每日英語跟讀 Ep.K171: From China to Germany, floods expose climate vulnerability
Deadly floods that have upended life in both China and Germany have sent a stark reminder that climate change is making weather more extreme across the globe.
在中國和德國造成死亡、讓人流離失所的洪水，透露出赤裸裸的訊息，提醒人們氣候變化正讓全球的天氣變得更加極端。
At least 56 people in the central Chinese province of Henan died on Tuesday last week, including a dozen trapped in a city subway as waters tore through the regional capital of Zhengzhou after days of torrential rain.
中國中部的河南省在連續幾天的暴雨後，上週二大水沖過首府鄭州，造成至少五十六人死亡，其中十多人是被困在鄭州市地鐵中無法逃生。
Coming after floods killed at least 180 people in Germany and another 31 in Belgium two weeks ago, the disaster has reinforced the message that significant changes will have to be made to prepare for similar events in future.
洪水兩週前才在德國造成至少一百八十人死亡，在比利時造成三十一人死亡，鄭州的這場災難強化了一個訊息──必須做出重大改變，才能夠為以後的類似情況做好準備。
“Governments should first realize that the infrastructure they have built in the past or even recent ones are vulnerable to these extreme weather events,” said Eduardo Araral, associate professor and co-director, Institute of Water Policy, at Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.
新加坡李光耀公共政策學院水資源政策研究所副教授兼聯席主任艾德表示：「政府應首先了解，他們過去甚至最近所建造的基礎設施，很容易受這些極端天氣事件衝擊」。
In Europe, climate change is likely to increase the number of large, slow-moving storms that can linger longer in one area and deliver deluges of the kind seen in Germany and Belgium, according to a study published on June 30 in the journal Geophysical Research Letters entitled “Quasi-Stationary Intense Rainstorms Spread Across Europe Under Climate Change.”
根據六月三十日發表在期刊《地球物理研究通訊》的一項研究──「氣候變化下席捲歐洲之準穩態激烈暴雨」，在歐洲，氣候變化可能會讓大型、緩慢移動之風暴的數量增加，這種風暴能在一個地方停留更長的時間，並帶來德國和比利時所見的那種暴雨及洪水。
As the atmosphere warms with climate change, it also holds more moisture, which means that when rainclouds break, more rain is released. By the end of the century, such storms could be 14 times more frequent, the researchers found in the study using computer simulations.
由於氣候變化，大氣變暖，而含納了更多水分，這表示當雨雲破裂降雨時，會釋放出更多的雨水。研究人員以電腦模擬所做出的研究發現，到了本世紀末，此類風暴的發生頻率可能會增加十四倍。Source article: https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang/archives/2021/07/26/2003761443
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