where are you standing⁷? What are you standing in front of?

哈里·斯雷尼瓦桑：你站在哪里？你站在什么前面？

Julia Sulek: I'm in Bonny Doon, which is a small mountain town just a few miles from the Pacific Ocean. It's a little mountain community, winding⁸ roads. And people here are staying behind, many. I mean, the whole place has been evacuated⁹, but there's dozens of people still here trying to fight the fires themselves because there are so few firefighting resources available. They've all gone to all these little fires that have turned into big fires all over the region. We've called in mutual¹⁰ aid firefighters from across the western states. But even here, like in this town of Bonny Doon, compared to a fire they had here five years ago, there's barely any fire trucks. So they're taking matters in their own hands.

朱莉娅·苏莱克：我在邦尼杜恩，那是一个小山城，离太平洋只有几英里。这是一个小山区社区，蜿蜒的道路。很多人在这里留下来。我的意思是，整个地方都已经被疏散了，但是仍然有很多人在试图自己灭火，因为这里的消防资源太少了。他们都去试图浇灭小火，但目前小火已变成了遍及正片地区的大火。我们从西部各州请来了互助消防队员。但即使在这里，就像在邦尼杜恩镇，与五年前这里发生的火灾相比，这里几乎没有消防车。所以他们自己处理事情。

Hari Sreenivasan: Yeah, Julia Sulek reporter from the Bay Area News Group joining us. Thanks so much.

哈里·斯雷尼瓦桑：是的，茱莉亚·苏莱克，海湾新闻集团的记者。非常感谢。

Julia Sulek: You're welcome, Hari.

朱莉娅·苏莱克：不客气，哈里。

1 scorched   

烧焦，烤焦( scorch的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（植物）枯萎，把…晒枯； 高速行驶； 枯焦

参考例句：

• I scorched my dress when I was ironing it. 我把自己的连衣裙熨焦了。
• The hot iron scorched the tablecloth. 热熨斗把桌布烫焦了。

2 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

5 silicon   

n.硅(旧名矽)

参考例句：

• This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
• A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。

6 mingling   

adj.混合的

参考例句：

• There was a spring of bitterness mingling with that fountain of sweets. 在这个甜蜜的源泉中间，已经掺和进苦涩的山水了。
• The mingling of inconsequence belongs to us all. 这场矛盾混和物是我们大家所共有的。

7 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

8 winding   

n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈

参考例句：

• A winding lane led down towards the river.一条弯弯曲曲的小路通向河边。
• The winding trail caused us to lose our orientation.迂回曲折的小道使我们迷失了方向。

9 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。

10 mutual   

adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的

参考例句：

• We must pull together for mutual interest.我们必须为相互的利益而通力合作。
• Mutual interests tied us together.相互的利害关系把我们联系在一起。