2020年经济学人 加州:危机未平,野火又起(3)

Such change has not worked its destruction unaided. Mistaken policies have made the forests more vulnerable, especially the decades-long suppression of wildfires. Fires thin out the dense¹, flammable undergrowth. Preventing them—as a study in Science pointed² out as long ago as 2006—increases what is called fuel loading and turns forests into tinder boxes. Frank Lake of the US Forest Service talks of a tipping point: “There is too much fuel loading; it is too warm and the probability of ignition is greater.” That summarises what has happened this season.

气候变化并非是造成破坏的唯一罪魁祸首。错误的政策使森林变得更加脆弱，特别是长达数十年的野火扑救上的错误。野火使原本茂密、易燃的树丛变得稀疏。早在2006年，一项科学研究就指出，扑救野火会增加所谓的燃料负荷，并将森林变成火药箱。美国林业局的弗兰克·莱克谈到了一个问题：“燃料负荷太多；天气太热，引发野火的可能性更大。”这句话很好地总结了发生在此次野火季的事情。

Considering the vastness of the fires and their position —on the edge of the Bay Area, home to more than 7m people— the cost in human life could have been far greater. Seven people had died by August 25th. Californians have learned the lessons of previous fires, such as the one in 2018 which destroyed the town of Paradise and killed 85 people: evacuate³ early. Southerners fleeing Laura, a mighty⁴ hurricane that hit the Gulf⁵ coast on August 27th, will follow the same guidance.

考虑到野火的巨大规模以及发生位置 ——在海湾地区的边缘，有700多万户居民——付出的人类生命的代价可能会更惨重。截至8月25日，已有7人死亡。加州人已经吸取了以往野火灾害的教训，比如2018年那场野火摧毁了天堂镇，造成85人死亡，人们学会了要尽早撤离。8月27日，强烈的飓风劳拉袭击墨西哥湾海岸，南加州人遵循同样的教训进行撤离，逃离了危机。

So far, the responses of state and federal governments have held up fairly well in California, despite ritual hazing⁶ by the Democratic governor and Republican president. Donald Trump⁷ declared a major disaster, speeding federal funds to those who had lost their homes. And this week firefighters seemed to be making progress.

到目前为止，加州政府和联邦政府都应对的不错，尽管民主党州长和共和党总统例行针锋相对。唐纳德·特朗普宣称这是一场重大灾难，并加快了发放联邦资金的进程，以援助那些失去家园的人。本周，消防员们似乎取得了进展。

Still, California’s many crises— covid-19, fires and rolling blackouts—are overlapping⁸, which hampers⁹ a long-term response. Early this year, the governor proposed spending $100m to make existing houses more fire-resistant (replacing wooden shingles¹⁰ with tiles, for example). He had to suspend the programme because of a state budget crisis caused by covid-19.

尽管如此，加州还是同时面临新冠肺炎疫情、野火、连续断电的多重危机，这阻碍了长期应对。今年早些时候，加州州长提议投入1亿美元，加强现有房屋的耐火性（比如说用瓷砖代替木瓦）。由于新冠肺炎造成的国家预算危机，他不得不中止这项计划。

In 2008 another condor¹¹ chick was caught in a fire and miraculously¹² survived. She was, inevitably¹³, renamed Phoenix¹⁴. Iniko, alas¹⁵, need not be renamed. Her name means “born in troubled times”.

2008年，另一只秃鹰幼崽在一场野火中奇迹幸存。她不可避免地更名为Phoenix（凤凰）。唉，伊尼科不需要改名。因为她名字的含义是“生于乱世”。

1 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。

2 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

3 evacuate   

v.遣送；搬空；抽出；排泄；大(小)便

参考例句：

• We must evacuate those soldiers at once!我们必须立即撤出这些士兵！
• They were planning to evacuate the seventy American officials still in the country.他们正计划转移仍滞留在该国的70名美国官员。

4 mighty   

adj.强有力的；巨大的

参考例句：

• A mighty force was about to break loose.一股巨大的力量即将迸发而出。
• The mighty iceberg came into view.巨大的冰山出现在眼前。

5 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。

6 hazing   

n.受辱，被欺侮v.（使）笼罩在薄雾中( haze的现在分词 )；戏弄，欺凌（新生等，有时作为加入美国大学生联谊会的条件）

参考例句：

• With labor, the hazing period ends. 费了好大力气，痛苦的时期终于过了。 来自互联网
• A high-gloss paint surface is one that directly reflects light with minimum hazing or diffusion. 高度光洁的漆表面可以直接反射光源。 来自互联网

7 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

8 overlapping   

adj./n.交迭（的）

参考例句：

• There is no overlapping question between the two courses. 这两门课程之间不存在重叠的问题。
• A trimetrogon strip is composed of three rows of overlapping. 三镜头摄影航线为三排重迭的象片所组成。

9 hampers   

妨碍，束缚，限制( hamper的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Prejudice sometimes hampers a person from doing the right thing. 有时候，偏见会妨碍人正确行事。
• This behavior is the opposite of modeless feedback, and it hampers flow. 这个行为有悖于非模态的反馈，它阻碍了流。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

10 shingles   

n.带状疱疹；（布满海边的）小圆石( shingle的名词复数 )；屋顶板；木瓦（板）；墙面板

参考例句：

• Shingles are often dipped in creosote. 屋顶板常浸涂木焦油。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The roofs had shingles missing. 一些屋顶板不见了。 来自辞典例句

11 condor   

n.秃鹰；秃鹰金币

参考例句：

• The condor soars above the mountain heights.禿鹰翱翔于高山之上。
• A condor prepares to fly in Colombia.一只兀鹰在哥伦比亚准备振翅高飞。

12 miraculously   

ad.奇迹般地

参考例句：

• He had been miraculously saved from almost certain death. 他奇迹般地从死亡线上获救。
• A schoolboy miraculously survived a 25 000-volt electric shock. 一名男学生在遭受2.5 万伏的电击后奇迹般地活了下来。

13 inevitably   

adv.不可避免地；必然发生地

参考例句：

• In the way you go on,you are inevitably coming apart.照你们这样下去，毫无疑问是会散伙的。
• Technological changes will inevitably lead to unemployment.技术变革必然会导致失业。

14 phoenix   

n.凤凰，长生(不死)鸟；引申为重生

参考例句：

• The airline rose like a phoenix from the ashes.这家航空公司又起死回生了。
• The phoenix worship of China is fetish worship not totem adoration.中国凤崇拜是灵物崇拜而非图腾崇拜。

15 alas   

int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等)

参考例句：

• Alas!The window is broken!哎呀！窗子破了！
• Alas,the truth is less romantic.然而，真理很少带有浪漫色彩。