每日英語跟讀 Ep.821: The End of Australia as We Know It 不只摧毀生命 野火過後的澳洲未來

In a country where there has always been more space than people, where the land and wildlife are cherished like a Picasso, nature is closing in. Fueled by climate change and the world’s refusal to address it, the fires that have burned across Australia are not just destroying lives or turning forests as large as nations into ashen moonscapes.

在空間總比人多、土地和野生動物都如畢卡索名作般受到珍惜的澳洲，大自然的力量正步步逼近。在氣候變遷和全球不願正視它的心態助長下，燒遍澳洲的野火不只是摧毀生命，或把大如國家的森林化為蒼白的月球景觀而已。

They are also forcing Australians to imagine an entirely new way of life. When summer is feared. When air filters hum in homes that are bunkers, with kids kept indoors. When birdsong and the rustle of marsupials in the bush give way to an eerie, smoky silence.

野火還迫使澳洲人想像全然不同的生活方式。夏天變得可怕。空氣清淨機在有如地下掩體的家中嗡嗡作響，孩子都待在室內不外出。荒野中的鳥語和有袋動物穿過樹叢的沙沙聲都不見了，取而代之的是怪異可怖、煙霧彌漫下的寂靜。

“I am standing here a traveler from a new reality, a burning Australia,” Lynette Wallworth, an Australian filmmaker, told a crowd of international executives and politicians in Davos, Switzerland, last month. “What was feared and what was warned is no longer in our future, a topic for debate — it is here.”“We have seen,” she added, “the unfolding wings of climate change.”

澳洲電影製作人琳尼特．華爾沃斯，1月在瑞士達沃斯論壇對各國商界領袖和政治人物說：「站在這裡的我，是從野火熊熊的澳洲這個新現實來訪的旅人。我們先前懼怕的和有人警告過的事，不再屬於未來，也不再是爭論的主題，已然呈現在眼前。」她說：「我們已目睹氣候變遷張開雙翼。」

Like the fires, it’s a metaphor that lingers. What many of us have witnessed this fire season does feel alive, like a monstrous gathering force threatening to devour what we hold most dear on a continent that will grow only hotter, drier and more flammable as global temperatures rise.

就像野火，這是徘徊不去的隱喻。我們之中許多人在這個野火季節親眼看到的，感覺非常鮮活，就如一股逐漸增強的殘暴力量，在這個因為全球升溫而只會變得愈來愈燠熱、乾燥和容易起火的大陸上，隨時會吞噬我們最珍愛的事物。

It’s also a hint of what may be coming to a town, city or country near you.

這也暗示了可能發生在你周遭國家或城鎮的事。

In a land usually associated with relaxed optimism, anxiety and trauma have taken hold. A recent Australia Institute survey found that 57% of Australians have been directly affected by the bush fires or their smoke. With officials in New South Wales announcing Thursday that heavy rain had helped them finally extinguish or control all the fires that have raged this Australian summer, the country seems to be reflecting and wondering what comes next.

在這片通常予人輕鬆樂觀印象的大地上，焦慮和心理創傷竟然扎了根。智庫「澳洲研究所」最近一份調查顯示，有57%的澳洲人直接受到叢林野火和濃煙影響。新南威爾斯省官方2月13日宣布豪雨終於幫助他們撲滅和控制了澳洲今夏所有野火，而澳洲似乎也正在反思並揣想接下來會是什麼光景。

Politics have been a focal point — one of frustration for most Australians. The conservative government is still playing down the role of climate change, despite polls showing public anger hitting feverish levels. And yet what’s emerging alongside public protest may prove more potent.

政治一直是個重點，令多數澳洲人感到挫折。儘管民調顯示民怨沸騰，保守派政府卻仍在淡化氣候變遷的角色。不過，跟群眾示威並起的事物，可能威力更強。

In interviews all over the fire zone since September, it’s been clear that Australians are reconsidering far more than energy and emissions. They are stumbling toward new ways of living: Housing, holiday travel, work, leisure, food and water are all being reconsidered.

去年九月以來針對野火肆虐區居民的訪問清楚顯示，澳洲人正在重新思考的遠超過能源和溫室氣體排放。他們正在摸索新的生活方式：從住房、假期旅遊、工作、休閒、食物和水都重新審視。

“If there’s not a major shift that comes out of this, we’re doomed,” said Robyn Eckersley, a political scientist at the University of Melbourne who has written extensively about environmental policy around the world. “It does change everything — or it should.”

墨爾本大學政治學者羅蘋．艾克斯利曾廣泛研究世界各地環境政策並提筆為文，她說：「如果我們經歷野火後沒有做出重大改變，我們就完了。野火改變了一切，也應該改變一切。」

Source article: https://paper.udn.com/udnpaper/POH0067/350561/web/