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Relentless Blaze Engulfs the West in Smoke and Fear
无情的大火在烟雾和恐惧中吞没了美国西部
By Thomas Fuller and Jack Healy
文/托马斯·富勒，杰克·希利
Across a hellish landscape of smoke and ash,
周日，在烟尘滚滚，犹如人间地狱的一片景象中，
authorities in Oregon, California and Washington State battled to contain mega-wildfires on Sunday
俄勒冈州、加利福尼亚州和华盛顿州当局奋力控制着燎原巨火的火势，
as shifting winds threatened to accelerate blazes that have burned an unimaginable swath of land across the West.
截至此时，大火已经烧毁西部大地的大片土地，受灾面积难以想象，不仅如此，风向的变化随时可能进一步加速大火的蔓延。
The arrival of the stronger winds on Sunday tested the resolve of fire crews already exhausted by weeks of combating blazes
周日强风的到来考验着已经被持续数周的灭火工作压榨得筋疲力尽的消防官兵们的决心，
that have consumed around 5 million acres of desiccated forests, incinerated numerous communities
在那期间，大火吞噬了大约500万英亩的森林，烧毁了许多社区，
and created what in many places was measured as the worst air quality on the planet.
还导致许多地方测量出来的空气质量沦为了地球上最糟糕的空气质量。
"There's just so much fire," said Ryan Walbrun, a fire weather meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
“火实在是太大了，”国家气象局火灾气象学家瑞安·沃尔布伦说。
"And so much smoke."
“而且烟实在是太浓了。”
The fires, which have killed at least 24 people in the last week alone, have engulfed the region in anguish and fear,
此次火灾，上周一周就造成了至少24人死亡，整个西部地区都陷入了深深的痛苦和恐惧之中，
as fairgrounds have turned into refugee camps for many who have been forced from their homes.
游乐场已经变成了无数被迫弃家而逃之人的避难所。
The choking smoke cast a dark pall over the skies and created a vision of climate-change disaster
令人窒息的烟雾给天空蒙上了一层乌云，营造出一幅气候变化灾难的景象，
that made worst-case scenarios for the future a terrifying reality for the present.
将原本未来可能出现的最糟糕的情形提前兑现成了当前的可怕现实。
"I drove 600 miles up and down the state, and I never escaped the smoke,"
“我开了600英里都没有逃出浓烟。”
Senator Jeff Merkley, Democrat of Oregon, said Sunday on the television program, "This Week."
周日俄勒冈州民主党参议员杰夫·默克利在电视节目《本周》中说道。
"We have thousands of people who have lost their homes. I could have never envisioned this."
“成千上万的百姓没有了家。我从未想过会发生这样的事。”
As the West burns there is consensus among scientists of the role that climate change is playing in the size and intensity of the fires.
就在西部大火肆虐之际，科学家们达成了一致看法，认为气候变化在此次火灾的规模和强度中扮演了重要角色。
"Fundamentally the science is very, very simple," said Philip B. Duffy,
“从根本上说，这一结论依据的科学原理非常、非常简单，”
a climate scientist who is president of the Woodwell Climate Research Center.
伍德韦尔气候研究中心主席、气候科学家菲利普·B·达菲说。
"Warmer and drier conditions create drier fuel," said Dr. Duffy, a physicist.
“温暖、干燥的环境会让（火灾所需的）燃料也变得更为干燥，”（是气候学家）也是物理学家的达菲博士说道。
"What would have been a fire easily extinguished now just grows very quickly and becomes out of control."
“就导致原本应该很容易扑灭的大火现在变得气势汹汹，超出了我们的控制范围。”
Winds are often the decisive factor between fires that can be controlled
一场大火究竟是人力可控范围内的大火，
and those that move with such ferocity and speed that the best the authorities can do is move people out of the way.
还是蔓延速度强劲到当局能做的最大努力就是转移灾区民众的大火，完全取决于风势。
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