美国国家公共电台 NPR--Smoke chokes the Northeast — causing people to pull out their masks

Smoke chokes the Northeast — causing people to pull out their masks

Transcript¹

A blanket of smoke from Canadian wildfires continues to move south and hover² over many Northeastern cities. Officials have issued many health alerts³ — warning people to avoid outdoor activities.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

Coming up, imagine a household water bill so big it could wipe out hopes for a new car. First, though, we look at Canada, where hundreds of U.S. firefighters are joining the battle against wildfires.

ASMA KHALID, HOST:

Yeah. This comes as people across much of the eastern United States are waking up today to dangerously polluted air. Flights have been grounded, a New York Yankees game has been canceled and schools are keeping kids indoors.

MART?NEZ: Environment reporter Jacob Fenston joins us now from member station WAMU in Washington, D.C. Jacob, you're right in the path of that smoke. How bad is the air there?

JACOB FENSTON, BYLINE⁴: Yeah, it's pretty bad. I - you know, I noticed it first thing yesterday morning. I was on a bike ride going down a hill where usually there's a great view of the Washington Monument. You could barely⁵ see it. You know, I had to stop and take a picture. So if you're familiar with the air quality index or AQI, it's been, you know, between 150 and 200, which is considered code red or unhealthy air for the general public. You can really smell it outside, but it's been worse elsewhere. You know, in New York, New Jersey⁶, Pennsylvania, and now moving south into Maryland, they've had what's considered hazardous⁷ air - so, like, you know, Major League Baseball games postponed⁸, Broadway performances canceled. It was really one of the worst wildfire exposure events in recent U.S. history, exposing tens of millions of people in the most densely⁹ populated part of the country.

MART?NEZ: And how uncommon¹⁰ is this sort of air quality in eastern states?

FENSTON: It's really new. I mean, just to give you one data point, here in D.C., our worst air quality days are almost always on Fourth of July because of, you know, the big fireworks displays. So yesterday was the first time we've had a code red air quality day outside of Fourth of July in two decades, you know? So it's just not something we're prepared for. It's like the earthquake here in 2011. So, you know, just one little example. I have elementary school kids. D.C. public schools waited until after school started yesterday to announce, like, oh, we're going to keep kids inside during recess¹¹ and outdoor sports. So - or cancel outdoor sports. So parents were just really left wondering, like, is my kid going to be exposed to unhealthy air outdoors at school?

MART?NEZ: Yeah. You're getting a little slice of California life there. When's the air supposed to clear up?

FENSTON: It depends a lot on the local weather conditions, on what happens, you know, in Canada with the fires. But the smoky air is likely to stick around at least today and into tomorrow. You know, in the meantime, officials are telling people, keep an eye on that local air quality and stay indoors if you can, especially keep kids inside and people with any kind of heart or lung conditions.

MART?NEZ: Now, this is smoke from fires in eastern Canada, mostly in Quebec. Are fires particularly bad this year? And what's going on? Why are they so bad?

FENSTON: Yeah. I mean, it has a lot to do just with the lack of rain. I mean, just here in D.C., for example, last May was the driest May on record since 1999. It's been really hot in Canada, breaking temperature records. And so those things create the conditions that make fires much more likely. And across Canada, it's just been a terrible start to the fire season. So far this year, they've had 10 times more acres burn compared to the 10-year average. And, you know, this is what it means to be living on a warming planet. On the East Coast, you know, we're used to thinking a lot about climate impacts like flooding and extreme heat. But more wildfires and more wildfire smoke like this, these are things that we can expect to become more likely because of global warming.

MART?NEZ: That's WAMU's Jacob Fenston. Keep some eyedrops handy, Jacob.

FENSTON: Yeah. Thank you.

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 hover   

vi.翱翔，盘旋；徘徊；彷徨，犹豫

参考例句：

• You don't hover round the table.你不要围着桌子走来走去。
• A plane is hover on our house.有一架飞机在我们的房子上盘旋。

3 alerts   

n.警戒( alert的名词复数 )；警报期间；警戒状态；报警信号v.使（某人）保持警觉( alert的第三人称单数 )；使意识到；提醒（某人）注意（某事）；使（部队）处于待命状态

参考例句：

• Folder level alerts are not available on this server. 此服务器上不支持文件夹级的通知。 来自互联网
• Monitor daily customer FTP site for Compatibility Matrix & Quality Alerts. 实时注意客户FTP上的兼容性列表和质量警报。 来自互联网

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 barely   

adv.仅仅，几乎没有，几乎不

参考例句：

• The male bird is barely distinguishable from the female.雄鸟和雌鸟几乎无法辨别。
• He took barely enough money to keep the children in bread.他赚很少的钱仅够孩子们勉强糊口。

6 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

7 hazardous   

adj.(有)危险的，冒险的；碰运气的

参考例句：

• These conditions are very hazardous for shipping.这些情况对航海非常不利。
• Everybody said that it was a hazardous investment.大家都说那是一次危险的投资。

8 postponed   

vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发）

参考例句：

• The trial was postponed indefinitely. 审讯无限期延迟。
• The game has already been postponed three times. 这场比赛已经三度延期了。

9 densely   

ad.密集地；浓厚地

参考例句：

• A grove of trees shadowed the house densely. 树丛把这幢房子遮蔽得很密实。
• We passed through miles of densely wooded country. 我们穿过好几英里茂密的林地。

10 uncommon   

adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的

参考例句：

• Such attitudes were not at all uncommon thirty years ago.这些看法在30年前很常见。
• Phil has uncommon intelligence.菲尔智力超群。

11 recess   

n.短期休息，壁凹（墙上装架子，柜子等凹处）

参考例句：

• The chairman of the meeting announced a ten-minute recess.会议主席宣布休会10分钟。
• Parliament was hastily recalled from recess.休会的议员被匆匆召回开会。