美国有线新闻 CNN 冰火两重天 美国极寒澳大利亚酷热

 

CHARLOTTE MORTLOCK: If Sydney's central business district reaches it's forecast maximum of 40 degrees today, it will be their hottest day since last summer, and 14 degrees above the average.

RYAN YOUNG: Here in Chicago, the temperature is nothing to play with. Dangerous lows, something the city hasn't seen in quite some time.

Look at the river. It's all frozen¹. It looks like a winter play land. Schools have been shutdown. Warming centers have been set up all across the city, and there's a real worry about the homeless population here, because if you're outside for any long period of time, frostbite has become a real concern. Out on Lake Michigan, it has been so cold you can see the steam actually rising.

CHARLOTTE MORTLOCK: This will go down in the books as Sydney's second hottest January on record. The sweltering haze² has been put extra pressure on the in-demand power supply across the state, as many turn to fans and aircon in a bid to keep cool.

CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR³: So a tale of two extremes leading things off for us today on CNN 10. But for the U.S. at least, relief is in sight and it will be a dramatic⁴ change. This week in Chicago, Illinois, temperatures dropped down to 25 degrees below zero Fahrenheit⁵. But by the end of the weekend, the city's expected to see temperatures rise by 75 degrees, to the low 50s. Meteorologists expected Thursday to be the last day of extreme cold air in the US, at least temporarily.

That's when two-thirds of the country's population woke up to temperatures below freezing, and about a quarter of Americans shivered⁶ in temperatures below zero. A volunteer firefighter in Wisconsin emerged⁷ from battling a house fire with his beard covered in ice. The wind chill⁸, which is what the temperature feels like when the wind blows, was negative 50. A popular phrase associated with U.S. mail carriers⁹ is, "neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night keeps them from their rounds".

But when artic temperatures frosted over the Midwest and Northeast, deliveries¹⁰ were suspended¹¹ in parts of six states on Thursday. The Red Cross canceled hundreds of blood drives because of the cold weather, and in Michigan, a state that's used to weathering cold and driving snow, state government offices closed two days in a row.

CARL AZUZ: Another effect of all this winter weather is that many U.S. schools have been closed. Part of the reason's because of ice and snow, but part of it is because it's dangerous for students to wait at bus stops in the extreme cold.

1 frozen   

adj.冻结的，冰冻的

参考例句：

• He was frozen to death on a snowing night.在一个风雪的晚上，他被冻死了。
• The weather is cold and the ground is frozen.天寒地冻。

2 haze   

n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊

参考例句：

• I couldn't see her through the haze of smoke.在烟雾弥漫中，我看不见她。
• He often lives in a haze of whisky.他常常是在威士忌的懵懂醉意中度过的。

3 anchor   

n./v.锚；危难时可依靠的人或物；用锚泊船

参考例句：

• Letters from home were an anchor to him when he worked abroad.他在国外工作时，家书是他的精神支柱。
• The ship dragged her anchor during the storm. 船在暴风雨中拖动了锚链。

4 dramatic   

adj.引人注目的；戏剧的；演戏的

参考例句：

• She plays a very dramatic woman with flashing eyes.她饰演一位双眼闪光的引人注目的妇人。
• His speech was dramatic.他的演说激动人心。

5 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。

6 shivered   

（因寒冷，害怕等）颤抖，哆嗦( shiver的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• We shivered in the damp of the forest. 我们因树林里的湿气而打寒颤。
• She shivered involuntarily as he approached her. 他离她越来越近，她不由自主地颤抖起来。

7 emerged   

vi. 浮现, (由某种状态)脱出, (事实)显现出来

参考例句：

• They emerged from the church into the bright daylight. 他们走出教堂来到明亮的日光下。
• The swimmer emerged from the lake. 游泳者从湖水中浮出来。

8 chill   

vt.使变冷，使冷却，使沮丧；n.寒冷，风寒

参考例句：

• With the chill factor,it's nearly minus forty here.加上风寒指数，气温接近零下40度。
• The bad news cast a chill over the whole family.这坏消息使全家人感到沮丧。

9 carriers   

（自身不受感染而传播疾病的）带菌者( carrier的名词复数 )； （尤指经营空运的）运输公司； 搬运人； 军输车

参考例句：

• Mosquitoes are carriers of disease. 蚊子是疾病的传播媒介。
• The chair carriers arrived at the crack of dawn. 轿是一早就到了。

10 deliveries   

投递( delivery的名词复数 )； [法律]（正式）交付； 分娩； 表演

参考例句：

• Deliveries of mail could be delayed because of cost-cutting. 由于削减成本，邮件的递送可能会延迟。
• We have developed rapid order processing to expedite deliveries to customers. 我们已创造了快速处理订单的方法以便迅速将货物送达顾客。

11 suspended   

a.被暂时搁置的

参考例句：

• A lamp was suspended from the ceiling. 一盏吊灯悬在天花板上。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area. 英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。