读者文摘:废墟中作画的艺术家(1)

It was America's deadliest wildfire in at least 100 years and the most destructive in California history.

它是至少100年来美国最致命的野火，也是加州历史上最具破坏性的大火。

The Camp Fire started at 6:33 a.m. on November 8, 2018, touched off by faulty electrical transmission lines in the town of Paradise.

这场大火开始于2018年11月8日早上6：33。它是由天堂镇的输电线路故障引发的。

It burned for 17 days and consumed 153,336 acres north of Sacramento.

大火燃烧了17天，烧毁了萨克拉门托北部15.3336万英亩的土地。

In all, the fire caused $16.5 billion in damage, destroying nearly 19,000 buildings, leaving 50,000 homeless, and killing¹ 85.

总体来说，大火造成了165亿的损失，破坏了接近1.9万的房屋，使五万人无家可归，85人丧命。

The beauty of this beautifully named place was gone. Shane Grammer grew up 15 miles away in Chico,

这个名字漂亮地方的美丽消失了。肖恩·格拉默在15英里外的奇科市长大。

and he followed the news of the fire's deadly path from Los Angeles,

他从洛杉矶跟踪报道了火灾的致命路径。

where the 47-year-old father of three works as a creative director for Disney's theme parks.

47岁的他是三个孩子的父亲，是迪士尼主题公园的创意总监。

Grammer still has friends in the Paradise area.

格拉默在天堂镇地区还有朋友。

When his childhood buddy² Shane Edwards posted pictures of his white chimney—the only part of his house to survive—Grammer felt helpless.

他儿时的伙伴谢恩·爱德华兹上传了他的白色烟囱的照片时-他的房子里唯一留下来的东西-格拉默感到很无助。

And then he had an idea. "I've got to paint that chimney," he told Inside Edition.

然后他有了一个想法：“我要在那个白色烟囱上作画。”他告诉《新闻内幕》节目。

"I'm not trying to say anything. It's just that I'm an artist. And it was an opportunity for me to express and be an artist."

“我不是要试图表达什么。我就只是个艺术家。这对我来说是一个表达自己和成为艺术家的机会。”

On December 31, amid the rubble³, charred⁴ trees, and burned-out husks of cars,

12月31日，格拉默面对着废墟，烧焦的树木和烧毁的汽车外壳，

Grammer spent three hours spray-painting a strikingly eerie⁵ black-and-white image of a woman on the chimney—

花了三个小时在烟囱上喷绘了一个令人毛骨悚然的黑白女性图片，

a reminder⁶, perhaps, of the beauty of life, or even just of life itself.

它或许可以提醒着生命的美丽，甚至只是生命本身。

Grammer posted the image on Instagram. The victims of the fire, especially, could not contain themselves.

格拉默把这张图片发到了照片墙上。人们不能够控制自己了，尤其是火灾的受害者。

"Beautiful and haunting," one said. Another posted, "You bring beauty and hope."

一个人表示，“真是动人心弦。”另一个人说，“你带来了美丽和希望。”

1 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

2 buddy   

n.（美口）密友，伙伴

参考例句：

• Calm down,buddy.What's the trouble?压压气，老兄。有什么麻烦吗？
• Get out of my way,buddy!别挡道了，你这家伙！

3 rubble   

n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾

参考例句：

• After the earthquake,it took months to clean up the rubble.地震后，花了数月才清理完瓦砾。
• After the war many cities were full of rubble.战后许多城市到处可见颓垣残壁。

4 charred   

v.把…烧成炭( char的过去式)；烧焦

参考例句：

• the charred remains of a burnt-out car 被烧焦的轿车残骸
• The intensity of the explosion is recorded on the charred tree trunks. 那些烧焦的树干表明爆炸的强烈。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 eerie   

adj.怪诞的；奇异的；可怕的；胆怯的

参考例句：

• It's eerie to walk through a dark wood at night.夜晚在漆黑的森林中行走很是恐怖。
• I walked down the eerie dark path.我走在那条漆黑恐怖的小路上。

6 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。