010 飓风

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A storm is coming toward the shore. Dark clouds fill the horizon

一场风暴正朝海岸袭来。乌云布满了地平线。

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At first it seems to be a large but ordinary storm

起初，这似乎只是一场大而普通的风暴。

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But the rain falls more heavily than usual

但雨下得比平时猛烈得多。

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The wind begins to blow faster and faster, more than one hundred kilometers per hour

风开始越刮越快，时速超过一百公里。

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Soon the wind shakes the street signs back and forth, as if an invisible giant were trying to pull them out of the Earth

很快，大风来回摇撼着路牌，仿佛一个隐形的巨人正试图将它们从大地中拔起。

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Trees begin to fall. The force of the wind rips roofs from buildings

树木开始倒下。风的力量掀掉了建筑物的屋顶。

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The wind has pushed the ocean waves farther inland

风已将海浪推向了更远的内陆。

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Suddenly the ocean seems to rise up — as if the sea level were suddenly six meters higher

突然间，海水像涨高了一样——仿佛海平面骤然升高了六米。

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The water surges forward and washes away everything that is not secure

海水向前涌来，冲走了所有没有固定好的东西。

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This is a hurricane: a storm that can cover an area 800 kilometers wide and whose clouds can tower 16 kilometers high

这就是飓风：一场能覆盖八百公里宽、云层可高达十六公里的风暴。

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Also known as cyclones and typhoons, hurricanes are the largest and most damaging storms on Earth

飓风也被称为气旋和台风，是地球上规模最大、破坏力最强的风暴。

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The word " hurricane " comes from Hurakan, the name of the Caribbean god of storms

“飓风”这个词来自Hurakan，那是加勒比海地区风暴之神的名字。

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These giant storms develop in different tropical regions

这些巨大的风暴形成于不同的热带地区。

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The storms from the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico are called hurricanes

来自加勒比海和墨西哥湾的风暴被称为飓风。

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In India, they are called cyclones, and in the Pacific, they are typhoons

在印度，它们被称为气旋；在太平洋，它们被称为台风。

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Hurricanes form in an unusual way. They do not begin as a single storm that slowly grows

飓风的形成方式很不寻常。它们并非一开始就是一个缓慢增大的单一风暴。

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Near the equator, large thunderstorms tend to rotate

在赤道附近，大型雷暴往往会旋转起来。

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This movement is caused by the Earth's rotation and the regular direction of the Earth's winds near the equator

这种运动是由地球的自转和赤道附近地球风的常规方向引起的。

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If several tropical thunderstorms are close together, they can merge to form a single giant storm called a hurricane

如果几个热带雷暴靠得很近，它们就能合并成一个巨大的风暴，这就叫飓风。

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Hurricanes always rotate. Some rotate clockwise, some counterclockwise

飓风总是在旋转。有些顺时针转，有些逆时针转。

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Hurricanes that rotate clockwise are formed south of the equator; hurricanes that rotate counterclockwise are formed north of the equator

顺时针旋转的飓风形成于赤道以南；逆时针旋转的飓风形成于赤道以北。

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At first glance, a hurricane may appear to be just a gigantic, swirling storm cloud, but hurricanes have a complicated structure

乍一看，飓风可能只是一个巨大的旋转风暴云，但飓风有着复杂的结构。

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A hurricane's winds rotate faster and faster the closer they get to its center

飓风的风越靠近中心，旋转得越快。

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But right in the middle is the eye of the hurricane, where there is almost no wind, clouds, or rain

但正中间是飓风眼，那里几乎无风、无云也无雨。

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The eye of a hurricane can be up to fifty kilometers wide

飓风眼的直径可达五十公里。

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Immediately surrounding the eye of a hurricane is a towering wall of cloud called the eyewall

紧贴飓风眼周围的是高耸的云墙，称为眼壁。

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Here, the hurricane's wind speed is fastest, so fast that it can produce tornadoes with winds of almost five hundred kilometers per hour

此处飓风的风速最快，快得足以产生时速近五百公里的龙卷风。

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Hurricanes are formed over areas of warm ocean and are fed by the humid air above the water

飓风形成于温暖的海洋区域，并由水面上方的潮湿空气提供能量。

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As long as the hurricane stays over the warm ocean water, its strength increases

只要飓风停留在温暖的海水之上，它的强度就会增加。

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The warm air rises, generating wind and pulling in more humid air to fuel its storm

暖空气上升，产生风并吸入更多潮湿空气，为风暴提供能量。

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When a hurricane moves over land or cool water, it begins to weaken

当飓风移动到陆地或冷水上空时，它开始减弱。

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But hurricanes are so strong that it can take up to ten days for one to lose its power

但飓风如此强大，可能需要长达十天才能耗尽其威力。

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The World Meteorological Organization is responsible for naming hurricanes

世界气象组织负责为飓风命名。

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Each year hurricanes are named in alphabetical order, alternating between masculine and feminine names

每年，飓风按字母顺序命名，交替使用男性和女性的名字。

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Not all the letters of the alphabet are used to begin the name of a hurricane

并非字母表中的所有字母都用作飓风名字的首字母。

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Q, U, X, Y, and Z are omitted, leaving only 21 letters of the alphabet available

Q、U、X、Y和Z被省略，只剩下21个字母可用。

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If more than 21 hurricanes form in one year, the letters of the Greek alphabet are used

如果一年内形成超过21场飓风，就会用希腊字母来命名。

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The twenty-second hurricane would be named Alpha, the twenty-third would be named Beta, and so on

第二十二场飓风将被命名为阿尔法，第二十三场命名为贝塔，依此类推。

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When a hurricane has caused a terrible tragedy

当一场飓风造成了严重灾难时，

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a country can request that the name of the hurricane be retired so that no future hurricane will have that name again

受影响国家可以请求永久停用该名字，使其不再用于今后的飓风命名。

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Just as storms can differ in the speed of their winds and the amount of rain they cause, so can hurricanes

正如普通风暴的风速和降雨量会有所不同，飓风也一样。

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Hurricanes are rated from categories one to five, category five being the strongest

飓风被划分为一到五级，五级为最强。

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The system of classifying hurricanes is called the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale

这个飓风分级系统被称为萨菲尔-辛普森飓风等级。

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Even a category one or category two hurricane can have a disastrous impact

即使是一级或二级飓风，也能带来灾难性影响。

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A slow-moving hurricane can drop a tremendous amount of rain, causing landslides or floods

移动缓慢的飓风会带来巨量降雨，引发山体滑坡或洪灾。

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But in general, the higher the category number, the more dangerous the hurricane is to property and people

但总的来说，飓风的等级数越高，对财产和人员的危险就越大。

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The high winds of a hurricane can push the surface of the ocean into a tall wave

飓风的强风能把海面推起，形成巨浪。

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When this powerful wave hits the shore, it is called the storm surge

当这种强力海浪冲击海岸时，就称为风暴潮。

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Wind speed and the level of the storm surge are the primary characteristics used to classify hurricanes

风速和风暴潮的高度是用来划分飓风等级的主要特征。

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Hurricanes are dangerous in many ways. People can be killed or injured by the flying debris propelled by their powerful winds

飓风在很多方面都很危险。强风卷起的飞散碎片会导致人员伤亡。

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After the hurricane has passed, many may die from disease, since sanitation systems frequently break down during a hurricane

飓风过后，许多人可能死于疾病，因为卫生系统在飓风期间常常会瘫痪。

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But 90 percent of the victims of hurricanes are drowned by the storm surge

但是，百分之九十的飓风遇难者是死于风暴潮引发的溺水。

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Some hurricanes have left 150 kilometers of coastal land submerged underneath 3 meters of water

有些飓风曾导致150公里长的沿海陆地被淹没在3米深的水下。

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Many parts of the world have been repeatedly struck by hurricanes

世界上许多地方都曾反复遭受飓风袭击。

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With millions of people living in big coastal cities, large populations are at risk

数以百万计的人口生活在大城市里，这使得大量居民面临风险。

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In response to the threat of hurricanes, governments in these areas have developed evacuation plans

为应对飓风的威胁，这些地区的政府已经制定了疏散计划。

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Unfortunately meteorologists cannot perfectly forecast where and when a hurricane will hit land

不幸的是，气象学家无法完美预测飓风登陆的地点和时间。

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Because it is hard to evacuate whole cities with only a few days' notice, many governments provide hurricane shelters in vulnerable areas

由于仅提前几天通知很难疏散整座城市，许多政府在易受灾地区提供飓风避难所。

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Sometimes these are large public buildings, such as stadiums

有时这些是大型公共建筑，比如体育场。

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Other shelters are specifically designed to be used only during hurricanes

另一些避难所则是专门设计、仅在飓风时使用的。

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A powerful hurricane can leave chaos in its wake; bridges can be torn down, electricity and sanitation systems can be destroyed

一场强大的飓风过后会留下一片混乱：桥梁可能被冲垮，电力和卫生系统可能被摧毁。

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It is recommended that people who live in areas affected by hurricanes store enough food and drinking water to last several days

建议生活在飓风影响地区的人们储备足够维持数日的食物和饮用水。

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The food should be canned and nonperishable

食物应是罐装的且不易腐烂的。

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It may be a long time before help can arrive, so it is important to be prepared

救援可能需要很长时间才能到达，所以做好准备很重要。

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Global warming may make coastal regions even more vulnerable to damage by hurricanes

全球变暖可能使沿海地区更容易受到飓风的破坏。

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Hurricanes gain their strength from warm water in tropical regions

飓风从热带地区的温暖海水中汲取能量。

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If global warming increases, so will the temperature of the oceans

如果全球变暖加剧，海洋的温度也会随之升高。

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Higher temperatures, it is believed, will lead to more hurricanes than before — and these hurricanes are likely to be more powerful

据信，更高的海洋温度将导致比以前更多的飓风——而且这些飓风很可能威力更强。