PBS高端访谈:美国"卡尔多山火"肆虐,已烧毁数百座建筑

Back in this country, firefighters in Northern California made more progress today against the massive Caldor Fire raging near the Lake Tahoe resort area.

国内方面，北加州的消防员今天在塔霍湖度假区附近的卡尔多大火中取得了进展。

The flames are now 20 percent contained, after burning more than 204,000 acres since mid-August. Stephanie Sy has the latest.

自8月中旬以来，大火烧毁了超过20.4万英亩的土地，现在火势已经控制住了20%。下面由斯蒂芬妮·赛为我们报道。

Plumes¹ of black smoke rose above the historic Echo Summit mountain pass early this morning, signs that the Caldor Fire is creeping closer to South Lake Tahoe, the most populous² city on the lake.

今日凌晨，历史上著名的埃科峰山口上空升起了缕缕黑烟，这表明卡尔多大火正在向湖上人口最多的城市——南太浩湖蔓延。

Nearly 4,000 firefighters battling the raging inferno³ made some progress today.

今天，近4000名消防员与大火搏斗，取得了一些进展。

The fire has already destroyed hundreds of structures.

大火已经摧毁了数百座建筑。

We have been resource-starved here at times.

我们这里时而资源会匮乏。

We're continuing to get more people sent to us, but it's still not enough, as this fire is shown to be a huge challenge for everyone involved.

我们正在继续派更多的人到我们这里来，但还是不够，因为这场火灾对参与其中的每个人来说都是一个巨大的挑战。

Fuel load is extreme out in these areas. Everything is easily ignitable.

这些地区的燃料负荷非常严重，一切都很容易被点燃。

And the vegetation is very thick and dense⁴ and the areas are sometimes inaccessible⁵.

而且这里植被非常茂密，有时很难进入。

Thousands of members of California's National Guard have also been deployed⁶ to assist with the fire response and evacuations.

数千名加州国民警卫队成员也被派往协助消防和疏散工作。

For days, erratic⁷ winds and low humidity have spread spot fires, with embers flying and spreading the flames.

几天来，怪风和干燥导致了零星火灾的蔓延，余烬四处飞扬，致使火焰蔓延。

Those ember casts that it throws out are going over a mile in distance.

大火喷出的余烬在一英里外蔓延，

So that's what's propagating the spread of the fire right now, is that long-range downwind spotting of that ember cast.

这就是现在火势蔓延的原因，余烬都在远距离外的下风处。

And the thick smoke has made it difficult for crews to navigate⁸ the rough terrain⁹.

浓烟使得工作人员很难在崎岖的地形中前行。

On Monday, some 50,000 people in the popular resort region were placed under evacuation orders, snarling¹⁰ traffic for hours.

周一，在这个热门的度假胜地，大约5万人接到了疏散命令，导致交通拥堵了数小时之久。

A tourist area that's usually filled with thousands of holiday visitors is now almost empty.

通常挤满成千上万游客的旅游区现在几乎空无一人。

Military vehicles, fire crew personnel, and an odd bear were seen in the city's smoke-filled streets. Only a few residents remain.

军用车辆、消防人员和一只奇怪的熊出现在城市烟雾弥漫的街道上。只有少数居民还在。

No one's stupid enough to stay when the flames are right mounting around the outside of the meadow.

没人会傻到当火焰在草地外面蔓延时留下来。

So, as long as the smoke isn't so bad and the flames aren't real close, we're going to stick it out, you know? But, if not, we will hightail it out.

所以，只要烟没有那么重，大火没有烧过来，我们就会坚持下去，但如果烟太重，火太烧过来了，我们就溜之大吉。

Evacuation orders have also expanded to communities in neighboring Nevada, along the California state line.

疏散令也已扩展到邻近的内华达州的社区，沿着加州的州界线。

Meanwhile, the massive Dixie Fire is also still burning through the Sierra Nevada.

同时，大规模的南部大火仍在内华达山脉燃烧着。

It's the second largest wildfire in the state's history, and has burned over 844,000 acres since it began in early July.

这是该州历史上的第二大野火，自7月初开始以来，大火已经烧毁了84.4万英亩。

Scientists say climate change has made worse the hot and dry weather conditions fueling the West's extreme wildfires.

科学家表示，气候变化使炎热干燥的天气状况更加恶化，加剧了西部地区的极端野火。

And it's also contributed to the warming of water, making hurricanes such as Ida in the Gulf¹¹ Coast more dangerous.

这也导致了海水变暖，使得像“艾达”这样的飓风在墨西哥湾沿岸更加危险。

Katharine Hayhoe is a climate scientist and the chief scientist for the Nature Conservancy.

凯瑟琳·海霍是一名气候科学家，也是自然保护协会的首席科学家。

Climate change didn't cause Hurricane Ida, but it definitely made it worse, and that's what climate change is, a threat multiplier.

气候变化并不是引发飓风艾达的原因，但它绝对让情况变得更糟了。这就是气候变化，一个威胁放大器。

It's taking events that occur naturally and it's making them bigger, stronger, more dangerous and more damaging.

它让自然界发生的灾难变得更大、更强、更危险、更具破坏性。

That includes wildfires.

包括森林大火。

Imagine you had a green, wet wood, and you accidentally dropped a match into it. What would happen? Not much.

想象一下，你有一根绿色潮湿的木头，你不小心掉了一根火柴进去，会发生什么？不会发生什么严重的事情。

Then imagine you had a pile of bone-dry kindling¹², and you accidentally dropped a match into it. What would happen? A huge conflagration¹³.

然后想象你有一堆极干的引火物，你不小心掉了一根火柴进去，会发生什么？那就是一场巨大的灾难。

That's the difference between with or without climate change.

这就是有或没有气候变化的区别。

This year is on track to be California's worst fire season on record, and it's far from over. For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Stephanie Sy.

今年将是加州有记录以来最严重的火灾季节，而这还远远没有结束。这里是PBS新闻一小时，我是斯蒂芬妮·塞。

1 plumes   

羽毛( plume的名词复数 )； 羽毛饰； 羽毛状物； 升上空中的羽状物

参考例句：

• The dancer wore a headdress of pink ostrich plumes. 那位舞蹈演员戴着粉色鸵鸟毛制作的头饰。
• The plumes on her bonnet barely moved as she nodded. 她点点头，那帽子的羽毛在一个劲儿颤动。

2 populous   

adj.人口稠密的，人口众多的

参考例句：

• London is the most populous area of Britain.伦敦是英国人口最稠密的地区。
• China is the most populous developing country in the world.中国是世界上人口最多的发展中国家。

3 inferno   

n.火海；地狱般的场所

参考例句：

• Rescue workers fought to get to victims inside the inferno.救援人员奋力营救大火中的受害者。
• The burning building became an inferno.燃烧着的大楼成了地狱般的地方。

4 dense   

a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的

参考例句：

• The general ambushed his troops in the dense woods. 将军把部队埋伏在浓密的树林里。
• The path was completely covered by the dense foliage. 小路被树叶厚厚地盖了一层。

5 inaccessible   

adj.达不到的，难接近的

参考例句：

• This novel seems to me among the most inaccessible.这本书对我来说是最难懂的小说之一。
• The top of Mount Everest is the most inaccessible place in the world.珠穆朗玛峰是世界上最难到达的地方。

6 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

7 erratic   

adj.古怪的，反复无常的，不稳定的

参考例句：

• The old man had always been cranky and erratic.那老头儿性情古怪,反复无常。
• The erratic fluctuation of market prices is in consequence of unstable economy.经济波动致使市场物价忽起忽落。

8 navigate   

v.航行，飞行；导航，领航

参考例句：

• He was the first man to navigate the Atlantic by air.他是第一个飞越大西洋的人。
• Such boats can navigate on the Nile.这种船可以在尼罗河上航行。

9 terrain   

n.地面，地形，地图

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• He knows the terrain of this locality like the back of his hand.他对这一带的地形了如指掌。

10 snarling   

v.（指狗）吠，嗥叫， （人）咆哮( snarl的现在分词 )；咆哮着说，厉声地说

参考例句：

• "I didn't marry you," he said, in a snarling tone. “我没有娶你，"他咆哮着说。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• So he got into the shoes snarling. 于是，汤姆一边大喊大叫，一边穿上了那双鞋。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险

11 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

12 kindling   

n. 点火, 可燃物 动词kindle的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• There were neat piles of kindling wood against the wall. 墙边整齐地放着几堆引火柴。
• "Coal and kindling all in the shed in the backyard." “煤，劈柴，都在后院小屋里。” 来自汉英文学 - 骆驼祥子

13 conflagration   

n.建筑物或森林大火

参考例句：

• A conflagration in 1947 reduced 90 percent of the houses to ashes.1947年的一场大火，使90%的房屋化为灰烬。
• The light of that conflagration will fade away.这熊熊烈火会渐渐熄灭。