2019高考英語真題翻譯·浙江卷·閱讀理解C篇(精校精譯)

■翻譯：張必成（安徽）  劉學(xué)英（湖北）

California has lost half its big trees since the 1930s, according to a study to be published Tuesday and climate change seems to be a major factor (因素).

The number of trees larger than two feet across has declined by 50 percent on more than 46,000 square miles of California forests, the new study finds. No area was spared or unaffected, from the foggy northern coast to the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the San Gabriels above Los Angeles. In the Sierra high country, the number of big trees has fallen by more than 55 percent; in parts of southern California the decline was nearly 75 percent.

Many factors contributed to the decline, said Patrick McIntyre, an ecologist who was the lead author of the study. Woodcutters targeted big trees. Housing development pushed into the woods. Aggressive wildfire control has left California forests crowded with small trees that compete with big trees for resources (資源).

But in comparing a study of California forests done in the 1920s and 1930s with another one between 2001 and 2010, McIntyre and his colleagues documented a widespread death of big trees that was evident even in wildlands protected from woodcutting or development.

The loss of big trees was greatest in areas where trees had suffered the greatest water shortage. The researchers figured out water stress with a computer model that calculated how much water trees were getting in comparison with how much they needed, taking into account such things as rainfall, air temperature, dampness of soil, and the timing of snowmelt (融雪).

Since the 1930s, McIntyre said, the biggest factors driving up water stress in the state have been rising temperatures, which cause trees to lose more water to the air, and earlier snowmelt, which reduces the water supply available to trees during the dry season.

翻譯：即將于周二發(fā)表的一項研究顯示，自從20世紀(jì)30年代以來，加州已經(jīng)喪失了其一半的大型樹木; 目前看來，氣候變化似乎是導(dǎo)致這種狀況的一個主要原因。（譯者注：本文選自2015年1月19號周一出版的《國家地理》雜志，其所談及的研究于第二天周二發(fā)表。）

翻譯：這份新研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，加州超過4.6萬平方英里的森林中，直徑超過兩英尺的樹木數(shù)量已經(jīng)減少了50%。從霧靄茫茫的北部海岸到內(nèi)華達(dá)山脈，再到橫亙洛杉磯東北部的圣蓋博山脈，所有地區(qū)均無一幸免或免遭波及。在塞拉高地，大型樹木的數(shù)量已經(jīng)下降了55%以上；在南加州的部分地區(qū)，這一數(shù)字甚至已經(jīng)接近75%。

翻譯：這項研究的首席作者，生態(tài)學(xué)家帕特里克·麥金太爾說，許多因素導(dǎo)致了這種下降——伐木者們盯上了大型樹木；房產(chǎn)開發(fā)向森林推進(jìn)；激進(jìn)的山火防控措施則導(dǎo)致小樹遍布，與大樹爭搶資源。

翻譯：在將20世紀(jì)20年代和30年代對加州森林的一項研究與本世紀(jì)最初十年的另一項研究進(jìn)行對比時，麥金太爾和他的同事們用文獻(xiàn)證實了大型樹木大面積死亡的事實，即便在禁止砍伐及開發(fā)的野生區(qū)域這種情況依然如此。

翻譯：在樹木缺水最嚴(yán)重的地區(qū)，大型樹木的損失最為慘重。研究人員通過一個計算機模型計算出水分脅迫（系數(shù)），在與樹木所需水量進(jìn)行對比的情況下，該模型計算出樹木所獲得的水量，并同時考慮了降雨量、氣溫、土壤濕度和融雪時間等因素。

翻譯：麥金太爾說，自20世紀(jì)30年代以來，導(dǎo)致該州水分脅迫的最大因素是氣溫上升及融雪期提早——氣溫上升會導(dǎo)致樹木向空氣中流失更多水分；融雪期提早則導(dǎo)致旱季樹木的供水減少。