美国有线新闻 CNN 气象学家表示今年将不再用希腊字母命名风暴

This week we're starting with a forecast for a type of season that doesn't begin until June 1st.

本周，我们首先对6月1日才会开始的一种季节进行预测。

Why are we looking so far ahead?

为什么我们要报道如此久远之后的事情？

Because the season we're discussing is the 2021 Atlantic Hurricane Season

因为我们要讨论的季节是2021年大西洋飓风季，

and there may be increased interest in this year's forecast because last year's season was a doozy.

今年的预测可能会引起更多的关注，因为去年的飓风季相当特别。

The Atlantic Hurricane Season covers main storms in the Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf¹ of Mexico.

大西洋飓风季包括大西洋、加勒比海和墨西哥湾形成的主要风暴。

Scientists have been keeping records of these storms in these regions² since 1851.

自1851年以来，科学家一直在记录这些地区的风暴。

Storms can form outside of the season and several did last year and a major record that was broken last year was the total number of systems.

风暴可以在非飓风季形成，去年有过几次这种情况，去年的风暴系统总数打破了记录。

There were 30 named Atlantic storms in 2020. The previous record had been set in 2005 when there were 27 named storms.

2020年出现了30个有命名的大西洋风暴。此前的记录在2005年创下，当时有27个命名风暴。

What's interesting as far as the names themselves go is that they're only 21 of them pre-selected for each season.

值得注意的是，就名字本身而言，每个飓风季只预选出21个名字。

So in 2005 and 2020, scientists used the letters of the Greek alphabet.

因此在2005年和2020年，科学家用希腊字母表中的字母来命名风暴。

Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta³, for the storms that came after the first 21 names.

21后名字用完后，之后出现的风暴用阿尔法、贝塔，伽马，德尔塔来表示。

They're not going to do that again.

但他们不会再这样做。

Meteorologists announced this year that if the 21 original names get used up,

气象学家今年宣布，如果21个预选名字用光，

a supplemental⁴ list with more names will be used instead of the Greek letters.

他们将使用补充名单上的名字命名风暴，而不用希腊字母。

Forecasting the number of hurricanes is kind of like forecasting the weather. It's not an exact science.

预测飓风的数量有点像预测天气。这不是一门精确的科学。

Last April for instance⁵, Colorado State University initially⁶ predicted there would be 16 named storms.

例如，去年四月，科罗拉多州立大学最初预测去年会出现16个命名风暴。

There turned out to be almost double that and there were seasons when the group initially predicted more storms than there turned out being.

但结果几乎是这个数字的两倍，而且在某些飓风季，研究小组最初预测的风暴数量比实际发生的要多。

But unlike the U.S. government which predicts a range in the number of hurricanes, Colorado State predicts a specific number.

但与美国政府预测飓风的数量范围不同，科罗拉多州预测的是一个具体的数字。

1 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

2 regions   

n.地区( region的名词复数 )；[数学]区域；（艺术、科学等的）领域；行政区

参考例句：

• A flying doctor service operates in remote regions. 在偏远地区有飞行医生服务。
• More powers are gradually being devolved to the regions. 正逐步向地方下放更多的权力。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 delta   

n.（流的）角洲

参考例句：

• He has been to the delta of the Nile.他曾去过尼罗河三角洲。
• The Nile divides at its mouth and forms a delta.尼罗河在河口分岔，形成了一个三角洲。

4 supplemental   

adj.补足的，追加的

参考例句：

• There can be any number of supplemental personas associated with an interface. 一个界面的补充人物角色可以有任意多个。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• User personas that are not primary or secondary are supplemental personas. 既不是首要人物角色，也不是次要人物角色的用户人物角色都是补充人物角色。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

5 instance   

n.例，例证，实例

参考例句：

• Can you quote me a recent instance?你能给我举一个最近的例子吗？
• He's a greedy boy,yesterday,for instance,he ate all our biscuits!他是个贪吃的孩子――比如，他昨天把我们的饼干都吃了！

6 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。