VOA慢速英语--专家称美国需要做更多的准备来应对危险天气

Many places across the United States have faced extremely cold and dangerous winter weather in recent days. This includes states like Texas and Oklahoma, where such severe winter storms are uncommon¹.

The lack of planning and preparation by leaders in those areas left locals without heat, water, gasoline and other critical services for many days. At least 20 people have died this week.

Experts warn that deadly weather will be hitting the U.S. more often, and that the country needs to get better at dealing² with it.

This week's storms fit a pattern of worsening extremes under climate change. They also demonstrate that local, state and federal officials have failed to do enough to prepare communities for extreme and dangerous weather.

"This is a different kind of storm,″ said Kendra Clements. She is one of several businesspeople in Oklahoma City who opened their buildings to shelter homeless people. Some of them came in with frostbite, hypothermia and ice in their hair.

The storms served as a predictor of what social service providers and governments say will be increasing needs among the nation's poorest people as climate and natural disasters worsen.

Other Americans are at risk as well. Power supplies of all kinds failed in the extreme cold, including natural gas-fired power plants that went offline in icy conditions. Some wind turbines froze and stopped working.

The crisis³ has raised concern for power systems throughout the country. As climate change worsens, such severe conditions will become more common.

Sara Eftekharnejad is a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at Syracuse University in New York. She called the week's storms "an anomaly," or unusual and unexpected. But such anomalies, she said, are likely to happen more often as a result of climate change.

"There probably needs to be better planning, because we're starting to see more extreme weather events across the country," she said. That could be in the form of severe cold like in Texas or intense heat waves like the one California experienced last year that fueled deadly wildfires.

Michael Craig is a professor of energy systems at the University of Michigan. He said the events in California and Texas show that "what we have now is not going to do it in the face of climate change. It's only going to get worse from here."

In Texas, wind power is a growing source of electricity. But most wind turbines operating there are not designed for very cold weather. Making small changes to wind turbines is one step needed to deal with climate change, said Roy McCann. He teaches electrical engineering at the University of Arkansas.

Some Republican⁴ politicians, including Texas Governor Greg Abbott, have tried to blame wind and solar power for the massive⁵ outages. However, traditional power plants, which depend mostly on natural gas, provide the majority of power in Texas. They were the larger problem.

Joshua Rhodes is a researcher on energy issues at the University of Texas. "The entire system," he said, "was overwhelmed⁶."

Words in This Story

pattern - n. something that happens in a regular and repeated way

frostbite - n. a condition in which part of your body (such as your fingers or toes) freezes or almost freezes

hypothermia - n. a condition in which the temperature of your body is very low

(wind) turbine - n. a tall structure that has large blades attached to an engine and that is used to produce electricity

1 uncommon   

adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的

参考例句：

• Such attitudes were not at all uncommon thirty years ago.这些看法在30年前很常见。
• Phil has uncommon intelligence.菲尔智力超群。

2 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

3 crisis   

n.危机，危急关头，决定性时刻，关键阶段

参考例句：

• He had proved that he could be relied on in a crisis.他已表明，在紧要关头他是可以信赖的。
• The topic today centers about the crisis in the Middle East.今天课题的中心是中东危机。

4 republican   

n.拥护共和政体的人； adj.共和政体的，（Republican）共和党人，（Republican）共和党的

参考例句：

• Some families have been republican for generations.有些家庭世代都支持共和党。
• A third candidate has entered the contest for the Republican nomination.第三个候选人已经加入角逐共和党提名的行列。

5 massive   

adj.巨大的，大规模的，大量的，大范围的

参考例句：

• A massive sea search has failed to find any survivors.经过大规模的海上搜救仍未找到幸存者。
• He drank a massive amount of alcohol.他喝了大量的烈酒。

6 overwhelmed   

[ overwhelm ]的过去式

参考例句：

• She was overwhelmed by feelings of guilt. 她感到愧疚难当。
• If (one was) overwhelmed by passion, it could lead to serious blunders. 当感情完全淹没理智时，就可能铸成大错。