经济学人：如何看待澳大利亚大火？|外刊精读

写在前面

澳大利亚山火已肆虐逾四月，引发着全世界人民越来越深重的忧虑。《经济学人》如何看待这次事故呢？我们一起来读一读 《经济学人》2020年1月11日Leaders专栏的报道。

这篇 文章不仅用一连串数字刻画了澳大利亚山火肆虐造成的毁灭性破坏，而且 通 过这次事故透视 全球的趋势，最后还 深入总结了它带给我们的教训，值得我们反复阅读和思考。

原文比较长，我挑选了第一到三段进行分析，和以往一样，我不会局限于文本内容，而是会在文章的基础上进行适度的扩展，一如既往地干货十足。

外刊原文

大家先边听音频边阅读原文，有读不懂的地方不要紧，后面会有详细的讲解。

One way of capturing the scale of the devastation that forest fires have inflicted on Australia is through figures. Some 11m hectares of the Lucky Country have gone up in smoke since September, almost the same area as Bulgaria. So far at least 26 people are known to have lost their lives, over 2,300 homes have been destroyed and over half a billion animals have been burned alive or choked to death.But numbers tell only part of the story. A plume of smoke has drifted across the South Pacific ocean, reaching Buenos Aires. Australia’s normally phlegmatic society has been shaken. Shane Warne, the most celebrated sportsman in a sports-mad nation, has gone so far as to raise money for the relief effort by auctioning off the baggy cap he wore as part of Australia’s all-conquering cricket team.

You might think that Australia is particularly vulnerable to forest fires. But that would be a mistake. Many other countries share the same conditions that have set Australia ablaze, physically and politically, including similar terrain and a leadership that has yet to wake up fully to the new reality that climate change is creating.Worldwide, fire seasons are getting longer and more damaging. The areas at risk include America’s west coast, the Mediterranean, southern Africa and swathes of Central Asia. If that sounds alarmist, remember that in 2018 California had the deadliest forest fires in its history, killing over 80 people and causing parts of Los Angeles to be evacuated, while over 100 people died in wildfires in Greece.

As a result, the lessons from Australia’s tragedy are important. One is that climate change is making infernos more likely. It is true that forest fires are a long-standing part of some territories’ ecology. But as the world gets hotter and drier, their incidence and severity are rising. In 2019 Australia’s mean temperature was the highest since records began in 1910, 1.5°C above the long-run average. The amount of rainfall, meanwhile, was 40% below the long-term average and at the lowest level since 1900. For at least a decade climate models, sometimes derided by sceptics, have accurately predicted worsening droughts and infernos in Australia.

第一段精讲

首段引入话题，阐述澳大利亚火灾造成的破坏程度。

① One way of capturing the scale of the devastation that forest fires have inflicted on Australia is through figures.

• 📒① 句指出数据 可衡量澳大利亚火灾造成的破坏程度。

• capture 指用文字或者图片“刻画，描述，捕捉” (to succeed in recording, showing, or describing a situation or feeling, using words or pictures) 。

• One way of capturing the scale of the devastation that forest fires have inflicted on Australia is through figures.这句话包含一个定语从句that forest fires have inflicted on Australia 修饰the devastation，代词that在定语从句在作宾语，我们可以拆分为两句：

  1. One way of capturing the scale of the devastation is through figures.

  2. Forest fires have inflicted the devastation on Australia.

• devastation 指大面积的“毁灭，破坏” ，比如《经济学人》一篇关于极端高温的文章提到： The deaths tend to be more widely dispersed and do not involve the devastation of property as do the ravages of wind and water. 热浪致死的案例往往更加分散，而且也不像飓风洪水那样损毁房屋。

• 动词 devastate 除了表示“彻底破坏，摧毁”外，还可表示“使...震惊，使...极为忧伤”，常以被动形式出现，比如 ◇ Rob was devastated by the news of her death. 罗布听到她死去的消息悲痛欲绝。

  

• inflict sth on/upon sb/sth 表示“使…遭受打击，予以打击”，比如 ◇Heavy casualties were inflicted on the enemy. 敌人遭受了惨重伤亡。

  

② Some 11m hectares of the Lucky Country have gone up in smoke since September, almost the same area as Bulgaria.

• 📒 语篇分析： ② 句列出受损土地面积的数据，并通过与保加利亚的国土面积对比，说明受损土地面积之大。

• 大家在引用数据时，要注意有时单独呈现数据，读者无法产生对数据的直观感受，正如我们常说的“没有对比，就没有伤害”，我们在写作时也要学会通过对比数据说明数据背后的含义。

  再举一例，比如《经济学人》一篇关于垃圾分类的文章提到 ：It generates 9m tonnes of garbage a year, more than London’s annual output and rising quickly. 该市每年产生高达900 万吨的垃圾，超过伦敦的垃圾年产量，并且增长迅速。这里作者通过对 比上海和伦敦的垃圾产量，说明上海垃圾问题之严重。

• some 在这里不是“一些”的意思，而是表示“大概，大约”，是外刊的高频词，大家要牢记。比如《经济学人》一篇关于印度污染的文章提到： Some 600m Indians, nearly half the country, live in areas where water is in short supply. 约有六亿印度人生活在供水短缺的地区，几乎占全国 人口一半。

• go up in smoke 指“彻底焚毁，烧光” (if something goes up in smoke, it burns so that it is completely destroyed) 。

• go up in smoke 还可表示计划“化为乌有，化为泡影”，比如 ◇We haven't worked this long just to see everything go up in smoke. 我们干了这么长时间，可不想看到一切都化为乌有。

  

③ So far at least 26 people are known to have lost their lives, over 2,300 homes have been destroyed and over half a billion animals have been burned alive or choked to death.

• 📒 语篇分析： ③ 句列出遇难人数以及受损房屋和死亡动物的数据，并用so far, at least等词汇暗示数据还会不断上升。

• choke 指“窒息”，sb choked to death 表示某人被呛死。再比如《经济学人》一篇关于汽车未来的文章有这样一句话： China, its cities choked in smog, is following Europe in imposing curbs on emissions of noxious nitrogen oxides and fine soot particles. 在对有毒氮氧化物和煤烟粉尘的排放实施限制方面，其城市在烟雾中喘息的中国正在向欧洲看齐。

  

• 短语 choke on sth 指“窒息，呼吸困难”，比如《经济学人》一篇关于印度污染的文章里有句话提到： It chokes on roughly twice as much PM 2.5, fine dust that penetrates deep into lungs, as Beijing. 其PM 2.5 (可吸入肺部的细颗粒物) 浓度约为北京的两倍。

• choke 还可用于形容交通堵塞，我们可以用短语 be choked with sth 来替换be crowded with sth, be jammed with sth。比 如《经济学人》一篇关于小黄车的报道到： These days, China’s once bicycle-clogged streets are choked with cars. 这句话里出现了两个表示交通拥堵的形象表达：clogged, be choked wth sth。

• clog 本义是“堵塞”， be clogged with sth 也可表示“交通堵塞”，比如《经济学人》一篇报道雄安新区的文章这样形容当时政策出来后人们的反应： Within hours of the announcement about the new city, speculators were flocking to the area’s existing property developments to buy up whatever was available. Highways leading to it were clogged with cars. 大家可将 be clogged with cars , be choked with cars 背下来，用在与交通相关的作文或对话里。

④ But numbers tell only part of the story. ⑤ A plume of smoke has drifted across the South Pacific ocean, reaching Buenos Aires. ⑥ Australia’s normally phlegmatic society has been shaken. ⑦ Shane Warne, the most celebrated sportsman in a sports-mad nation, has gone so far as to raise money for the relief effort by auctioning off the baggy cap he wore as part of Australia’s all-conquering cricket team.

• 📒语篇分析： ④ 句承上启下，指出数据只是其中一个指标。numbers和 ① 句中的figures互为同义替换。 ⑤ 句说明澳大利亚大火影响的广度。 ⑥ 指出澳大利亚的平静生活被打破。 ⑦ 句以夏恩·沃恩卖他标志性的宽松绿帽为例，说明澳大利亚大火影响的深度。

• sth is only part of the story 和 sth is not the whole story 一样，表示“...不是事情的全部，...只是部分情况”，是两个惯用词组，比如 ◇This may be true but it is only part of the story. 这可能是真的，但它并不是事情的全部。 ◇Jane goes to great lengths to explain that this is not the whole story. 简竭力地解释说那不是事情的全貌。

• a plume of smoke 指“一团烟，一缕烟”。

• drift 指“漂流，漂移” (to move along smoothly and slowly in water or air) ，比如 ◇Clouds drifted across the sky. 朵朵浮云在空中飘过。

• 再扩展一个高频短语： drift apart 指“逐渐疏远” (to become less friendly or close to sb) ，比如 ◇As children we were very close, but as we grew up we just drifted apart . 孩提时我们亲密无间，但随着年龄的增长我们就逐渐疏远了。

  

• as part of sth 指“作为 … 的一部分”，也是外刊中的高频表达，比如《经济学人》一篇关于无人驾驶汽车的文章里有句话提到： As part of its deal to become the exclusive provider of av services in these places, Voyage granted a 0.5% stake in the firm to the owners of the two communities. 根据成为这些社区的独家无人驾驶汽车服务供应商的协议， Voyage 向社区所有方授予 0.5% 的股份。

• phlegmatic [flegˈmætɪk] 指“冷静的，镇定的” (not easily made angry or upset)。

• relief 作不可数名词，指“救济，救援物品”，比如 ◇a relief agency / organization / worker 救助机构 / 组织 / 工作者

• auction off 指“拍卖掉”，比如 ◇The Army is auctioning off a lot of surplus equipment. 陆军正在把大量剩余设备拍卖掉。

• celebrated 指“著名的，闻名的”，可替换我们熟悉的基础词famous。近义表达还有well-known, illustrious, eminent。名词为 celebrity ，表示“名人，明星”。

• baggy 形容衣服“宽松的，肥大的” (baggy clothes are big and do not fit tightly on your body) ，比如 ◇a baggy T-shirt 宽松的T 恤衫

• go so far as to do sth 也是一个高频词组，表示“竟然，甚至” (to be willing to go to extreme or surprising limits in dealing with sth) ，比如 ◇ I wouldn't go as far as to say that he's a liar. 我倒不想说他是个骗子。再比如《经济学人》一篇关于贪污的文章提到： Whether the authorities will go so far as to regulate numbers is moot. 当局是否会对人数进行如此严格的监管，目前尚无定论。

• all-conquering conquer作动词是“征服“的意思，all-conquering 征服所有的，即“所向无敌的”。

读完讲解之后，我们再把第一段连起来再阅读一遍：

One way of capturing the scale of the devastation that forest fires have inflicted on Australia is through figures. Some 11m hectares of the Lucky Country have gone up in smoke since September, almost the same area as Bulgaria. So far at least 26 people are known to have lost their lives, over 2,300 homes have been destroyed and over half a billion animals have been burned alive or choked to death.But numbers tell only part of the story. A plume of smoke has drifted across the South Pacific ocean, reaching Buenos Aires. Australia’s normally phlegmatic society has been shaken. Shane Warne, the most celebrated sportsman in a sports-mad nation, has gone so far as to raise money for the relief effort by auctioning off the baggy cap he wore as part of Australia’s all-conquering cricket team.

参考译文：数字是衡量此次森林大火对澳大利亚所造成的破坏程度的一种方式。9月份以来，在这个“幸运之国”，大约有1100万公顷（几乎相当于保加利亚的国土面积）处于浓烟缭绕之中。截至目前，已知至少有26人丧生，2,300座余房屋被毁，超过5亿只动物被活活着烧死或窒息而死。但是数字只讲述了部分事实。烟雾从南太平洋漂到了布宜诺斯艾利斯。往日宁静平和的澳大利亚经历着巨大震动。夏恩·沃恩——这个运动狂国家中最负盛名的运动员——甚至拍卖了自己的宽松绿帽来筹集救援资金，这顶帽子是他作为所向披靡的澳大利亚板球队队员时曾佩戴过的。

第二段

第二段阐述森林大火不仅易发生在澳大利亚，而是全世界的问题。

① You might think that Australia is particularly vulnerable to forest fires. ② But that would be a mistake. ③ Many other countries share the same conditions that have set Australia ablaze , physically and politically, including similar terrain and a leadership that has yet to wake up fully to the new reality that climate change is creating.

• 📒语篇分析 ：①② 句先让步再转折，指出森林大火不仅仅易发生在澳大利亚。 ③ 句提出观点：其他国家也会因为同样的原因遭遇森林大火：相似的地形，未能认识到全球变暖的领导班子。

• 我们可以从 ② 句中提炼出一个先让步后转折的句型： might/may …, but… 或许…，但是…。

  我们都知道情态动词 might 与 may 有 “可能，也许”的意思，因而暗含让步的意味，常与 but 连用，表示尽管某事或许是事实，但与其不同或相反的事也是事实。

  我们在 经济学人：你是什么垃圾？|外刊精读 中学过这样一句话： “What kind of rubbish are you?” This question might normally provoke anger, but in Shanghai it has elicited weary groans over the past week.

  再比如，我们在2018年的精读社学过《经济学人》里面一篇书评，其中有这样一段话：

  We may be materially richer, some will protest, but aren’t we less happy because we know that others have even more? We may have supercomputers in our pockets, but aren’t they causing an epidemic of loneliness among the young? 我们在物质上也许确实是更富有了，但我们不也因为知道其他人比我们更富有，而变得更不快乐吗? 我们口袋里或许揣着超级电脑，可它们不也使孤独如流行病般在年轻人中蔓延吗?

  作者在两句话中都先用may让步，再用but引出真正要表达的论点。我们再举两个简单的例子：

  He may be a good father but he’s a terrible husband. 他或许是一位好父亲，但却是个很糟糕的丈夫。

  They might not have two cents to rub together, but at least they have a kind of lifestyle that is different.他们也许穷得叮当响，但他们至少拥有一种不同的生活方式。

  大家在以后在写作文时也可以用 might/may...but... 句式替换 although.... 来让步和转折。

• be vulnerable to sth 表示“易受…伤害” (weak and easily hurt physically or emotionally) ，比如 ◇When payments dematerialise, people and shops are less vulnerable to theft. 当支付电子化，人们和商店钱财就不那么容易遭盗。

• set sth ablaze 形容词ablaze表示“猛烈燃烧”，set sth blaze 表示“让…烧起来”，比如 ◇Cars and buses were set ablaze during the riot. 暴乱中许多轿车和公共汽车被纵火焚烧。动词形式为blaze，表示“熊熊燃烧”。

• has yet to do sth 表示“还没有做某事”，是外刊的高频表达，比如《经济学人》一篇关于电影审查制度的文章提到： It is aired each week at 7.35pm, the most popular television-watching hour, when even very young children in China have yet to go to bed. 该剧在每天晚上7点35分的电视黄金时间播放，而那时，甚至中国的小孩子都还没有上床睡觉。小词 yet 的用法十分丰富，大家在阅读中要多留意，这里顺便复习一下我们学过的两个相关表达：

• yet another 和 yet more , yet again 一样，是一个惯用词组，表示“又，再”，yet 在这里强调次数或数量的增加，这是外刊中的高频短语，比如我们在精读社学过一篇关于互联网裁员潮的文章，里面有这样一句话： It was yet another recognition of a chill sweeping through the country’s technology industry. 这是又一次有人承认一股寒流正在席卷中国的科技行业。 再比如《经济学人》一篇关于职场学习的文章提到： Instead of coming up with yet another e-commerce site, they were experimenting with technologies to liven up a physical space. 他们并没有再搞出来一个电子商务网站，而是尝试利用技术让物理空间更有生趣。

  

• could/might/may yet do sth 表示“早晚，总有一天”，考研英语一2010年Text4也出现过，原句是 Charlie McCreevy, a European commissioner, warned the IASB that it did ”not live in apolitical vacuum” but “in the real word” and the Europe could yet develop different rules. 欧洲委员会委员 Charlie McCreevy 警告IASB说：它不是“处在政治真空中”而是“在现实世界里”，并表示欧洲最终可能会发展出不同的会计规则。

• wake up to sth 指“意识到，认识到” (to become aware of sth; to realize sth) ，可替换我们熟悉的be aware of sth, realize sth。

④ Worldwide, fire seasons are getting longer and more damaging. ⑤ The areas at risk include America’s west coast, the Mediterranean, southern Africa and swathes of Central Asia. ⑥ If that sounds alarmist , remember that in 2018 California had the deadliest forest fires in its history, killing over 80 people and causing parts of Los Angeles to be evacuated , while over 100 people died in wildfires in Greece.

• 📒 语篇分析： ④ 句指出火险季节之长。 ⑤ 句指出火险高危区域之广。 ⑥ 句以加利福尼亚州的森林大火为例，说明 ④⑤ 句观点。

• be at risk 指“有危险，冒风险” (in danger of sth unpleasant or harmful happening) 。比如 ◇As with all diseases, certain groups will be more at risk than others. 所有的疾病都是如此，一些人比另一些人更容易受到威胁。

  

• swathes of sth [swɑð] 义为“大片”，这是外刊超高频表达， 比如《经济学人》一篇关于人工智能的文章曾这样说道： From driverless cars to clever household gadgets, innovations that already exist could destroy swathes of jobs that have hitherto been untouched. 已有的创新——无论是无人驾驶汽车还是具有人工智能的家居产品——可能会“消灭”一大批至今还尚未受到影响的工作。这句话里的短语driverless cars, clever household gadgets, swathes of jobs都可以积累下来，用在科技相关的话题里。大家也可以直接把这句话背下来。

• alarmist [əˈlɑː.mɪst] 指“危言耸听的，骇人的” (causing unnecessary fear and anxiety) ，是一个贬义词。

  

• evacuate [ɪˈvækjueɪt]指“撤离，撤出” (to send people away from a dangerous place to a safe place)

读完讲解之后，我们再把第二段连起来再阅读一遍：

You might think that Australia is particularly vulnerable to forest fires. But that would be a mistake. Many other countries share the same conditions that have set Australia ablaze, physically and politically, including similar terrain and a leadership that has yet to wake up fully to the new reality that climate change is creating.Worldwide, fire seasons are getting longer and more damaging. The areas at risk include America’s west coast, the Mediterranean, southern Africa and swathes of Central Asia. If that sounds alarmist, remember that in 2018 California had the deadliest forest fires in its history, killing over 80 people and causing parts of Los Angeles to be evacuated, while over 100 people died in wildfires in Greece.

参考译文：您可能会认为澳大利亚尤其容易遭受森林大火的袭击。但事实并非如此。澳大利亚之所以陷入熊熊烈火之中自有其地理上和政治上的原因，这与许多其他国家类似，包括相似的地形以及没能完全认识到气候变化这一新现实的领导班子。从世界范围内来说，火险季节越来越长，破坏性也越来越大。美国西海岸，地中海地区，非洲南部地区以及中亚大片地区均属于高危区域。如果这听起来像危言耸听的话，那么请记住，2018年加利福尼亚州发生了有史以来最大的森林大火，造成80多人死亡，导致洛杉矶部分地区的人口全部撤离，而在希腊则有100多人死于森林火灾。

第三段精讲

第三段阐述澳大利亚大火带给我们的教训一。

① As a result, the lessons from Australia’s tragedy are important. ② One is that climate change is making infernos more likely. ③ It is true that forest fires are a long-standing part of some territories’ ecology. ④ But as the world gets hotter and drier, their incidence and severity are rising.

• 📒语篇分析： ① 句指出我们应从澳大利亚大火中汲取教训，总起后面三段。 ② 句说明教训一：气候变化使火灾频率上升。 ③④ 句先让步再转折，进一步阐述 ② 句。

• inferno 指“大火灾” (a very large uncontrolled fire) 。

• It is true that…But… 表示“确实，…但是…”，是外刊中非常高频的表示“先让步后转折”的句型。类似的句型达还有 Yes…But… Admittedly…But… 这些都是《经济学人》十分爱用的表达。我 们来看《经济学人》中的两个句子： ◇ Yes , China is slowing. And, yes , Western firms exposed to China, such as Apple, have been clobbered. But in 2018 global growth was decent, unemployment fell and profits rose. 没错，中国正在放缓。且与中国联系密切的西方公司，如苹果公司，确实遭到痛击。但2018年全球增速尚可，失业率下降，利润上升。

• long-standing 指“存在已久的，悠久的” (that has existed or lasted for a long time) ，比如 ◇a long-standing feud between the two families 两家的世仇

• incidence 指疾病“发生范围，发生率” (the extent to which sth happens or has an effect) ，比如 ◇The incidence of breast cancer increases with age. 乳腺癌的发病率随年龄增长而递增。

• severity [sɪˈverɪti] 指“严厉，严苛，严重” (Severity is a plain, no-frills hardnessor the degree of hardness) ，形容词形式为 severe 。

⑤ In 2019 Australia’s mean temperature was the highest since records began in 1910, 1.5°C above the long-run average. ⑥