又中又英 | A double whammy | 褚簡寧

Nature's fury strikes with a double whammy. It is unpredictable. And it is unstoppable. Nature's fury refers to the extreme, destructive, and uncontrollable power of violent natural events. A double whammy means two negative things happening at the same time. Nature's fury strikes with a double whammy because it is unstoppable and unpredictable. Earthquakes, tornadoes, and tsunamis are examples of Nature's fury. No one predicted the 2004 undersea earthquake near the Indonesia coast which caused history's worst tsunami that swept rapidly across the Indian Ocean killing about 228, 000 people in fourteen countries.

Scientists can now issue warnings about a tsunami and its likely path once it has been formed. Typhoons are unstoppable, but meteorologists can at least predict their path. No one could have predicted or stopped last week's deadly mudslides and flash floods on the Nepal-Tibet border which have already killed hundreds with many more missing. The US Geological Survey clarified that the disaster was caused by a glacial collapse, not an earthquake as some other experts believed. The powerful impact of the collapsed glacier hitting the valley’s bottom caused a 5.2 magnitude earthquake.

A glacier is a huge mass of ice. A glacial collapse is when a glacier or part of it disintegrates. Scientists do not yet know what caused the glacial collapse, but some believe global warming may have caused it. Experts have long warned that the continued use of fossil fuels is warming our planet. Global warming is thawing the permafrost of the Himalayas. Permafrost is a mixture of soil and rocks that have been frozen for thousands of years. Its thawing destabilizes the glacier foundations, causing glacial collapse.

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　　我們受着大自然之怒（Nature's fury）的雙重打擊（double whammy）。那是無可預測，也是無法阻止的。Nature's fury是指極端、具破壞性及威力無法控制的劇烈大自然事件。A double whammy 就是兩樣不好的事同時發生，禍不單行。我們遭受大自然之怒（Nature's fury）的雙重打擊（double whammy），因為它是無法被制止又難以預料得到。地震、龍捲風和海嘯都是大自然之怒（Nature's fury）的例子。沒有人會預料得到，2004年在印尼海岸附近的海床地震，會引發史上最惡劣的海嘯，席捲印度洋，造成沿岸14個國家約22.8萬人喪生。

　　海嘯一旦形成，科學家現在可以就海嘯及其可能的路線發出警號。颱風也是無法制止的，但氣象學家至少可以預估它的路徑。沒有人可以預測或阻止上星期於尼泊爾與西藏邊境的致命泥石流與暴洪，造成數以百計的人喪生，還有更多人失蹤。美國地質調查局澄清，災難是冰川崩塌（glacial collapse）而非其他專家本來認為的地震所引致。崩塌的冰川（glacier）擊落山谷底所帶來的威力，導致5.2級地震。

　　A glacier是一大片冰川；a glacial collapse就是一片冰川（glacier）或其中一部分解體。科學家還未知道是甚麼引發冰川崩塌（glacial collapse），但一些科學家則認為或許是全球暖化所導致的。專家們長久以來都有警告，持續使用化石燃料，正在推高我們這個地球的氣溫。全球暖化正在融化喜馬拉雅山的永久凍土（permafrost）。Permafrost是泥土與岩石的混合，已被凍結數以千年。它的融化令冰川底層變得不穩定，以至帶來冰川崩塌（glacial collapse）。

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Michael Chugani褚簡寧
中譯：七刻