一场规模空前的自然灾害！亲历者：宛若恐怖电影

一场规模空前的自然灾害！亲历者：宛若恐怖电影

东京奥林匹克圆满结束了，而奥运的诞生之地希腊却遭山火肆虐，几天几夜失控的烈火一度失控，蔓延至多个地区，甚至一度逼近奥运圣火采集地点赫拉神庙和第一棒火炬传递地点古竞技场。

美联社报道，山火火光冲天，把天空映成橙色，遮住了太阳，空气中弥漫着令人窒息的粉尘。人们拖着行李箱、抱着宠物、搀扶着年迈的亲属，朝港口走去，准备乘渡轮离开。一名自称安杰卢的居民说：“你能感受到巨大的热量，还有很多烟。太阳像个红色的球，其他什么也看不到。”希腊总理米佐塔基斯称之为，“一场规模空前的自然灾害（a natural disaster of unprecedented proportions）”。

（烈火吞噬了奥林匹亚附近的一座山 来源：美联社）

现年38岁的孕妇米娜登上一艘救援渡轮后告诉路透社记者：“这就像一部恐怖电影……但这不是电影，而是现实生活。这是我们过去一周所经历的恐怖。

今天想跟大家一起来看看abcnews对这个灾难的外文报导，这篇报导当中使用了很多非常地道的相关表达，在开始阅读前，大家可以先自行翻译一遍以下的句子，再对照原文的说法进行学习。

l 中翻英练习

1. 这场大火始于8月3日，是过去一周希腊数百起火灾中最为严重的一起，烧毁了原始的松树林（pristine pine forests）、房屋和企业，迫使数百人迅速从海上撤离（quickly evacuate），以拯救他们的生命。

2. 希腊经历了30年来最严重的热浪（heat wave），气温高达45摄氏度（113华氏度）（45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit)），把珍贵的松树林变成了极其干燥的引火盒（tinderbox）。

3. 居民和游客逃到埃维亚（Evia）的海滩和码头（jetty），被船只运送到安全地带。

4. 他非常能够理解那些失去房屋财产的人的痛苦，以及那些寻求空中援助（airborne assistance）的人的愤怒。

l 新闻原文

"Unprecedented': Massive forest fire ravages Greek island

Firefighters and residents are battling into the night against a massive forest fire on Greece’s second-largest island for a seventh day

By ILIANA MIER and ELENA BECATOROS Associated Press

10 August 2021,  5 min read

Smoke and ash from Evia, a rugged island of forests and coves close to the Greek mainland, blocked out the sun and turned the sky orange. The fire, which began Aug. 3, is the most severe of hundreds in the past week across Greece, gobbling up pristine pine forests as well as homes and businesses and forcing hundreds to quickly evacuate by sea to save their lives.

Greece has been baked by its worst heat wave in three decades, which sent temperatures up to 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit) and turned its prized pine forests into bone-dry tinderboxes.

With roads on the island cut off by the flames, residents and tourists fled to Evia's beaches and jetties to be ferried to safety by a flotilla of ferries and boats.

“We were completely forsaken. There were no fire brigades, there were no vehicles, nothing!” David Angelou, who had been in the seaside village of Pefki, said Sunday night after leaving by ferry to the mainland.

（大批民众乘渡轮逃离被山火烧毁或逼近的家园 来源：路透社）

“You could feel the enormous heat, there was also a lot of smoke. You could see the sun, a red ball, and then, nothing else around,” he said.

Mitsotakis said Monday he “fully understands” the pain of those who lost homes or property, and the anger of those seeking airborne assistance “without knowing whether the firefighting aircraft were operating elsewhere or whether conditions made it impossible for them to fly.”

But he urged Greeks to reflect “not only on what was lost but also on what was saved in such an unprecedented natural disaster.”

（总理Kyriakos Mitsotakis 接受媒体采访 来源：卫报）

Other big wildfires were still burning Monday in Greece's southern Peloponnese region. Over the past week, hundreds of homes and businesses have been destroyed or damaged, and at least 40,000 hectares (nearly 100,000 acres) have been burned. Power cuts on Monday affected at least 17,000 households.

The causes of the blazes are as yet undetermined, though several people have been arrested for alleged arson. Greece's top prosecutor has ordered an investigation into whether the high number of fires could be linked to criminal activity.

More than 20 countries in Europe and the Mideast have responded to Greece's call for help, sending planes, helicopters, vehicles and manpower.

On Monday, the flames raced across northern Evia, threatening yet more villages even as 600 firefighters struggled to tame the inferno, aided by emergency teams from Ukraine, Romania and Serbia, 5 helicopters and 5 water-dropping planes.

One Greek volunteer firefighter died near Athens last week while four more were in the hospital Monday, two in critical condition with extensive burns.

Wildfires were also burning in southern Italy, North Macedonia and Montenegro, where a large fire in the Malo Brdo district of the capital Podgorica was coming close to houses on Monday.

In Italy, authorities urged the public to be careful with fire amid a heat wave forecast for this week, when many Italians take summer vacations. Firefighters for weeks have been battling blazes in Sardinia, Sicily and Calabria, and two have died.

In North Macedonia, dozens of wildfires followed the worst heat wave in decades. At least eight were still burning Monday, mostly in remote areas where only helicopters and planes could be deployed. Thousands of acres of forest have been destroyed and authorities have arrested five suspected arsonists.

———

Becatoros reported from Athens, Greece. Associated Press journalists

科学家们还在当前极端气温和全球变暖之间的联系进行评估，但目前已有的研究总体趋势表明，气候变化是导致欧洲极端天气的重要因素。

其实近几年来遭遇山火侵袭的国家越来越多且局势越来越严重。 亚马逊、澳洲、希腊、土耳其和意大利都经历过或长或短的山火，但都造成了重大的不可逆的自然损害。甚至在俄罗斯北部的寒冷的西伯利亚，大火也已经持续燃烧了数周。 
在自然面前我们都是渺小的，在这么严峻的气候变化之下，人类应该何去何从？