纽约时报 热浪天气席卷印度 逾36人死亡(2)（在线收听）

A recent analysis of climate trends in several of South Asia’s biggest cities

对南亚几个一线城市的气候趋势分析发现，

found that if current warming trends continued, by the end of the century,

如果当前的气候变暖趋势继续恶化，

heat and humidity levels would be so high that people directly exposed for six hours or more would not survive.

本世纪末的气温和湿度将高到人直接暴露在室外6个小时就将面临生命危险的水平。

The latest victims of this year’s weekslong heat wave were 4 people, ranging in age from 69 to 80,

今年的热浪天气已经持续数周，最近又新增了4名受害者，他们年龄均在69~80岁之间，

who died on Tuesday during a journey on a train that lacked air-conditioning.

死亡时间都是周二且都死于（北方邦）一列没有空调的火车上。

Despite the extreme temperatures, the death toll this year has been small compared to previous years.

尽管出现了这样的极端高温天气，今年的死亡人数与往年相比反而有所减少。

More than 6,000 people have died because of heat waves in India since 2010, according to government data.

政府数据显示，自2010年以来，印度已有逾6000人死于热浪天气。

The worst toll came in 2015, with more than 2,000 deaths.

其中，死亡人数最多的一年是2015年，死亡人数超过了2000人。

While the heat waves have continued, the number of immediate heat deaths has significantly declined since then —

那以后，虽然热浪天气仍在继续，但中暑直接死亡的人数已明显下降——

375 were recorded in 2017, and only 20 in 2018.

记录显示，2017年的人数为375人，2018年只有20人。

But official death tolls often fail to capture the full lethality of a heat wave.

但官方公布的死亡人数往往无法完全反映热浪的致命程度。

One study by public health researchers found that in the normally hot city of Ahmedabad, in western India,

公共卫生研究人员的一项研究发现，在天气通常都很炎热的印度西部城市艾哈迈达巴德，

as temperatures soared in May 2010 to 118 degrees Fahrenheit,

2010年5月气温飙升至118℉时，

there was a 43 percent increase in overall mortality, compared to the same period in previous years.

与前几年同期相比，总体死亡率上升了43%。

Yet officials and analysts attribute the decline in recorded deaths to increased precautions by the government since 2015.

但官员和分析人士将统计的死亡人数的下降归因于自2015年以来政府加强了预防措施上。

Government officials have urged Indian employers to reduce and change work hours during heat waves,

政府官员已经敦促印度企业单位，尤其是建筑工地之类的户外工作场所，

particularly in outdoor areas such as construction sites,

减少并调整热浪期间的工作时间，

and have provided free drinking water in particularly vulnerable and crowded areas.

还在特别容易受高温影响，人流量又很大的地区为大家提供免费饮用水。

Mr. Srivastava said the disaster management authority had set a goal this year of keeping the death toll to single digits.

斯里瓦斯塔瓦说，灾害管理局为今年设定的目标是将死亡人数控制在个位数。

But the country’s huge national election complicated the efforts, he said,

但他说，该国规模巨大的全国大选加大了这些努力的难度，

because government workers who were needed to issue the warning measures were instead deployed on election duty.

因为本该通报警告措施的政府工作人员被派去执行选举任务了。

In the western state of Gujarat, officials were bracing for extreme weather of a different sort:

在西部的古吉拉特邦，官员们正准备应对另一种极端天气：

A major cyclone was approaching with winds over 100 miles an hour.

一场时速逾100英里的热带气旋风暴正在逼近。

Flights and train journeys were canceled, and about 300,000 people were evacuated.

航班和火车已被取消，约30万人被疏散撤离。

But early Thursday it appeared that the cyclone might skirt the city.

但照周四早间的情形来看，飓风可能会绕过这座城市。

It was the second major storm facing India this year.

这是印度今年面临的第二个大气旋了。

In March, another cyclone in eastern India.

今年3月，印度东部（的奥里萨邦）就已经遭遇了一次强气旋。

The early warning system worked remarkably well there,

那一次，当地的早期预警系统表现极为出色，

with the government evacuating about a million people and avoiding the widespread deaths caused by past storms.

政府疏散了约100万人，避免了重蹈风暴造成大面积死亡的覆辙。