Winter is not coming 凜冬不再

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節選於《The Economist》0328期

撰文 | CAndY

第1段

The most commonly cited risks of climate change are natural disasters: fiercer wildfires and hurricanes, bigger floods and longer droughts. But one of the most striking recent effects of global warming has been unusually mild weather in many parts of the world.

詞彙解析

• cite: vt. 引用；傳訊；想起；表彰 cite an example舉例；引用一個例子

• fiercer, bigger, longer: 形容詞比較級，在這裡表示程度加深。【拓展】：ever-形容詞比較級 表示“越來越…的”，可以替換more and more ever-shorter “越來越短的”。ever與表示持續變化的動詞現在分詞還可以構成形容詞，eg：the ever-worsening illness 日益嚴重的病情

• strike：v. 撞擊；罷工；突擊 n. 罷工；抗拒；襲擊；毆打 過去式：struck 過去分詞：stricken

• striking：adj. 顯著的，突出的，驚人的【拓展】：stricken與名詞連用可構成形容詞，表示“遭受…的；受…之困的” eg：poverty-stricken 非常貧困的；可替換poor

第2段

The northern-hemisphere winter that ended on March 20th was the second-warmest since records began, and the warmest ever on land. The anomaly was biggest in Europe and Asia, where average temperatures from December to February were 3.2°C (5.8°F) and 3.1°C above the average from 1951-80, and 0.8°C and 0.7°C above those continents’ previous record highs. After a normal autumn, temperatures stayed close to their November levels for months. In Boston, where daily lows in January tend to hover around -6°C, the average minimum this January was 0°C; for Tokyo the figures were 0°C and 5°C. By local standards, the balmiest winter of all was in Russia. Moscow’s average daily low in January was -2°C, far from the customary -13°C.

詞彙解析

• anomaly: 英 /əˈnɒməli/ 美 /əˈnɑːməli/ n. 異常；不規則；反常事物

• balmiest: balmy的變形 英 /ˈbɑːmi/ 美 /ˈbɑːmi/ adj. (指空氣)暖和的;溫暖的；芳香的；溫和的；止痛的

第3段

The winter-that-wasn’t of 2019-20 is not yet a new normal. The main factor determining the severity of northern winters is the “Arctic oscillation”: the relative pressure of Arctic and sub-tropical air. When pressure is higher in the Arctic, cold air from the North Pole pushes south, bringing harsh, dry winters to many places. When pressure is higher towards the subtropics, warm air pushes northwards,

詞彙解析

• Arctic oscillation北極震盪：是北極圈內與北緯55°至北極圈之間區域的氣壓差。造成北半球出現氣象顛倒，致使北半球的北美洲、歐洲和亞洲地區遭遇寒冬。

• harsh：adj. 嚴厲的；嚴酷的；刺耳的；粗糙的；刺目的；醜陋的 harsh terms 苛刻的條件

• hemming：hem的變形 hem in：包圍

• back and forth：反覆地，來回地 【拓展】：back and fill adv. 出爾反爾；前進時帆忽張忽縮

第3段

For reasons that are not yet clear, pressure in the sub-tropics this year was much stronger than in the Arctic. And researchers have not yet

詞彙解析

• yet：have not yet done sth. = have yet to do sth. 尚未；還沒有[高頻表達]

• reverse：v. 反轉；撤銷；adj. 相反的；背面的；n. 逆向；相反；背面

第4段

However, climate change is still responsible for anomalies like this one. At the average global temperature in 1950, a winter this mild was all but impossible. In today’s climate, such reprieves from the cold should occur once every 11years. And if global warming continues on its current trajectory, winters like this year’s could become standard within a few decades.

詞彙解析

• all but：（很多人會把它們分開，但這是一個固定短語）表示“幾乎”

• reprieves：作名詞時，表示“緩刑，赦免；暫緩，暫時解救”

• trajectory：英 /trəˈdʒektəri/ 美 /trəˈdʒektəri/ n. [物] 軌道，軌線；[航][軍] 彈道

第5段

Mild winters offer benefits. Heating is cheaper, flu seasons are shorter and fewer people die overall. But problems mount as well. Without hard frosts, pests can survive and multiply to attack crops more harshly. Warmer winters are usually wetter, changing snowfall patterns. This can shrink the snowpack that supplies rivers, and cause floods. Even people who bemoan frigid winters may miss them if they vanish.

生詞總結

• mount：v. 增加，爬上；安裝，架置；鑲嵌，嵌入；準備上演；成立（軍隊等）同義詞：multiplying 【寫作句型】：.... are mounting/ multiplying eg: Worries about unemployment are mounting.

• frost: n. 嚴寒天氣，冰凍；霜；冷淡；（非正式）失敗； v. 結霜於；結霜；受凍，凍壞；在……上撒糖霜

• shrink：v. （使）縮小，（使）收縮；（尤指因恐懼而）退縮，畏縮，迴避；（衣服、布料）縮水 n. 收縮；畏縮；（非正式）精神病醫生，精神病學家，心理學家

• bemoan：（to complain or say that you are not happy about sth）v. 惋惜；嘆息

• frigid：adj. 寒冷的，嚴寒的；冷淡的

• vanish：v. 消失；突然不見；成為零; 使不見，使消失

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