提到澳大利亞，你的第一反應是什么？考拉？袋鼠？

然而近日，澳大利亞卻和大火聯系到了一起。山火從去年9月份開始燃燒，到現在已經持續了四個月，范圍不斷擴大，過火面積已經超5.25萬平方公里，接近600萬公頃，相當于一個克羅地亞。

這場在澳大利亞數十年來最嚴重的火情已造成 24人死亡，大火摧毀了家園，給野生動物帶來滅頂之災，曾經蔚藍的天空也變成了血紅色。

Australia has been ravaged by some of the worst wildfires seen in decades, with the massive blazes destroying homes, devastating wildlife, turning skies blood red and leaving a total of 24 people dead nationwide.

近來，這樣的故事也就屢次出現在報道上：

熱浪和大火席卷澳大利亞，一只脫水的考拉接近自行車騎手，希望得到幫助。

A dehydrated and confused koala approached a passing cyclist in what appeared to be a call for help, as a heatwave and wild fires continued to grip Australia.

當時，騎手Anna Heusler和同伴們在前往阿德萊德附近的山上騎行而下，就看到有考拉坐在路中央。

Anna Heusler was riding her bike down from the hills toward Adelaide, South Australia last Thursday with a group of cyclists when she saw a koala sitting in the middle of the road.

“我們停下來想幫助它離開路中央，免得被汽車撞上。但是它快速向我走來，明顯很需要水。”

"We stopped the bikes to help the koala get off the road otherwise they get hit by cars. But the koala walked up to me very quickly, he was obviously very thirsty," Heusler told CNN.

考拉喝了Heusler和同伴水壺里的水，然后被安全轉移到路旁。

When the koala had drunk from both Heusler's and her partner's water bottles, it was moved safely off the road.

而在距離阿德萊德25英里的Cuddle Creek，消防員也救助了一只缺水的考拉。

A firefighter helped a thirsty koala drink water from a bottle in south Australia Sunday while fires raged in the region. The koala appeared in Cuddle Creek, about 25 miles northeast of Adelaide, before the fire game through while firefighters were there.

從圖上可以看到，考拉在喝水的同時，懷里還抱著一個空水瓶，而它周圍的草地已經干枯，背景煙霧升騰。

The animal drinks out of the plastic bottle while an empty bottle sits between its legs. The grass all around the animal is completely dry and smoke rises in the background.

考拉獲救讓人欣慰，不過更多的時候，卻只留下這樣無助的一幕：

在這場大火中獲救的考拉實屬僥幸，更多的動物卻沒能逃離火場。

近5億動物喪生

澳大利亞山火并不罕見，幾乎每年都會發生，然而這一次的破壞力卻無出其右。

Australian states battle bush fires every year -- but little has compared to the widespread devastation of this fire season.

澳大利亞新聞網站：大火造成動植物巨大損失

9月開始的大火造成動物死亡的數量令人難以置信，引發對于物種滅絕的擔憂

據澳大利亞悉尼大學生態學教授克里斯•迪克曼估算，2019年9月以來，僅在新南威爾士州就有至少4.8億只野生動物在森林大火中喪生，4.8億這個數字包括哺乳動物、鳥類和爬行動物。

Sydney University Ecology Professor Chris Dickman said 480 million animals had been killed in New South Wales alone including mammals, birds and reptiles.

悉尼大學3日發表聲明說，克里斯•迪克曼教授基于世界自然保護基金會關于土地清理對新州野生動植物影響的報告，獲得了該州哺乳動物種群的密度估算值，再用密度估算值乘以被林火焚毀的土地面積，最終得出這一數字。

聲明說，迪克曼在計算時使用了高度保守的估計，且他的計算并不包括對生態系統健康十分重要的昆蟲、蝙蝠和青蛙。因此，新州真實的野生動物死亡數字可能遠遠超過4.8億。

That number does not include insects, bats or frogs that are essential to the health of an ecosystem. 'The true loss of animal life is likely to be much higher than 480 million,' he said.

悉尼大學的生態學家們還表示，這些因林火喪生的野生動物，很多是直接死于大火，還有一些死于食物枯竭與棲息地喪失。

“Many of the affected animals are likely to have been killed directly by the fires, with others succumbing later due to the depletion of food and shelter resources,” the University of Sydney ecologists said.

而澳大利亞大陸，有244個沒有在世界其他地方發現的野生動物物種。生態學家擔憂，災難性的大火將數十年來的動物保護努力付之一炬，有些物種可能面臨滅絕的結果。

The continent contains 244 species of wildlife found nowhere else. Ecologists fear the catastrophic fires have pushed back conservation efforts by decades and some species may become extinct as a result.

社交媒體上則流傳著燒傷考拉接受治療、動物尸體橫陳路邊、袋鼠驚慌逃離火場的照片。

Pictures and images on social media show charred koalas receiving medical attention, bodies of dead animals lying on the ground and kangaroos desperately running from blazes.

（圖片來源：英國《每日郵報》網站視頻）

上周五，澳大利亞環境部門負責人Sussan Ley在接受ABC廣播采訪時表示，大約有8000只考拉在大火中喪生，占新南威爾士州考拉總數的30%。

The estimated death toll included up to 8,000 koalas, according to the federal environment minister Sussan Ley, who said in an ABC Radio interview last Friday that up to 30 percent of the species in New South Wales may have been wiped out.

她說：我們在火勢平息后會了解更多情況，才能做出更正確的評估。

“We’ll know more when the fires have calmed down and a proper assessment can be made,” she said.

據《每日郵報》報道，在澳大利亞袋鼠島大火中，超2萬只考拉死亡。3日，叢林大火襲擊澳大利亞第三大島袋鼠島，燒毀超15萬公頃森林。不僅行動緩慢的考拉遭重創，跑跳速度很快的袋鼠也死傷無數。

澳大利亞新南威爾士州自然保護協會的生態學家Mark Graham表示，考拉沒有足夠的快速移動能力，也就無法從迅速蔓延的林火中逃離。

Mark Graham, an ecologist with the Nature Conservation Council, told that koalas have “no capacity to move fast enough” to escape from fast-moving fires that spread between trees.

血色的天空

上周日，由于致命大火，澳大利亞東南部地區的天空呈現出了血紅色，居民慌忙逃難，而資深救火隊員則形容過去的24小時是“我們經歷過最糟糕的一天。”

Skies turned blood red above parts of southeast Australia last Sunday as residents sought refuge from deadly bushfires, and a senior firefighter described the previous 24 hours as "one of our worst days ever."

新南威爾士州Pambula的照片，顯示出的一片詭異煙幕籠罩的大地，而天空則是熾熱的紅色。

Photographs of Pambula, in the state of New South Wales, showed an eerie, smoke-filled landscape, with an otherworldly, blazing red sky.

根據當地消防部門統計，該州有146處火情，65處未得到控制。周日大約有2700名消防人員參與滅火。

A total of 146 fires are burning across the state, with 65 uncontained, according to the NSW Rural Fire Service (NSWRFS). About 2,700 firefighters were tackling the blazes on Sunday.

就在一天后，由于大火導致濃煙籠罩堪培拉，空氣質量極差，澳大利亞聯邦政府關閉了這里負責應急反應的部門。周一時，堪培拉的空氣質量指數為340。

The Australian federal government department responsible for managing emergencies shut its Canberra office due to poor air quality on Monday as the nation's capital choked on smoke from deadly bushfires. On Monday, Canberra had a rating over 340 on the Air Quality Index.

也就在5號，煙塵飄過塔斯曼海，抵達新西蘭北島北部地區上空，新西蘭最大城市奧克蘭籠罩在黃褐色煙塵中。奧克蘭上午還是晴到多云，午后突然籠罩在黃褐色煙塵中。人們在社交媒體上紛紛評論說，下午2時的奧克蘭好像太陽要落山了一樣，“少見而又詭異”。

為何這場火越燒越大？

上周日，澳大利亞總理Scott Morrison則發出警示，火情最艱難的時期可能是1月底2月初：“危機尚未過去，還將持續數月。”

Last Sunday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison cautioned that for some states, the most difficult fire seasons could be later in January and February. "The crisis is not over," he said. "There are months to go."

為何澳大利亞大火燃燒數月，卻滅不了？

其實是這樣的

除了澳大利亞的地理氣候特征、主要樹種為富含油脂的桉樹，以及近年來高溫干旱疊加等客觀因素，澳大利亞總理對于這次大火的處理，也飽受批評。大火發生時，他卻“缺席”了，甚至去夏威夷度假，低估了氣候變化的影響。

The prime minister has faced persistent accusations of being too absent, including by taking a holiday to Hawaii, and underplaying the role of climate change.

不過，Scott Morrison卻說對于他處理大火問題上的批評，不會阻止他繼續完成現有工作。

Asked about criticism of his handling on the bushfires at the weekend, Morrison said that it would not stop him from getting on with the job at hand.

他在6日宣布將設立新機構協調救災和重建工作。澳國防軍也出動預備役軍人，與專業人士一起救災。為支持全國賑災，澳各界也在積極捐款。據當地媒體報道，目前捐款總額已達約2500萬澳元。

綜合來源：新華網，央視新聞，CNN，BBC，news.com.au，Huffton Post，NBC4

Unitrans世聯翻譯公司在您身邊,離您近的翻譯公司,心貼心的專業服務,專業的全球語言翻譯與信息解決方案供應商,專業翻譯機構品牌。無論在本地,國內還是海外,我們的專業、星級體貼服務，為您的事業加速！世聯翻譯公司在北京、上海、深圳等國際交往城市設有翻譯基地，業務覆蓋全國城市。每天有近百萬字節的信息和貿易通過世聯走向全球！積累了大量政商用戶數據，翻譯人才庫數據，多語種語料庫大數據。世聯品牌和服務品質已得到政務防務和國際組織、跨國公司和大中型企業等近萬用戶的認可。 專業翻譯公司,北京翻譯公司,上海翻譯公司,英文翻譯,日文翻譯,韓語翻譯,翻譯公司排行榜,翻譯公司收費價格表,翻譯公司收費標準,翻譯公司北京,翻譯公司上海。