美国有线新闻 CNN 澳大利亚新南威尔士州遭遇灾难性山火

 

New South Wales is where you'll find Sydney, the Australian capital and largest city in the country. It's also where dozens of bushfires are burning up land and homes.

A New South Wales Rural Fire Service said yesterday that 70 fires were burning and that half of them hadn't been contained yet, meaning they weren't blocked in and prevented from spreading. Several people have died in the fires.

More than 1,000 firefighters are trying to put out the blazes¹, and a fire official says 100 or more homes might have been destroyed so far. Witnesses have posted pictures of bright orange skies.

Intense wildfires a?re capable of causing their own weather, and the fire service says that's what's happening in some parts of New South Wales where fire clouds were developing. These can produce their own lightning without rain.

Officials say the state's under tinder box-like conditions and that all it takes is one spark to start a fire that can burn for days. Major roads and highways have been closed. Several schools have been closed.

Evacuations have been ordered in the state of Queensland, which borders New South Wales to the north. Both of these states are prone² to wildfires in the spring, which it is right now in the Southern Hemisphere³. And firefighters are predicting catastrophic fire danger for areas around Sydney this Tuesday.

1 blazes   

地狱； 火焰( blaze的名词复数 )； 光辉； 迸发； （光或色彩等的）展现

参考例句：

• Tom's new motorbike goes like blazes. 汤姆的新摩托车疾驶如飞。
• Scientists have correlated the rampant blazes with wamer temperatures and earlier snowmelt. 科学家们把这些猖獗的大火同天气变暖以及融雪时间提前联系在一起。

2 prone   

adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的

参考例句：

• Some people are prone to jump to hasty conclusions.有些人往往作出轻率的结论。
• He is prone to lose his temper when people disagree with him.人家一不同意他的意见,他就发脾气。

3 hemisphere   

n.半球，半球地图

参考例句：

• This animal is to be found only in the Southern Hemisphere.这种动物只有在南半球才能找到。
• In most people,the left hemisphere is bigger than the right.多数人的左脑比右脑大。