Heat Wave Killed Marine Wildlife en Masse

 

海洋生物集體死於熱浪

【摘要2022.7.8.五.自由】◎張沛元

An early estimate points to a huge die-off along the Pacific Coast, and scientists say rivers farther inland are warming to levels that could be lethal for some kinds of salmon.

一項初步估計顯示，（美國）太平洋沿岸海洋生物大量死亡；科學家則說，更內陸的河川的水溫，正升高到恐令某些鮭魚致命的程度。

Dead mussels and clams coated rocks in the Pacific Northwest, their shells gaping open as if they’d been boiled. Sea stars were baked to death. Sockeye salmon swam sluggishly in an overheated Washington river, prompting wildlife officials to truck them to cooler areas.

死掉的淡菜與蛤蜊佈滿西北太平洋沿岸地區的岩石上，牠們的殼有如被煮熟似地張開。海星被活活烤死。紅鉤吻鮭在過熱的華盛頓河中緩慢游動，促使野生動物官員將之載運到較涼爽的區域。

The combination of extraordinary heat and drought that hit the Western United States and Canada over the past two weeks has killed hundreds of millions of marine animals and continues to threaten untold species in freshwater, according to a preliminary estimate and interviews with scientists.

根據一項初步估計以及對科學家所進行的訪談，美加西部過去兩週來慘遭異常高溫與乾旱襲擊，導致數以億計的海洋生物死亡，並持續威脅無數淡水物種。

新聞辭典

en masse：副詞，一起地，全體地。例句：Defiant employees have quit en masse amid protests against the company’s vaccine mandate.（違抗成命的員工在抗議公司的疫苗令中集體請辭。）

point to/towards someone or something：片語動詞，表明可能是；顯示…可能會發生。例句：All signs point to a freezing winter at the end of the year.（所有跡象顯示年底會有一個極寒冷的冬天。）

coat：動詞，給…塗上一層；使覆蓋上一層，外加一層。