美国国家公共电台 NPR--An intense heat wave in California is stressing the state's power grid

An intense heat wave in California is stressing the state's power grid¹

Transcript²

The strain on the power grid is leading to outages in some parts of the state and is putting vulnerable residents at risk. Other western states are also baking under the historic heat.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

The Western U.S. is baking under a historic, life-threatening heat wave.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Yeah. The city of Sacramento on Tuesday hit an astonishing 116 degrees, and California narrowly averted³ rolling electrical blackouts.

MART?NEZ: Nathan Rott, a member of NPR's climate team, is on the line in Southern California.

Nathan, I live in Los Angeles, and yesterday, right around 6 p.m., I was in a deep sleep. My phone blasted me awake because it seemed like California's power grid was really going to be pushed to its limits.

NATHAN ROTT, BYLINE⁴: Oh, no. Yeah, and it very nearly was. State officials were warning residents to prepare for rolling blackouts all day, especially as electrical demand climbed to an all-time high in the afternoon. But public messaging, including that very jarring push alert, which, yeah, it kind of surprised me, too, urging people to conserve⁵ electricity, it seemed to have worked. You know, if you look at graphs of the state's power usage last night, you can see a dip in the hour after that alert was sent, which was enough for the state to avoid any widespread blackouts.

MART?NEZ: And I understand, though, this heat is contributing to some wildfires that are near where you are. Tell us about those.

ROTT: Yeah. So we're in peak fire season, as you well know, here in California. And there are a number of blazes here and in other parts of the west. In Southern California, near where we are, the most notable is near the town of Hemet. Temperatures there were around 107 degrees yesterday. That fire's killed at least two people and is threatening thousands of homes and other major fires threatening homes in the mountain town of Big Bear. Remember, A, this is all happening on a landscape that is dealing⁶ with a megadrought, the driest period, scientists say, in at least 1,200 years. So it's extremely dangerous conditions for firefighters and for the people that are living in these fire-prone landscapes.

MART?NEZ: Yeah, I never get used to smelling the fire in the air all day. Nate, you're a member of NPR's climate team. Is it fair to say these conditions of fires and extreme heat are climate change?

ROTT: Yeah. I mean, I'd say it's more than fair. Research has already shown that the megadrought we're talking about, which is threatening the supply for tens of millions of people in the West, is being fueled by human-caused climate change. A study published a couple of weeks ago by researchers at Harvard and the University of Washington found that the number of days with dangerous heat, which they define as heat and humidity combined feeling like 103 degrees or above, those are expected to double in North America by the year 2050. And it's even worse closer to the equator. Here's the lead author of that study, Lucas Vargas Zeppetello.

LUCAS VARGAS ZEPPETELLO: It's really important to understand that, you know, the thresholds that we have in our sort of memory banks for extreme weather, those thresholds are not going to be meaningful. You know, they're already not meaningful now because things that were previously⁷ considered very extreme are going to be much, much more frequent.

ROTT: And that's something he said that we're already seeing. I mean, this heat wave is a good example - the ones that Europe experienced earlier this summer, which led to massive wildfires there, the heat waves in India. And Zeppetello said that this research is clear that it's only going to get worse if climate warming emissions⁸ aren't cut immediately.

MART?NEZ: All right, Nate, how much longer is this California heat wave going to last?

ROTT: It's not over yet. Forecasters say unusually hot temperatures are expected across much of the West through the end of the week. So officials are saying conserve electricity. Check in on your neighbors. It's important to remember that heat waves are the deadliest natural disaster in the world, so people need to be careful.

MART?NEZ: NPR's Nathan Rott.

Thanks a lot.

ROTT: Yeah. Thank you, A.

1 grid   

n.高压输电线路网；地图坐标方格；格栅

参考例句：

• In this application,the carrier is used to encapsulate the grid.在这种情况下，要用载体把格栅密封起来。
• Modern gauges consist of metal foil in the form of a grid.现代应变仪则由网格形式的金属片组成。

2 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。

3 averted   

防止，避免( avert的过去式和过去分词 )； 转移

参考例句：

• A disaster was narrowly averted. 及时防止了一场灾难。
• Thanks to her skilful handling of the affair, the problem was averted. 多亏她对事情处理得巧妙，才避免了麻烦。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 conserve   

vt.保存，保护，节约，节省，守恒，不灭

参考例句：

• He writes on both sides of the sheet to conserve paper.他在纸张的两面都写字以节省用纸。
• Conserve your energy,you'll need it!保存你的精力，你会用得着的！

6 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

7 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

8 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。