极端天气词汇Terms and expressions about extreme weather.PPT

Why has our weather gone wild? Its the question everyones asking, but a very tough one to answer. Although many scientists still arent convinced that it has gone wild, some have begun saying － cautiously, hesitantly － that extreme weather events are occurring with more frequency than at any time in this century, events consistent with the profile of a warming world. Global warming is real, says Kevin E. Trenberth, head of the Climate Analysis Section of the Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. The mean temperatures are going up. The key question is: What will it do locally? I think were going to start feeling its effects in the changes on extremes.为什么我们的天气变得如此狂野？这是每个人都在问的问题，但是很难回答。虽然许多科学家仍然不相信天气已经失控，但有些人——虽然态度谨慎，仍存疑虑——已经开始说，与本世纪任何时段相比，极端性天气出现的频率愈加频繁，这与全球变暖的量变曲线是吻合的。凯文·E·川伯斯是设在科罗拉多州博耳德市的大气研究中心气候分析部的主任，他说：“全球变暖是事实。”“平均气温在上升。但关键问题是，它会给具体地区带来什么？我认为我们已开始感受到它的影响，天气的变化趋于极端。” That doesnt mean you can indict weird weather in your neck of the woods as proof. Mother Nature knows how to hide her tracks. She hurls a torrential downpour today and a drought tomorrow followed by gentle rain the next week. To understand a pattern in natural variability, you cant look into the sky; you have got to study data. And for a host of reasons, that isnt easy. 这并不意味着你可以用某一有限区域的怪异天气作为控诉的证据。大自然母亲知道该如何隐藏她的行踪。她今天猛地来一场倾盆大雨，明天是干旱，紧接着是一周柔柔细雨。你不能靠察看天象来了解自然变化的模式，你必须得研究数据。但由于种种原因，这并不容易。 But tallying up the damage is. In the last 20 years, this country has been whacked by $I70 billion worth of weather-related disasters － hurricanes, droughts, floods, and tornadoes. Thirty-eight severe weather events occurred in a single decade, between 1988 and 1999; seven events occurred in 1998 alone － the most for any year on record. 但是计算一下灾害损失却是容易的。过去的二十年里，我们这个国家与气候相关的灾难——飓风、干旱、洪水及龙卷风——造成了高达一千七百亿美元的损失。仅1988年至1999年这十年间就发生了38起严重的气候事件，仅1998年就有7起气候事件，这是有史以来受灾最多的一年。 Globally, insurance companies are calling it a catastrophe trend. In a report issued last December, Munich Re, the worlds largest rein