澳大利亞的“大火”吞噬了150萬英畝土地

澳大利亞的“大火”吞噬了150萬英畝土地

A pair of massive bushfires in southeastern Australia has merged into a "megafire" engulfing some 2.300 square miles — a single blaze more than three times as large as any known fire in California.

澳大利亞東南部的兩場大規(guī)模叢林大火已經(jīng)融合成一場“巨火”，吞沒了大約2300平方英里-這場大火的規(guī)模是加州已知大火的三倍多。

The merged fire, which straddles the country's most populous states of New South Wales and Victoria, measures nearly 1.5 million acres, according to The Sydney Morning Herald. It is just one of some 135 bushfires in Australia's southeast that have claimed the lives of at least 26 people, killed more than a billion animals and damaged or destroyed nearly 3.000 homes.

據(jù)《悉尼先驅晨報》報道，大火蔓延至澳大利亞人口最多的新南威爾士州和維多利亞州，面積近150萬英畝。這只是澳大利亞東南部135起山火中的一起，這些山火已經(jīng)奪去了至少26人的生命，殺死了超過10億只動物，破壞或摧毀了近3000座房屋。

Since September, the unprecedented bushfires have swept through an area larger than Massachusetts and New Hampshire combined.

自9月以來，前所未有的森林大火席卷了比馬薩諸塞州和新罕布什爾州加起來還大的地區(qū)。

NASA has released an animation showing how smoke from the fires has reached the lower stratosphere and traveled as far away as Chile.

美國國家航空航天局發(fā)布了一段動畫，展示了大火產(chǎn)生的煙霧是如何到達平流層底部，并傳播到遙遠的智利的。

Meanwhile, more than 30.000 people attended a protest in Sydney to denounce the government's handling of the crisis and to call for action on climate change.

與此同時，3萬多人參加了在悉尼舉行的抗議活動，譴責政府對危機的處理，并呼吁采取行動應對氣候變化。

The protesters directed their ire at Prime Minister Scott Morrison, whose coalition government's policies have rejected a link between Australia's unprecedented drought and fires crisis and climate change.

抗議者把怒火指向了澳大利亞總理莫里森。莫里森領導的聯(lián)合政府的政策拒絕把澳大利亞前所未有的干旱和火災危機與氣候變化聯(lián)系起來。

However, the prime minister said this week that his government would launch an inquiry to examine whether there was any connection between the fires and climate change. Asked whether he expected the current fire crisis to become commonplace in Australia because of climate change, he replied: "The links and implications here have been acknowledged."

然而，總理本周表示，他的政府將發(fā)起一項調查，以確定火災和氣候變化之間是否存在任何聯(lián)系。當被問及他是否預計由于氣候變化，目前的火災危機在澳大利亞會變得司空見慣時，他回答說:“這里的聯(lián)系和影響已經(jīng)得到承認。”

Morrison, who has also found himself on the defensive for taking a Hawaiian vacation with his family while the fires raged, also said Friday he had ordered the military to be on standby to help firefighters.

莫里森也發(fā)現(xiàn)自己在大火肆虐時與家人在夏威夷度假而處于守勢。他周五還表示，他已下令軍方待命，以幫助消防員。

"I've given them very clear instructions that they are to stand ready to move and support immediately," he said.

他說:“我已經(jīng)給了他們非常明確的指示，讓他們隨時準備立即行動和提供支持。”

Authorities in Australia on Friday urged a quarter of a million people in Victoria to leave their homes amid erratic winds and soaring temperatures, even as there was welcome rain in some parts affected by the fires.

澳大利亞當局周五敦促維多利亞州25萬人在反復無常的風和飆升的氣溫下離開家園，盡管受火災影響的一些地區(qū)出現(xiàn)了及時雨。

Helicopters dropped supplies to towns at risk of being cut off and C-130 tankers unleashed torrents of fire retardant.

直升機向可能被切斷的城鎮(zhèn)空投物資，C-130坦克釋放出大量阻燃劑。

Fire crews were preparing for what they believe will be a difficult night as the wind shifts and ramps up to 50 miles per hour. In parts of the fire-affected countryside, temperatures pegged out at 104 degrees Fahrenheit on Friday.

消防人員正在為他們認為將會是一個艱難的夜晚做準備，因為風向改變，風速將達到每小時50英里。在受火災影響的部分農村地區(qū)，周五的溫度穩(wěn)定在104華氏度。

Firefighter Andrew Beville, who was battling the Morton fire on the outskirts of the town of Penrose, near Wingello, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that he wasn't sure what would happen when the blaze reached the town.

消防員安德魯·貝維爾當時正在溫格洛附近的彭羅斯鎮(zhèn)郊區(qū)撲滅莫頓大火，他告訴澳大利亞廣播公司，他不確定大火到達該鎮(zhèn)后會發(fā)生什么。

"We just want to survive the night," he said.

“我們只想熬過這一晚，”他說。

Towns south of Sydney, including Eden, Batemans Bay and Norwa were warned by New South Wales Rural Fire Service to be prepared for another onslaught, The Associated Press reports.

據(jù)美聯(lián)社報道，新南威爾士州農村消防局提醒悉尼以南的艾登、貝特曼斯灣和諾瓦等城鎮(zhèn)做好準備，可能會遭遇另一場襲擊。

In neighboring Victoria, premier Daniel Andrews told reporters he was thankful that there were at present no one unaccounted for and no communities cut off in his state.

在臨近的維多利亞州，州長丹尼爾·安德魯斯告訴記者，他很慶幸目前沒有人下落不明，也沒有社區(qū)被切斷聯(lián)系。

The conservation group WWF-Australia estimates that 1.25 billion animals have been killed in the fires and says it fears that some species, such as the glossy black-cockatoo and the knee-high kangaroo, face local extinctions.

世界自然基金會-澳大利亞分會估計，火災已造成12.5億只動物死亡，并表示擔心某些物種，如光澤的黑鳳頭鸚鵡和及膝袋鼠，將面臨局部滅絕。

Meanwhile, the government says the loss of livestock from the fires will exceed 100.000 animals.

與此同時，政府表示，火災造成的牲畜損失將超過10萬頭。