2021年经济学人 黑暗冬季惨剧--“美国能源之都”瘫痪(1)（在线收听）

United States

美国版块

A perfect storm

屋漏偏逢连夜雨

Light a candle for the kids

为孩子们点一支蜡烛

The freeze in Texas exposes America’s infrastructural failings

得州的冻结暴露了美国基础设施的缺陷

When it rains, it pours, and when it snows, the lights turn off. Or so it goes in Texas. After a winter storm pummelled the Lone Star State with record snowfall and the lowest temperatures in more than 30 years, millions were left without electricity and heat. At the worst moment on February 16th, 4.5m Texan households were cut off from power, as providers were overloaded with demand and tried to shuffle access to electricity so the entire grid did not collapse.

不雨则已, 一雨倾盆；不雪则已，一雪灯灭。得克萨斯州也是这样。在一场冬季暴风雪以创纪录的降雪量和30多年来最低的气温袭击了孤星州（得州别名）之后，数百万人失去了电和热。在2月16日最糟糕的时刻，450万得州家庭被切断了电力供应，因为供电商的电力需求超负荷，并试图改变供电方式，以免整个电网崩溃。

Whole skylines, including Dallas’s, went dark to conserve power. Some Texans braved the snowy roads to check into the few hotels with remaining rooms, only for the hotels’ power to go off as they arrived. Others donned skiwear and remained inside, hoping the lights and heat would come back on. Across the state, what were supposed to be “rolling” blackouts lasted for days. It is still too soon to quantify the devastation. More than 20 people have died in motor accidents, from fires lit for warmth and from carbon-monoxide poisoning after using cars to get warm. The storm has also halted deliveries of covid-19 vaccines and may prevent around 1m vaccinations from happening this week. Several retail electricity providers are likely to go bankrupt, after being hit with surging wholesale power prices.

所有的高楼大厦全部变暗以节省电力，达拉斯地区也未能幸免于难。一些得州人冒着雪路，住进了几家还有剩余房间的旅馆，结果旅馆的电源在他们到达时就断了。其他得州人则穿上滑雪服呆在家里，盼望着灯光和暖气能恢复。本应实行轮流停电的得州各地区停电数日。现在量化此次灾难的破坏程度还为时过早。超过20人死于交通事故、取暖引起的火灾以及用汽车取暖后的一氧化碳中毒。这场暴风雪还中断了新冠疫苗的运送，并可能阻止本周约100万人接种疫苗。在受到批发电价飙升的冲击后，几家零售电力供应商可能会破产。

Other states, including Tennessee, were also covered in snow, but Texas got the lion’s share and ground to a halt. Texans are rightly furious that residents of America’s energy capital cannot count on reliable power. Everyone is asking why.

包括田纳西州在内的美国其他州也被雪覆盖，但得州遭遇了最大的积雪覆盖和城市瘫痪。得州人感到愤怒是理所当然的，毕竟他们身为美国能源之都的居民，却无法指望可靠的电力。每个人都在问为什么。