美国国家公共电台 NPR 酷热高温致中东大规模停电

And I’m Ailsa Chang in Los Angeles.

艾尔萨·张从洛杉矶为您报道新闻。

High heat is visibly affecting athletes at the Tokyo Olympics. Meanwhile, the central U.S. is baking in a heat dome¹.

高温明显影响着东京奥运会的运动员。与此同时，美国中部地区正在“热穹顶”中烘烤。

But in parts of Iraq and Iran, high temperatures reached more than 120 degrees Fahrenheit² today.

但在伊拉克和伊朗部分地区，今天的最高气温超过了120华氏度。

And throughout the Middle East, extreme heat has spiked³ demand for energy, which means widespread power outages affecting millions.

在整个中东地区，酷热刺激了能源需求，引发了影响数百万人的大规模停电。

Protesters are demanding better access to utilities.

抗议者要求获得更好地公共设施。

And joining us now to talk more about all of this is Yesar Al-Maleki. He's an energy scholar at the Middle East Institute. Welcome.

现在耶萨尔·马莱基将和我们一起讨论这一切。他是中东研究所的能源学者。欢迎你。

Thank you for having me.

谢谢你们邀请我。

So help us understand the scope of this. How bad are these power outages right now?

请帮助我们了解停电的规模。目前停电情况有多严重？

Well, we are seeing increased electricity demand and shortages across the board.

我们看到了电力需求的增加和全面的电力短缺。

So it used to be a normal case, say, in Iraq, where they had a lot of shortages.

这曾经是正常的情况，比如伊拉克，该国短缺情况严重。

But now we are seeing Iran. We are seeing countries in the Gulf⁴ Cooperation Council, like Kuwait and others, and also Lebanon and Egypt.

但现在我们看到伊朗也出现了电力短缺。另外，海湾合作委员会成员国科威特等国以及黎巴嫩和埃及均遭遇停电。

Wow. So there are worse cases and best cases.

哇哦。有最糟糕的情况也有最佳情况。

So in the best cases, there are ordered shutdowns. There are rolling partial blackouts, especially, say, in Kuwait.

最好的情况指有序停电。比如科威特的部分停电。

But the worst cases, you have long blackouts and people resorting to using backup generators⁵.

但最糟糕的情况是，长期停电，这使人们不得不求助于备用发电机。

Yeah. So as you said...You are seeing a lot of protests in Iran and Iraq, for instance...

好。正如你所说，伊朗和伊拉克等国爆发了大规模抗议……

Well...People blocking highways and burning tires.

嗯。人们阻塞公路，燃烧轮胎。

...In your view, how much of these system failures is due to the extreme weather, and how much is it a reflection of just the region's power infrastructure⁶?

在你看来，这些系统故障中有多少要归咎于极端天气，有多少仅仅反映了该地区电力基础设施的问题？

Well, both cases — so what we are seeing is that the summer is becoming hotter earlier in the year.

两种情况——我们看到，今年早些时候夏季变得越来越热。

And this, of course, is coupled with increased demand for electricity for air conditioning. Also, we are seeing a drought.

当然，还有空调用电需求的增加。此外，我们还看到了干旱。

So, for instance, in Iran, they lost around 15% of the nameplate capacity of electricity, available electricity because hydropower dropped by 50%.

例如，伊朗失去了约15%的可用电力，因为水力发电量减少了50%。

And this is the basis for the Khuzestan protests, where eight people were killed during these protests.

这是胡泽斯坦省爆发抗议的原因，这些抗议活动已致8人死亡。

At the same time, we're seeing a lot of project delays in 2019 and 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

与此同时，由于新冠肺炎疫情，2019年和2020年有许多项目被延迟。

Right.

好。

And then you add to that the fact that many of these countries are oil producers.

还有一个事实，这些国家中有许多是石油生产国。

And they have been part of the OPEC-plus pact⁷ — so the gas production.

而且他们都签署了欧佩克+协议，这涉及到天然气生产。

So gas is very important because it is the base fuel for electricity generation there.

天然气非常重要，因为它是该地区发电的基本燃料。

And because they are producing less oil, there is less associated gas that goes to the power stations. So you have — all of these factors are playing together.

而且因为他们生产的石油越来越少，所以供应给发电站的伴生天然气也越来越少。因此，所有这些因素一起发挥了作用。

Of course, with the summer, it is quite clear that it is becoming much hotter than it used to be.

当然，随着夏天的到来，很明显天气变得比过去更加炎热。

So the demand becomes much higher earlier in the year than compared to the previous years. I see.

因此，今年早些时候的需求比前几年要高得多。我明白了。

And where exactly are these protests happening right now in the region?

目前该地区哪些地方发生了抗议活动？

So you have Iraq, especially in the south, and Basra, which is one of the hottest cities in the region.

伊拉克，尤其是南部地区，还有巴士拉市，这是该地区最热的城市之一。

And you have also Iran and Khuzestan province, again, because you are coupling two things together. You're coupling a drought and power provision problems.

还有伊朗胡泽斯坦省，因为两个因素共同发挥作用。不仅有干旱，还有电力供应问题。

So you have a lot of people protesting because water is also not available.

因此抗议的人很多，而且目前供水也已中断。

And, of course, you have Lebanon. But Lebanon is also a special case because of the economic meltdown that the country is going through.

当然，还有黎巴嫩。但黎巴嫩也是个特例，因为该国正在经历经济崩盘。

Right. That is Yesar Al-Maleki. He is a scholar at the Middle East Institute. Thank you very much for joining us today.

好。以上是耶萨尔·马莱基带来的报道。他是中东研究所的学者。非常感谢你今天和我们连线。

Thank you.

谢谢。

1 dome   

n.圆屋顶，拱顶

参考例句：

• The dome was supported by white marble columns.圆顶由白色大理石柱支撑着。
• They formed the dome with the tree's branches.他们用树枝搭成圆屋顶。

2 Fahrenheit   

n./adj.华氏温度；华氏温度计(的)

参考例句：

• He was asked for the boiling point of water in Fahrenheit.他被问到水的沸点是华氏多少度。
• The thermometer reads 80 degrees Fahrenheit.寒暑表指出华氏80度。

3 spiked   

adj.有穗的；成锥形的；有尖顶的

参考例句：

• The editor spiked the story. 编辑删去了这篇报道。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They wondered whether their drinks had been spiked. 他们有些疑惑自己的饮料里是否被偷偷搀了烈性酒。 来自辞典例句

4 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。

5 generators   

n.发电机，发生器( generator的名词复数 )；电力公司

参考例句：

• The factory's emergency generators were used during the power cut. 工厂应急发电机在停电期间用上了。
• Power can be fed from wind generators into the electricity grid system. 电力可以从风力发电机流入输电网。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

7 pact   

n.合同，条约，公约，协定

参考例句：

• The two opposition parties made an electoral pact.那两个反对党订了一个有关选举的协定。
• The trade pact between those two countries came to an end.那两国的通商协定宣告结束。