2022年11月27日 VOA慢速英語：氣候變化導致城市樹木掙扎

Life in a city can be especially hard for a tree.
城市生活對樹木來說尤其艱難。
 
Buildings, pollution, poor soil, insects, and even car crashes can add to tree loss. Now, the warming climate is making a tree's life even harder.
建筑物、污染、貧瘠的土壤、昆蟲，甚至車禍都會增加樹木的損失?，F(xiàn)在，氣候變暖使樹木的生活更加艱難。
 
Between 2016 and 2021, a report from the city of Seattle in Washington state said the city lost about 255 hectares of tree covering. The report blamed climate change in part for the loss.
2016 年至 2021 年，華盛頓州西雅圖市的一份報告稱，該市損失了約 255 公頃的樹木。該報告將損失部分歸咎于氣候變化。
 
Then came the driest summer on Seattle's record books in 2022. The drier conditions and hotter temperatures have left many trees with brown leaves, naked branches, and extreme seeding. These are all signs of tree stress.
然后是 2022 年西雅圖記錄簿上最干燥的夏天。更干燥的條件和更熱的溫度使許多樹木的葉子變成褐色，樹枝裸露，種子過多。這些都是樹木壓力的跡象。
 
A tree expert at Washington Park Arboretum, Shea Cope, said that you can see evidence of tree stress in maple and hemlock trees. "(They are) just loaded with cones or seeds. It's kind of their last-ditch effort to reproduce."
華盛頓公園植物園的樹木專家 Shea Cope 說，您可以在楓樹和鐵杉樹中看到樹木壓力的證據(jù)。 “（他們）只是裝滿了球果或種子。這是他們繁殖的最后努力。”
 
Nicholas Johnson is a tree expert for Seattle City Parks. He said if this warming climate continues, "…we are going to have a lot of trees die." "Under the heat," he said, "trees get weak — just like people."
Nicholas Johnson 是西雅圖城市公園的樹木專家。他說，如果這種變暖的氣候持續(xù)下去，“……我們將會有很多樹木死亡。” “在高溫下，”他說，“樹木會變得脆弱——就像人一樣。”
 
Effects of extreme weather
極端天氣的影響
 
Researchers from France and Australia studied the effect of hotter temperatures and less rain on more than 3,100 trees and plants in 164 cities across 78 countries.
來自法國和澳大利亞的研究人員研究了氣溫升高和降雨減少對 78 個國家 164 個城市的 3,100 多棵樹木和植物的影響。
 
They found about half the trees in the cities were experiencing climate conditions beyond their limits. They also found that by 2050 nearly all trees planted in Australian cities will not survive.
他們發(fā)現(xiàn)，城市中大約一半的樹木正在經(jīng)歷超出以下的氣候條件他們的極限。他們還發(fā)現(xiàn)，到 2050 年，幾乎所有種植在澳大利亞城市的樹木都將無法存活。
 
David Nowak is a retired scientist for the U.S. Forest Service. He said, "It's not the gradual change that's going to be the problem. It's these extreme swings of too much water, too little water, too much wind, and storm intensities (that) are going to cause these rapid changes."
大衛(wèi)·諾瓦克 (David Nowak) 是美國林務局的退休科學家。他說，“問題不在于漸進變化。水太多、水太少、風太大和風暴強度的極端波動將導致這些快速變化。”
 
In 2005, Hurricane Katrina destroyed about 10 percent of the trees in New Orleans, Louisiana, said Michael Karam, Director of Parks and Parkways. And in 2021, he added, Hurricane Ida uprooted many new tree plantings.
2005 年，卡特里娜颶風摧毀了路易斯安那州新奧爾良市大約 10% 的樹木，公園和公園道路主管邁克爾·卡拉姆 (Michael Karam) 說。他補充說，2021 年，颶風艾達將許多新植樹連根拔起。
 
‘Assisted migration'
‘輔助遷移’
 
With climate change, researchers are also concerned that many cities will lose newly planted trees before they reach maturity -- between 10 to 20 years.
隨著氣候變化，研究人員還擔心許多城市會在新種植的樹木成熟之前（10 到 20 年）失去它們。
Non-native trees have been brought to cities for some time. However, climate change is causing many tree experts to specifically consider them — a practice called "assisted migration."
外來樹木被帶到城市已有一段時間了。然而，氣候變化正導致許多樹木專家專門考慮它們——一種稱為“輔助遷移”的做法。
 
In the city of Bellevue, Washington, experts are growing different kinds of trees specifically for climate change. On city grounds, they are planting baby giant sequoias, just a few centimeters tall.
在華盛頓州貝爾維尤市，專家們正在種植不同種類的樹木來應對氣候變化。在城市地面上，他們正在種植只有幾厘米高的幼年巨型紅杉。
 
The giant sequoias are not native to the Pacific Northwest area. But tree managers in this city east of Seattle are planting more sequoias because the trees can deal with the lack of rain and insects.
巨型紅杉并非原產(chǎn)于太平洋西北地區(qū)。但是西雅圖東部這座城市的樹木管理者正在種植更多的紅杉，因為這些樹可以應對缺乏雨水和昆蟲的情況。
 
"Once these trees are established, they grow incredibly fast," said Rick Bailey of the city's forest management program.
“一旦這些樹長好，它們就會長得非常快，”里克·貝利 (Rick Bailey) 說城市森林管理計劃。
 
Planting more non-native trees is also drawing attention to something city tree experts have learned from years of tree deaths: having many different kinds and ages of trees is important to keeping urban forests alive.
種植更多非本土樹木也引起了城市樹木專家從多年樹木死亡中學到的一些事情的關注：擁有許多不同種類和年齡的樹木對于保持城市森林的活力很重要。
 
"Life always finds a way," said Nicholas Johnson, the tree expert for Seattle City Parks. "And in Seattle, people are helping life find a way."
“生命總是找到了方法，”西雅圖城市公園的樹木專家尼古拉斯約翰遜說。 “而在西雅圖，人們正在幫助生活找到出路。”