美國版塊
Natural disasters
自然災(zāi)害
The condor’s cry
加州禿鷹的哀號
California has been roiled by covid-19, drought, heatwaves and now two of the biggest fires on record
疫情、干旱、熱浪和有史以來兩次最大規(guī)模的野火吞噬了加利福尼亞州
The webcam above her nest shows Iniko, a four-month-old California condor, high in the trees of the Ventana wilderness area, looking out as flames advance towards her. She is part of a 20-year breeding programme to reintroduce the giant birds, which were extinct in the wild, to California’s central coast. She is alone—her parents have fled the danger—and cannot yet fly. At 10:40pm on August 20th the webcam shows a flash of wing feathers, then the live stream goes dark, as the flames, presumably, engulf the nest.
鳥巢上方的網(wǎng)絡(luò)攝像機(jī)顯示，有一只四個(gè)月大的加州禿鷹伊尼科，高高地站在文塔納荒野地區(qū)的樹上，在火苗向她逼近時(shí)，她正在向外張望。她是一項(xiàng)為期20年的繁殖計(jì)劃的一部分，該計(jì)劃旨在將這種在野外瀕臨滅絕的巨型鳥類重新引入加州的中央海岸。她的父母都已經(jīng)逃離了危險(xiǎn)，只剩下無法飛行的她自己。8月20日晚上10點(diǎn)40分，網(wǎng)絡(luò)攝像機(jī)顯示羽翼一閃而過，然后直播鏡頭暗了下來，大概是火焰吞噬了鳥巢。
Had the fire been in a previous year, Iniko would probably have been old enough to fly: the worst of the fire season takes place in September or October. But the season of 2020 has started early and with astonishing force. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) said that there had been over 700 wildfires between August 15th and 26th, burning 1.3m acres (500,000 hectares). That is two-thirds as much, in just 12 days, as burned as in the whole of 2018, the worst year to date, and the season has not yet reached its peak. The two biggest conflagrations, one east of San Jose, the other north of San Francisco, are the state’s second- and third-largest on record. Gavin Newsom, the governor, was not exaggerating when he said: “We simply haven’t seen anything like this in many, many years.”
若這場野火的發(fā)生時(shí)間同前一年，伊尼科可能長大到足以飛行了：加州野火最嚴(yán)重的季節(jié)是在9月或10月。但在2020年，野火季開始的很早，而且威力驚人。加州林業(yè)和消防局表示，8月15日至26日期間發(fā)生了700多起野火，燒毀了130萬英畝林地（合50萬公頃）。在短短12天內(nèi)野火發(fā)生的數(shù)量就達(dá)到了2018年全年發(fā)生的三分之二，這是迄今為止最嚴(yán)重的一年，而且今年的野火季尚未到達(dá)頂峰。加州發(fā)生的兩次最大型的火災(zāi)，一次是在圣何塞以東，另一次是在舊金山以北，是該州有記錄以來的第二大規(guī)模和第三大規(guī)模的火災(zāi)。加州州長加文·紐森毫不夸張地表示：“我們已經(jīng)有很多，很多年沒有見過這么大的野火了。”
Some previous fires have been manmade. One started when a car tyre blew and the wheel’s metal rim scraped the pavement. This year’s fires are the latest and starkest example of a different man-made influence: climate change.
以前的一些火災(zāi)是人為造成的。其中有一次是汽車爆胎，車輪的金屬輪緣刮擦了人行道引發(fā)了野火。而今年的野火是最新且最明顯的例子，即不是由人為誘發(fā)，而是受到氣候變化的影響。
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