(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
US Needs to Do More to Prepare for Dangerous Weather, Experts Say
Many places across the United States have faced extremely cold and dangerous winter weather in recent days. This includes states like Texas and Oklahoma, where such severe winter storms are uncommon.
The lack of planning and preparation by leaders in those areas left locals without heat, water, gasoline and other critical services for many days. At least 20 people have died this week.
Experts warn that deadly weather will be hitting the U.S. more often, and that the country needs to get better at dealing with it.
This week's storms fit a pattern of worsening extremes under climate change. They also demonstrate that local, state and federal officials have failed to do enough to prepare communities for extreme and dangerous weather.
"This is a different kind of storm,″ said Kendra Clements. She is one of several businesspeople in Oklahoma City who opened their buildings to shelter homeless people. Some of them came in with frostbite, hypothermia and ice in their hair.
The storms served as a predictor of what social service providers and governments say will be increasing needs among the nation's poorest people as climate and natural disasters worsen.
Other Americans are at risk as well. Power supplies of all kinds failed in the extreme cold, including natural gas-fired power plants that went offline in icy conditions. Some wind turbines froze and stopped working.
The crisis has raised concern for power systems throughout the country. As climate change worsens, such severe conditions will become more common.
Sara Eftekharnejad is a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at Syracuse University in New York. She called the week's storms "an anomaly," or unusual and unexpected. But such anomalies, she said, are likely to happen more often as a result of climate change.
"There probably needs to be better planning, because we're starting to see more extreme weather events across the country," she said. That could be in the form of severe cold like in Texas or intense heat waves like the one California experienced last year that fueled deadly wildfires.
Michael Craig is a professor of energy systems at the University of Michigan. He said the events in California and Texas show that "what we have now is not going to do it in the face of climate change. It's only going to get worse from here."
In Texas, wind power is a growing source of electricity. But most wind turbines operating there are not designed for very cold weather. Making small changes to wind turbines is one step needed to deal with climate change, said Roy McCann. He teaches electrical engineering at the University of Arkansas.
Some Republican politicians, including Texas Governor Greg Abbott, have tried to blame wind and solar power for the massive outages. However, traditional power plants, which depend mostly on natural gas, provide the majority of power in Texas. They were the larger problem.
Joshua Rhodes is a researcher on energy issues at the University of Texas. "The entire system," he said, "was overwhelmed."
I'm Ashley Thompson.
重点解析
1.energy n.能量
Fruit is a convenient source of vitamins and energy.
水果是维生素和能量的便利来源。
2.majority n.多数
The vast majority live further inland.
大多数人居住在更远的内陆。
3.overwhelmed adj.不知所措的
The army was overwhelmed by the rebels.
军队被叛乱者完全击败了。
4.system n.系统
The system was down all morning.
系统整个上午都无法运行。
5.But such anomalies, she said, are likely to happen more often as a result of climate change.
as a result of 因此
许多海鸟死于这次石油泄漏。
Her reputation suffered a mortal blow as a result of the scandal.
这一丑闻毁了她的名声。
6.But such anomalies, she said, are likely to happen more often as a result of climate change.
climate change 气候变化
Climate change is still very much a subject for debate.
气候变化很大程度上仍是一个争论的话题。
We are all victims of climate change.
我们都是气候变化的受害者。
参考译文
美国要采取更多措施防范危险天气
最近几天，美国很多地方都面临着极端寒冷和危险的冬季天气。包括德克萨斯州和俄克拉何马州，这些州遇到这类严重冬季风暴的情况十分罕见。
这些地区的领导人缺乏规划和防范，导致当地居民多日来中断了暖气、饮水、汽油和其他关键服务。本周至少有20人死亡。
专家警告称，致命天气将更加频繁地袭击美国，美国需要更好地应对这类天气。
本周的风暴符合气候变化下不断恶化的极端天气模式。专家还表明，地方、州和联邦官员未能为社区应对极端和危险天气做足够的准备。
“这是一种不同类型的风暴，”肯德拉克莱门茨说道。她是俄克拉荷马城的几位商人之一，他们开放自家楼宇收留那些无家可归的人。有些流浪者来的时候有冻伤，体温过低，头发上还有冰凌。
这场风暴预示着，正如社会服务机构和政府所说，随着气候和自然灾害的恶化，美国最贫困人口的需求将会增加。
其他美国人也面临着危险。在极端寒冷的天气下，各种各样的电力供应都出现了故障，包括在冰雪条件下关闭的天然气发电厂。一些风力涡轮机因结冰而无法运转。
这场危机引起了对全国电力系统的关注。随着气候变化的恶化，这种恶劣条件将变得越来越普遍。
萨拉·爱福特哈尔内贾德（Sara Eftekharnejad）是纽约锡拉丘兹大学电子工程和计算机科学教授。她称，本周的风暴有些“反常”，不寻常且出乎意料。但她说，由于气候变化，这种反常现象可能会更频繁地发生。
她说：“可能需要更完善的规划，因为全国范围内开始出现更多的极端天气事件。”这可能是像得克萨斯州那样的严寒天气，也可能是像加州去年经历的那种引发致命野火的热浪酷暑。
迈克尔·克雷格(Michael Craig)是密歇根大学(University of Michigan)能源系统教授。他说，加州和得州的事件表明，“我们现在的条件无法应对气候变化。从现在开始，情况只会变得更糟。”
在得州，风力发电是一种日益增长的电力来源。但是在那里运行的大多数风力涡轮机并非为极寒天气设计的。罗伊·麦肯（Roy McCann）表示，对风力涡轮机进行微小的调整是应对气候变化所必须的一步。麦肯在阿肯色大学教电气工程。
一些共和党政客，包括得州州长格雷格·阿博特(Greg Abbott)，试图将大规模停电归咎于风能和太阳能。然而，主要依赖天然气的传统发电厂为得州大部分地区提供了电力。而他们才是更严重的问题。
约书亚·罗兹(Joshua Rhodes)是得克萨斯大学能源问题研究员。他说，“整个系统都已经不堪重负了。”
阿什利·汤普森为您播报。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
