原文视听

North Atlantic hurricanes only account for about 11%
世界只有上大约11%的热带气旋
of the world's tropical cyclones.
是北大西洋飓风
But Professor Kerry Emanuel,
然而凯瑞·伊曼纽教授
one of the world's leading hurricane experts,
世界领先的飓风专家之一
has started to see something of a pattern
开始在自家的后院中
in his own backyard.
看到某种规律
This last decade was the worst in the record books.
过去十年的天气是史上最糟糕的
2005 was an especially bad year.
尤其是2005年
We had a record number of hurricanes.
我们经历了数量空前的飓风
So many they ran out of letters of the alphabet
编号时英语字母都用完了
and had to go to the Greek alphabet.
不得不使用希腊字母表
Professor Emanuel is trying to figure out
伊曼纽教授正在设法
why this might be happening.
找出原因
One crucial factor
一个关键的因素
is the mechanism that's at the core of what makes them work in the first place.
是飓风形成时 最重要的机制
Hurricanes are driven by heat.
飓风受热量驱使
In fact, they're quite simply massive heat engines.
其实它们简直就是超大的热力发动机
They effectively transfer warmth from the ocean
它们有效地把热量从海洋中
and into the atmosphere.
转移到大气层中

重点解释

North Atlantic hurricanes only account for about 11% of the world's tropical cyclones.世界只有上大约11%的热带气旋是北大西洋飓风

account for(在数量方面)占

Students account for 50% of our customers.

在我们的顾客中,学生占了一半。

Professor Emanuel is trying to figure out why this might be happening.伊曼纽教授正在设法找出原因

figure out算出；想出；解决；理解；断定

The boy can't figure out the algebra problems.

这个男孩做不出这道代数题。

I can't figure out why he quit his job.

我琢磨不透他为什么要辞掉工作。

So many they ran out of letters of the alphabet编号时英语字母都用完了

run out用尽；耗尽

We've run out of petrol. What a bore!

我们的汽油用完了.

Food supplies had run out towards the end of the trip.

在旅行快结束时，食物已经吃完了。