VOA慢速英語：印度熱浪影響小麥收成

VOA慢速英語：印度熱浪影響小麥收成

An unusually early heat wave in India has likely reduced the country's wheat harvest.
印度一場異常提前的熱浪可能會導(dǎo)致該國小麥收成減產(chǎn)。
 
That has left observers doubting that the country can meet its own needs while increasing crop exports to replace shortages caused by Russia's war in Ukraine.
這讓觀察人士懷疑，該國能否在滿足自身需求的同時，增加糧食出口，以彌補俄烏戰(zhàn)爭造成的短缺。
 
Recently, several large areas near India's capital New Delhi which are used for waste storage have caught fire.
最近，印度首都新德里附近的幾個用于儲存垃圾的大片區(qū)域發(fā)生火災(zāi)。
 
The fires were blamed on the heat.
火災(zāi)的原因是高溫。
 
Schools in eastern India shut down because of the heat.
由于高溫，印度東部的學(xué)校停課。
 
In the city of Rajgarh in central India, temperatures reached a record high 46.5 degrees Celsius.
在印度中部的拉吉加爾市，氣溫達到了創(chuàng)紀錄的46.5攝氏度。
 
Temperatures reached 45 degrees Celsius in nine other cities.
其他九個城市的氣溫達到了45攝氏度。
 
But it was the heat in March that hurt crops.
但3月份的高溫對農(nóng)作物造成了損害。
 
Wheat is easily affected by heat.
小麥很容易受高溫影響。
 
Indian farmers time their planting so that the wheat ripens during India's cooler spring.
印度農(nóng)民調(diào)整了種植時間，以使小麥在印度涼爽的春天成熟。
 
But climate change has made India's temperatures rise, said Friederike Otto.
但弗里德里克·奧托說，氣候變化使印度的氣溫上升。
 
She is a climate scientist at the Imperial College of London.
她是倫敦帝國理工學(xué)院的氣候科學(xué)家。
 
She said that before human activity increased world temperatures, heat waves like this year's would have struck India once in 50 years.
她說，在人類活動導(dǎo)致全球氣溫升高之前，像今年這樣的熱浪50年才會襲擊印度一次。
 
"But now it is a much more common event--we can expect such high temperatures about once in every four years," she said.
她說：“但現(xiàn)在這就是個平常事件——我們預(yù)計大約每四年就會有一次這樣的高溫。”
 
India's vulnerability to extreme heat increased 15 percent from 1990 to 2019.
從1990年到2019年，印度易受極端高溫襲擊的幾率增加了15%。
 
That information comes from a 2021 report by the British medical publication Lancet.
這一信息來自英國醫(yī)學(xué)雜志《柳葉刀》2021年發(fā)表的一份報告。
 
India is among the top five countries where vulnerable people, like the old and the poor, have the highest exposure to heat.
印度是老年人和窮人等弱勢群體暴露在高溫下最多的五個國家之一。
 
India and Brazil have the highest number of heat-related deaths in the world, the report said.
該報告稱，印度和巴西是世界上與高溫相關(guān)的死亡人數(shù)最多的國家。
 
Farm workers like Baldev Singh are among the most vulnerable.
諸如巴爾德夫·辛格這樣的農(nóng)場工人是最脆弱的。
 
Singh is a farmer in northern India's Punjab state.
辛格是印度北部旁遮普邦的一名農(nóng)民。
 
He watched his crop dry up before his eyes as a usually cool spring changed to extreme heat.
他眼睜睜地看著自己的莊稼在眼前干枯，以往涼爽的春天變成了酷熱的天氣。
 
He lost about one-fifth of his crop.
他損失了大約五分之一的收成。
 
"I am afraid the worst is yet to come," Singh said.
辛格說：“恐怕最糟糕的情況還在后頭”。
 
Punjab is usually the biggest supplier to India's national crop reserves.
旁遮普通常是印度國家糧食儲備的最大供應(yīng)地。
 
The government had hoped to buy about one-third of this year's production from the area.
政府曾希望從該地區(qū)購買今年產(chǎn)量的約三分之一。
 
But government officials predict lower production numbers this year.
但政府官員預(yù)測，今年的產(chǎn)量會有所下降。
 
Agriculture policy expert Devinder Sharma said he expected to get 25 percent less wheat.
農(nóng)業(yè)政策專家德文德·夏爾馬表示，他預(yù)計小麥產(chǎn)量將會減少25%。
 
The same is true in other major wheat-producing states like Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
在北方邦和中央邦等其他主要小麥生產(chǎn)邦，情況也是如此。
The Indian government purchased over 43 million metric tons of wheat in 2021.
印度政府在2021年購買了4300多萬噸小麥。
 
Sharma estimates it will instead get 20 to 50 percent less.
夏爾馬估計今年將減少20%至50%。
 
India is the world's second-largest producer of wheat.
印度是世界第二大小麥生產(chǎn)國。
 
But the country exports only a small percentage of its harvest.
但該國只出口了其收成的一小部分。
 
India had been hoping to gain from the worldwide disruption of wheat supplies by Russia's war in Ukraine.
印度一直希望能從俄烏戰(zhàn)爭導(dǎo)致的全球小麥供應(yīng)中斷中獲益。
 
Officials also want to develop new markets for Indian wheat in Europe, Africa, and Asia.
官員們還希望在歐洲、非洲和亞洲開發(fā)印度小麥的新市場。
 
India needs about 25 million tons of wheat for the large food welfare program that usually feeds more than 80 million people.
印度需要大約2500萬噸小麥來滿足大型食品福利計劃的需要，該計劃通常為8000多萬人提供食物。
 
Before the coronavirus, India had far more supplies than it needed.
在新冠疫情爆發(fā)之前，印度的供應(yīng)量遠遠超過了它的需求量。
 
But Sharma said those reserves have been strained by the food welfare program.
但夏爾馬說，這些儲備已經(jīng)因為食品福利計劃而變得緊張。
 
Officials provided free grain during the pandemic to about 800 million people.
官員們在疫情期間向大約8億人免費提供了糧食。
 
The program was extended until September.
該計劃被延長至9月份。
 
But it is unclear if the program will continue beyond that time.
但目前還不清楚該計劃是否會在這段時間之后繼續(xù)執(zhí)行下去。
 
I'm Jonathan Evans.
喬納森·埃文斯報道。