PBS高端访谈:澳大利亚大火不容乐观

JUDY WOODRUFF: Vast swathes of Australia are still burning tonight, with forecasts of worse to come, and thousands of people ordered to evacuate¹. A record summer fire season has charred² 12 million acres, destroyed 1,400 homes, and left 17 people dead. New South Wales and Victoria states are hardest hit, but fires are also burning across the rest of the country. Dan Rivers of Independent Television News reports from New South Wales, where whole communities are in ashes.

MAN: Look at that burn.

DAN RIVERS: In Conjola Park on New Year's Eve, it felt like the world was ending, not just the year. The wildfire swept through in minutes.

Here, local resident Peter Ruetman films as the fire approached his neighbor's house. This is all that's left. And Peter's home didn't survive either.

PETER RUETMAN, Fire Victim: I jumped in the car. It was so hot. The heat, I can't describe how hot it was, and the ferocity and the speed of this fire. Anyone that thought they were going to beat this fire were really taking life into their own hands.

DAN RIVERS: Pascale Hegarty hasn't experienced fear like this since she escaped the war in Lebanon.

PASCALE HEGARTY, Fire Victim: Unbelievable. You could hear trees, gas bottles exploding. It was like a war zone. I have lived in war zone, and that's what it reminded me of, yes.

DAN RIVERS: For those who have lost everything they own, the only comfort is knowing family and friends survived. This is what happens when one of these firestorms collides with a community. This is all that's left of Conjola Park, where at least 89 homes have been destroyed and one person killed. You can see it was literally³ hot enough to melt cars. And what's so worrying is, just a few miles down the coast, there are other placing facing exactly the same prospect⁴. The Princes Highway is the only way out, and, right now, it's closed, a 200-mile traffic jam as the clock ticks down to more searing heat and fire risk this weekend.

LUCY VU NGUYEN, Australia: I would like to get home. I would like to not have to sleep in my car tonight. But I know there are probably others who, sort of, don't have food in the car and water with them. And the night will be quite tough for them, I think.

DAN RIVERS: The Australian navy have been evacuating⁵ people from Mallacoota, where 4,000 people were stranded⁶ on the beach, exposed to choking smoke, and doing what they can to protect vulnerable lungs as they leave. The town may be cut off for weeks. With water supplies out, they're being brought in by boat, as the smoke means it's too dangerous to fly. A state of emergency has been declared, as Australia's prime minister fends⁷ off accusations⁸ of failing to grip this crisis. In Cobargo, residents refused to shake his hand, heckling him as he visited the devastated⁹ town.

WOMAN: How come we only had four trucks to defend our town? Because our town doesn't have a lot of money. But we have hearts of gold, Mr. Prime Minister.

SCOTT MORRISON, Australian Prime Minister: I think that the strength of the individuals, as we have just seen on display here, I think that says everything about Australia, and the spirit that will get them through this weekend, and the spirit will help them rebuild.

DAN RIVERS: Some are already blaming climate change for the three-year drought which has preceded this crisis, reeling from what they have lost, but they know there may be more to come this weekend.

JUDY WOODRUFF: That report from Dan Rivers of Independent Television News.

朱迪·伍德拉夫：今晚，澳大利亚的许多地方依然受火灾侵扰，预报还称情况只会更加糟糕，数千人接到疏散的命令。史无前例的夏日火季波及了1200公顷的土地，让1400户人家流离失所，17人因此死亡。新南威尔士州和维多利亚州是受影响最严重的，不过火势依然在全国范围内持续传播着。英国独立电视台的记者丹·里弗斯从新南威尔士州发回了报道，那里已一片狼藉。

男：看看这儿烧的样子。

丹·里弗斯：跨年日当天，康乔拉公园宛如世界末日，景象异常惨烈。大火分分钟席卷了整个公园。在这里，当地居民皮特拍下了火势迫近自己临近房子的过程。现在只剩下了这些残骸。就连皮特的家也没能幸免于难。

皮特，大火的受害者：我跳进了车里，温度太高了。任何觉得自己能扑灭这场大火的人都是在拿自己的生命开玩笑。

丹·里弗斯：帕斯卡莱自从逃离了黎巴嫩的战争以来，就再未经历过这样的恐惧了。帕斯卡莱，大火的受害者：难以置信啊。你都能听到树木、煤气瓶爆炸的声音。这里就像战区一样。我曾在战区生活过，这里的情况让我想起了战区。

丹·里弗斯：对于那些失去了自己所有的人来说，唯一的慰藉是知道家人朋友还活着。当大火侵袭一个社群时，就会发生这样的情况。康乔拉公园里只剩下这些了，这里至少89户人家被毁，1人死亡。这里的温度高的都可以将车融化。让人心忧的是：在距离海岸仅几英里的地方，还有其他一些地方也面临着受到大火侵袭的可能性。王子高速公路是唯一能向外走的路，现在这条路也封锁了，绵延200英里的交通堵塞还在进行中。而时间正一刻不停地向前走着，高温与火势本周末蔓延到这里的风险在不断增加。

露西·阮，澳大利亚：我想回家。我今天不想睡在车里。但我知道现在很有可能还有其他人在车里食不果腹，也没有水喝。我想晚上他们会很难熬。

丹·里弗斯：澳大利亚海军一直在将人群从马拉库塔疏散出来。这里有4000人困在沙滩上，被烟熏着，在撤离的过程中尽可能地保护着自己脆弱的肺。这座小镇可能要隔绝几周之久。现在完全没有水源，他们乘船来到这里。而因为有烟的缘故，所以坐飞机是很危险的。这里已经宣布了紧急状态，澳大利亚总理还在为自己没能掌控这场危机而辩解。科巴哥的居民拒绝与他握手，在他访问这座满目疮痍的小镇时还对他起哄。

女：我们竟然只有4辆卡车来守卫小镇，怎么可能？因为我们镇没钱吗？但我们有很多金子啊，总理先生。

斯科特·莫里森，澳大利亚总理：我想，个人的力量已经在刚才的情景中得到展现。我想这表明了澳大利亚的特质，表明我们挺过这周末的景深，这种精神也将帮助澳大利亚人民重建家园。

丹·里弗斯：有些人已经在抱怨气候变化了，他们说气候变化是导致3年旱灾的罪魁祸首。而旱灾之后就发生了大火的危机。因痛失自己的所有而心痛欲裂，但他们都知道这周末还有更多狂风暴雨要挺过。

朱迪·伍德拉夫：以上是英国独立电视台记者丹·里弗斯发回的报道。

1 evacuate   

v.遣送；搬空；抽出；排泄；大(小)便

参考例句：

• We must evacuate those soldiers at once!我们必须立即撤出这些士兵！
• They were planning to evacuate the seventy American officials still in the country.他们正计划转移仍滞留在该国的70名美国官员。

2 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》

3 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

4 prospect   

n.前景，前途；景色，视野

参考例句：

• This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

5 evacuating   

撤离，疏散( evacuate的现在分词 )； 排空（胃肠），排泄（粪便）； （从危险的地方）撤出，搬出，撤空

参考例句：

• The solution is degassed by alternately freezing, evacuating and thawing. 通过交替的冻结、抽空和溶化来使溶液除气。
• Are we evacuating these potential targets? 能够在这些目标地域内进行疏散吗？

6 stranded   

a.搁浅的，进退两难的

参考例句：

• He was stranded in a strange city without money. 他流落在一个陌生的城市里， 身无分文，一筹莫展。
• I was stranded in the strange town without money or friends. 我困在那陌生的城市，既没有钱，又没有朋友。

7 fends   

v.独立生活，照料自己( fend的第三人称单数 )；挡开，避开

参考例句：

8 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

9 devastated   

v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的

参考例句：

• The bomb devastated much of the old part of the city. 这颗炸弹炸毁了旧城的一大片地方。
• His family is absolutely devastated. 他的一家感到极为震惊。