美国有线新闻 CNN 灾上加灾 继火灾后美国加州再面临洪灾威胁

 

We've done some reporting lately on the destructive¹ wildfires in California. The state's still in the midst² of its fire season when blazes³ are more likely to flare⁴ up, but the major wildfires we've told you about have been contained for the most part. Now though, some people in Southern California are in danger of another potential disaster — flooding. The U.S. Army Corps⁵ of Engineers which operates and maintains about 700 dams in America recently issued a new warning about the Mojave River Dam. It's located at the northern side of the San Bernardino Mountains and last year the Corps ran a risk assessment⁶ of it, and concluded that if water flows over the top of the dam during an extreme flood event, the dam could fail.

To be clear, the Corps says the kind of flooding that could cause that is unlikely and it's never happened before. But it's drawing attention to the issue because the area expects more rain this winter. And if the dam were to fail, flooding could effect more than 315,000 people who live in nearby communities about 70 miles northeast of Los Angeles. The Mojave River Dam was built in 1971. That makes it younger than most of the dams across the U.S. There are more than 90,000 of them and most are more than 50 years old. They help provide irrigation and hydropower and protect communities from flooding.

But many across the country are under review and the importance of assessing them became clear in 2017 when the Oroville Dam in northern California was damaged after heavy rainfall. That led to the evacuation of 180,000 people before water levels at the dam dropped. Four years ago the Army Corps of Engineers estimated it would need $24 billion to fix all the dams that needed repairs.

1 destructive   

adj.破坏（性）的，毁灭（性）的

参考例句：

• In the end,it will be destructive of our whole society.它最终会毁灭我们整个社会。
• It is the most destructive storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的一次风暴。

2 midst   

n.中部，中间，当中

参考例句：

• The hut is in the midst of the forest.小屋在森林深处。
• There is a thief in our midst.我们当中有小偷。

3 blazes   

地狱； 火焰( blaze的名词复数 )； 光辉； 迸发； （光或色彩等的）展现

参考例句：

• Tom's new motorbike goes like blazes. 汤姆的新摩托车疾驶如飞。
• Scientists have correlated the rampant blazes with wamer temperatures and earlier snowmelt. 科学家们把这些猖獗的大火同天气变暖以及融雪时间提前联系在一起。

4 flare   

v.闪耀，闪烁；n.潮红；突发

参考例句：

• The match gave a flare.火柴发出闪光。
• You need not flare up merely because I mentioned your work.你大可不必因为我提到你的工作就动怒。

5 corps   

n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组

参考例句：

• The medical corps were cited for bravery in combat.医疗队由于在战场上的英勇表现而受嘉奖。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

6 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？