VOA慢速英语2021 科罗拉多州干燥天气助长少有的冬季火灾蔓延

It is rare to see a big, winter fire in Colorado like the one that burned 24 square kilometers of land and homes outside the city of Denver last week.

上周丹佛市郊外发生的冬季火灾烧毁了24平方公里的地表和房屋，像这样的火灾在科罗拉多州很少见。

Usually, the ground is covered with snow in December. However, scientists say a long, dry period in the state helped the fire move quickly. Some say winter fires will become more common because of a changing climate.

通常12月的地表都被大雪覆盖。然而，科学家们表示，该州长期的干旱期助长了火势的迅速蔓延。有人说，由于气候变化，冬季火灾将会变得更加普遍。

The fire is being called the Marshall fire because it started near Marshall Road near Boulder, Colorado. Local newspapers say, as of Sunday, two people were missing and seven were injured. Nearly 1,000 homes burned and over 100 were damaged.

这场火灾被称为马歇尔火灾，因为它始于科罗拉多州博尔德市的马歇尔路附近。当地报纸称，截至周日已经有两人失踪，七人受伤。近1000栋房屋被烧毁，还有100多栋房屋受损。

The fires are becoming more dangerous as homes are built in areas that once were farms or rural areas.

随着房屋建到曾是农场或农村的地区，火灾变得越来越危险。

Jonathan Overpeck is a professor who studies the environment at the University of Michigan. He said winter fires like the Marshall fire are not common. He said "things are going to ... get worse unless we stop climate change."

乔纳森·奥弗帕克是密歇根大学一名研究环境的教授。他说，像马歇尔火灾这样的冬季火灾并不常见。他说：“除非我们阻止气候变化，否则事情会变得更糟。”

Tens of thousands of people were told to leave the area northwest of Denver when the fire spread quickly last Thursday. Strong winds of over 160 kilometers per hour pushed the flames.

上周四火势迅速蔓延时，数万人被通知离开丹佛西北部地区。时速超过160公里每小时的强风助长了火势。

Susy Pringle lives in the area. She said she was in a food store, walked out, and had to get in her car and "make a dash" for her life as the smoke and flames came close.

苏西·普林格住在该地区。她说自己当时从一家食品店走出来，赶紧上车，在烟雾和火焰逼近时冲了出去。

Keith Musselman studies snow and water in nearby Boulder, Colorado. He said if snow had been on the ground, as it often is in December, the fire would not have spread.

吉斯·穆塞尔曼在科罗拉多州博尔德附近研究雪和水。他说，如果像往常的12月一样地表有雪，火灾就不会蔓延。

Jennifer Balch is a fire scientist at the University of Colorado in Boulder. She said the dry ground, warm weather, an ignition source, and the strong wind created "a disaster."

詹妮弗·鲍尔奇是科罗拉多州大学博尔德分校的一名消防科学家。她说，干燥的地表、温暖的天气、火源和强风造成了这场灾难。

Balch said a wet spring caused wild grass to grow tall, while the dry summer and autumn made it burn easily. She added that the time for fire danger in Colorado is now longer than in the past because of climate change.

鲍尔奇表示，湿润的春天让野草长得很高，而干燥的夏秋季使其很容易燃烧。她还表示，由于气候变化，科罗拉多州现在发生火灾的时间段比以往要更长。

In addition, the area northwest of Denver has many more homes today than in the past. Thousands of new houses have been built since the 1990s in the area from Denver to Fort Collins, a distance of about 100 kilometers. Balch said the homes can catch on fire and people can get hurt more easily.

此外，丹佛西北部地区如今的住宅也比过去多很多。自上世纪90年代以来，从丹佛到科林斯堡大约100公里的距离已经建造了数千座新房屋。鲍尔奇表示，这些房屋可能会着火，人们更容易受伤。

In her explanation, Balch said that there are many more people in the area than before. A recent study by the University of Colorado showed that 97 percent of wildfires were started by people.

鲍尔奇在她的解释中说，该地区的人口比过去多很多。科罗拉多大学最近一项研究表明，97%的野火是人为导致的。

She said people need to start thinking about how their daily activities can start a fire.

她说，人们需要思考他们的日常生活如何能引起火灾。

And now that people are living in areas that used to be rural, she said, big fires like the Marshall fire are going to be more common.

她说，人们现在生活在曾经是农村的地区，像马歇尔火灾这样的大火会变得更加普遍。

"It's just a matter of time before we have whole towns burning down like we had in California and events like this in Colorado."

她说：“像加州那样整个城镇被烧毁的事件在科罗拉多州发生也只是时间问题。”