美国国家公共电台 NPR--Naming heat waves may help warn of the risks associated with them

Naming heat waves may help warn of the risks associated with them

Transcript¹

Cities across the country are considering naming and ranking heat waves to better communicate the danger of heat to the public.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

We're accustomed to giving hurricanes human names. What if heat waves, though, got the same treatment?

KATHY BAUGHMAN MCLEOD: Because heat is invisible and silent, it doesn't have the drama of the hurricane and the tornado² and the flood. It needs extra identification and branding.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Kathy Baughman McLeod at the Atlantic Council says heat waves need more attention because they can be deadlier and more costly³ than other climate-fueled disasters.

MCLEOD: We assessed the heat's impact to the U.S. economy in 2020. And it was $100 billion in one dimension alone - in worker productivity losses. And that will go up to a half a trillion dollars in 2050 if we don't make changes.

MART?NEZ: She also wants heat waves to be categorized like hurricanes, to let people know it's not business as usual.

MCLEOD: You don't expect the pizza delivery to come to bring you a pizza during a Category 3 hurricane. And yet in heat that's uncategorized and unnamed, invisible, we expect for things to go on, workers to go on working outside.

MARTIN: Around the world, meteorologists and public health officials are working on this in cities as far apart as Los Angeles and Athens, Greece. There's even a proposal before California lawmakers to create a heat scale that works statewide.

MCLEOD: In all the focus groups that we've done, people land on human names and will respond to human names. And so where the categorization is a scientific process of meteorology, climatology and health data, the naming of heat waves is behavioral science.

MART?NEZ: Giving people in the path of scorching⁴ heat a chance to prepare and help prevent disastrous⁵ outcomes.

(SOUNDBITE OF ASTRONAUTICA'S "TWILIGHT INTERLUDE")

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 tornado   

n.飓风，龙卷风

参考例句：

• A tornado whirled into the town last week.龙卷风上周袭击了这座城市。
• The approaching tornado struck awe in our hearts.正在逼近的龙卷风使我们惊恐万分。

3 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

4 scorching   

adj. 灼热的

参考例句：

• a scorching, pitiless sun 灼热的骄阳
• a scorching critique of the government's economic policy 对政府经济政策的严厉批评

5 disastrous   

adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的

参考例句：

• The heavy rainstorm caused a disastrous flood.暴雨成灾。
• Her investment had disastrous consequences.She lost everything she owned.她的投资结果很惨，血本无归。