Drought in California

賓夕法尼亞大學 李勁松

干旱從古至今都是人類面臨的主要自然災害之一。 即使在科學技術如此發達的今天，它造成的災難性后果仍然令人觸目驚心。

?

難詞探意

1. snowpack /?sno??p?k/ n. 積雪

2. powder keg 炸藥桶

3. parched /pɑ?t?t/ adj. 焦干的

4. offset /??ffset/ v. 抵消

5. divert /da??vз?:t/ v. 使轉向

6. reservoir /?rez?vwɑ?(r)/ n. 水庫

7. retain /r??te?n/ v. 保持

原文復現

California's mountain snowpack is about half of its normal level, raising fears that the state could return to drought after a period of mostly abundant wet years.

On Thursday, officials of the state's Department of Water Resources conducted a survey at a measuring station near Lake Tahoe that recorded 29 inches of snow, or 47% of average for this time of year. The reduced snowpack follows a roughly six-week stretch that has been one of the driest periods on record in California.With no rain in sight until at least Sunday,downtown San Francisco is on track to record no measurable rain in February for the first time since 1864, and only the second time in its history. Similarly, state officials said that the northern part of the Sierra Nevada mountains are on track to experience no rainfall this month for the first time since records started there 100 years ago. At the same time last year, by contrast, the Sierra mountains were buried under a snowpack that stood at 144% of normal—and nearly double the average amount in 2017.One of the local officials named Jerry Brown declared an end to a five-year drought that hurt the farm economy and turned forests into powder kegs for wildfires.

While California has seen more rain and snow in recent years, the drought left much of the state soparchedthat the rise in rainfall has done little tooffsetpersistent fire risks. Weather forecasters attributed the dry period to a strong ridge of high pressure that has been parked off the coast of California since mid-January,divertingPacific storms to Northwestern cities like Seattle, which has had an unusually wet winter.Yet state water officials said they had never seen weather conditions change as dramatically in recent years, and named climate change as a possible contributing factor. “We're seeing a lot of things now that we haven't seen before,” said Sean de Guzman, chief of snow surveys and water supply forecasting for the Department of Water Resources.

The good news for Californians is thatreservoirsremain mostly full around the state,while the snowpack hasretainedmost of its water content without melting off early, Mr Guzman said. Besides, California's other major source of water—from the Colorado River—is enjoying a snow season. The state's farms are likely to feel the pinch(經濟拮據) this year. The US Bureau of Reclamation earlier this week said that, based on the dry conditions, it was reducing allocations of federally controlled irrigation water to an initial level of as little as 15% of normal for some farm districts.

—From The Wall Street Journal

文本探究

探究視角1：語篇分析

本文是一篇說明文，文章對加州的干旱情況進行了描述，介紹了加州近年來的氣候和降水情況， 并對造成這種現象的可能原因做出了分析。 說明文是一種以說明為主要表達方式的文章體裁。為了把事物特征說清楚，或者把事理闡述明白，說明文必須要有相應的說明方法。常見的說明方法有舉例子、分類別、做比較、列數字、下定義、做詮釋、打比方、摹狀貌、引用、畫圖表等。

篇章結構梳理：

?

本文使用的說明方法：

?

探究視角2：語言學習

Ⅰ. 文本填空

1. The roughly six-week stretch has been one of the driest_____(period) on record in California.

2. Jerry Brown declared an end to a five-year drought_____hurt the farm economy.

3. California's mountain snowpack is about half of its normal level,_____(raise) fears that the state could return to drought.

4. The good news for Californians is_____reservoirs remain mostly full around the state.

5. The state's farms are likely_____(feel)the pinch this year.

Ⅱ.難句分析

1. California's mountain snowpack is about half of its normal level, raising fears that the state could return to drought after a period of mostly abundant wet years.

加利福尼亞的積雪量只有正常水平的一半左右，人們擔心在經過了一段多雨的時期之后，加州可能會再次出現干旱。

【點石成金】本句中，California's mountain snowpack為主語，is為系動詞，about...level 為表語，raising fears作結果狀語，that引導同位語從句，解釋說明fears。

2. One of the local officials named Jerry Brown declared an end to a five-year drought that hurt the farm economy and turned forests into powder kegs for wildfires.

杰瑞·布朗，當地官員之一，宣布這場長達五年的干旱結束。 這場干旱損害了農業經濟，把森林變成了野火的火藥桶。

【點石成金】該句為一個主從復合句。主句為Jerry Brown declared an end to a five-year drought，后面that hurt...wildfires為定語從句，先行詞為drought。

探究視角3：文化拓展

干旱的原因及預防

從自然因素方面來看， 干旱的發生主要與偶然性或周期性的降水減少有關。從人類活動方面來看，人口的大量增加、森林植被遭破壞和水資源浪費都是干旱發生的原因。植樹造林、興修水利、研究和應用現代技術、增強節水意識都是預防干旱的有效措施。以下是與干旱有關的英文表達：

1. Drought can be caused by not receiving rain or snow over a period of time. 一段時間內沒有降雨或降雪可能會造成干旱。

2. Dry conditions often lead to bush fires or wildfires. 干燥的環境通常會導致灌木叢火災或野火。

3. Of all the weather-related phenomena that can cause severe economic impacts in the United States, droughts come in second only to hurricanes. 在所有可能對美國經濟造成嚴重影響的天氣現象中，干旱僅次于颶風。

4. Drought is caused by not only lack of precipitation and high temperatures but also by overuse of water and overpopulation. 造成干旱的原因不僅僅有缺少降水和高溫，還有水資源過度使用和人口過剩。

5. Drought can be devastating to an area's economy and dangerous for human health. 干旱對一個地區的經濟方面的影響是毀滅性的，對人類健康來說，也是很危險的。

6. In fact, population booms can also trigger droughts. 事實上，人口激增也會引發干旱。

7. As the human population increases in arid regions as well as wet ones, so will the demand for water, and—with water supplies dropping at a faster rate—so will the likelihood of drought. 隨著干旱地區和潮濕地區人口的增加，人們對水的需求也會增加，而且隨著水供應以更快的速度下降， 發生干旱的可能性就會增加。

8. Aside from the human population explosion, global warming also fuels the increased frequency and severity of droughts in many parts of the globe, now and in future. 除了人口爆炸之外，全球變暖還加劇了全球許多地區，在現在和未來，干旱的頻率和嚴重程度。