VOA常速英语2015--美国干旱西部将迎来多雨冬季

美国干旱西部将迎来多雨冬季

As the drought continues for another year in southern California, more and more people, including Jan Muntz, are replacing all or parts of their yards with unconventional garden plants.

随着干旱在加利福尼亚南部又持续了一年，包括Jan Muntz在内越来越多的人，把整个或部分院子的植物换成非传统植物。

The switch "is very painful," Muntz said. "Some of these plants have been there probably 80 or 90 years.”

这种转变“非常痛苦”。Muntz表示。“其中一些作物可能已经有八九十年的历史了。”

Many of the plants in the Los Angeles area are not native and require lots of water. The Theodore Payne Foundation, through its nursery, has been trying to promote and educate people about California native plants for decades. In the last several years, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of people showing the interest.

洛杉矶许多植物并不是本地的，需要大量水来浇灌。几十年来，Theodore Payne Foundation通过苗圃向人们推广加利福尼亚本土的植物。过去几年，对此表现出兴趣的人出现大幅增长。

“You use less water, so in a California native garden, depending on how you plant, you’ll save 50 to 80 percent of water over a conventional garden,” Connolly said.

“用水量更少，所以在加利福尼亚本土花园中，你可以比传统花园节约50%到80%的水，这取决于你怎样种植。”

A lack of water means not be a problem this coming winter, said climatologist Bill Patzert.

气候学家Bill Patzert表示，来年冬天，缺水将不再是一个问题。

“This looks very, very promising 1 for a down payment on drought relief in the American West," he said. "We’re very hopeful for this El Nino.”

“美国西部的抗旱资金有望大幅下降。我们对厄尔尼诺现象抱有非常大的希望。”

El Nino refers to a situation of warmer-than-average waters in the equatorial Pacific. Scientists expect a big one to hit toward the end of this year and into the next year. In this tradition for the beginning of the next year But, El Nino impacts go beyond the United States.

厄尔尼诺指的是太平洋赤道带的水温高于平均温度。科学家预测今年年末直到明年将迎来一次大范围的厄尔尼诺现象。预期将从明年年初开始。但是，厄尔尼诺的影响超出美国范围以外。

“Some areas that are normally dry, like the American West, Peru and Ecuador, get torrential rains," he said. "Southeast Asia, Indonesia and the Philippines and northern Australia — they get punishing droughts. Even in South Africa, they get droughts. So there isn’t one continent that doesn’t feel the footprint of a big El Nino.”

“一些正常情况下非常干旱的地方，比如美国西部，秘鲁和厄瓜多尔，将迎来暴雨。东南亚，印度尼西亚，菲律宾和澳大利亚北部遭遇极度干旱。南非也将迎来干旱。所以，所有大洲都会遭到厄尔尼诺现象的影响。”

While El Nino lasts for about a year, another weather pattern in the works could last much longer. It’s call the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, or PDO, and it tends to show patterns of warming or cooling that would last for years or decades, research scientist Nate Mantua said.

科学家Nate Mantua表示，厄尔尼诺持续大约一年的时间，另外一种气候模式的持续时间更长，叫做太平洋十年涛动，其表现出的较暖或较冷的影响将持续数年至数十年。

"The warm pattern favors above-normal rainfall in southern California and throughout the southwest part of the U.S. and northern Mexico," he said.

“较暖的天气将为加利福尼亚南部，整个美国西南部和墨西哥北部地区带来超过正常水平的降雨。”

But weather, Mantua said, is unpredictable, and in the last two big El Ninos, there were quick transitions to cold conditions and a shift in the PDO pattern. So one possibility: The southwestern U.S. may get only one year of rain.

但是天气是不可预测的。上两次厄尔尼诺现象发生时，曾快速过渡至较冷的天气，并转变至太平洋十年涛动模式。所以其中一个可能性就是，美国西南部只能迎来一年的降雨。

At the Theodore Payne Foundation’s nursery, where people are learning to garden with California native plants, they say rain or drought, their yards will be prepared with plants that can probably handle whatever Mother Nature brings their way.

在人们学习如何种植加利福尼亚本土作物的Theodore Payne Foundation苗圃，他们说，无论是多雨还是干旱，无论大自然母亲为他们带来什么，他们都会准备好相应的植物。