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Floods expose the West's hubris
洪水暴露了西方国家的傲慢
By Ciara Nugent
作者：席亚拉·纽金特
PIA NEGRO'S FAMILY HAS LIVED IN A CASTLE IN Erftstadt, in western Germany, for 300 years. They have spent the past 30 years restoring it to its former glory. But they left it in minutes on July 15, evacuating at around 4 a.m. as the worst floods to hit the country in centuries rushed toward their home. "We couldn't bring anything—not the very old furniture, not even photos that are highly emotional, just our phones," says Negro, 32.
皮娅·内格罗的家族在德国西部埃夫斯塔特的一座城堡里生活了300年。他们花了30年的时间来恢复城堡以前的辉煌。然而，他们在7月15日的凌晨4点左右撤离，离开这里只花了几分钟的时间，因为德国几个世纪以来最严重洪水正向他们的家涌来。32岁的内格罗说：“我们什么都带不了——旧家具带不了，甚至连珍贵的照片也带不了，只能带一部手机。”
The castle's 40 inhabitants, including Negro's family and renters, had spent the previous day moving furniture to higher floors and went to bed that night once the rains had stopped. But as they slept, muddy waters continued to rise in two nearby rivers. Soon after the residents evacuated, the castle and surrounding village were submerged almost entirely. What's left of the building remains inaccessible, Negro says. "We are just in shock that something like that can happen to our home."
城堡里的40个居民，包括内格罗的家人和租客，在前一天就把家具搬到了更高的楼层，雨一停他们就上床睡觉了。然而，就在他们熟睡时附近两条河的浊水一直在上涨。在居民撤离后不久，城堡和周围的村庄几乎全部被淹没。内格罗说，大楼里都是断壁残垣，依旧无法进入。“我们只是非常震惊这样的事情会发生在我们家。”
Accustomed to a mild climate rarely troubled by extremes of weather, many in northwestern Europe hadn't anticipated just how bad the floods would be. From July 14 to July 15, as much as 7 in. of rain fell on parts of the western German states Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine–Westphalia—roughly double the normal rainfall for the whole of July—overwhelming riverbanks and sweeping away entire buildings. At least 170 people died in Germany and 31 in Belgium. Scores are missing. "The German language has no words, I think, for the devastation," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said as she surveyed the damage in Schuld, a village on the River Ahr.
欧洲西北部很少受极端天气的影响，那里的居民都习惯了温和的气候，他们没想到会发生这么严重的水灾。从7月14日到7月15日，德国西部莱茵兰-普法尔茨州和北莱茵-威斯特法利亚州的部分地区降雨量达7英寸(约178mm)，几乎是整个7月正常降雨量的两倍。雨水淹没了河岸，冲垮了所有的建筑。德国至少有170人死亡，比利时有31人死亡。数十人失踪。德国总理安格拉·默克尔在调查阿尔河上舒德村的受灾情况时说，“我觉得德语里没有能够形容这场灾难的词语。”
It will need them. As a result of climate factors and a lack of resources, developing countries have long borne the brunt of extreme weather events. In Madagascar, for example, the worst drought in 40 years is currently driving 400,000 people into famine. But the summer of 2021 is showing us that nowhere is safe in the climate-crisis era. In June, a village in western Canada briefly became one of the hottest places on earth—just before 90% of it was destroyed by a wildfire. Days after the flooding in Europe, the Chinese province of Henan saw what officials called "once in 1,000 years" rain, which flooded subway tunnels and drowned commuters.
以后会需要这种词的。长期以来，由于气候因素和资源匮乏，发展中国家一直是极端天气的主要受害国。例如，在马达加斯加，40年来最严重的干旱导致40万人陷入饥荒。但2021年的夏天告诉我们，在气候危机时代，没有任何地方是安全的。今年6月，加拿大西部的一个村庄一度成为地球上最热的地方之一——就在90%的土地被一场野火烧毁之前。欧洲洪灾发生几天后，中国河南省遭遇了官方所说的“千年一遇”的大雨，地铁隧道被淹，乘客不幸殉难。
译文由可可原创，仅供学习交流使用，未经许可请勿转载。
