“地球之肺”在燃烧！巴西派军队赴亚马孙雨林灭火

近日，被誉为“地球之肺”的亚马孙雨林着火了。亚马孙雨林占世界雨林面积的一半、全球森林面积的20%。当地时间8月23日，巴西总统博索纳罗授权军方参与亚马孙雨林灭火。

根据欧盟发布的卫星图像，大火带来的浓烟不仅覆盖了巴西近一半的国土，还扩散到了邻近的秘鲁、玻利维亚以及巴拉圭诸国。大火对雨林内的动植物、土著居民都有非常大的影响。

Backed by military aircraft, Brazilian troops on Saturday prepared to deploy in the Amazon rainforest to fight fires that have swept the region and prompted anti-government protests as well as an international outcry.

周六（8月24日），在军用飞机的协助下，巴西军队准备在亚马孙雨林进行部署，以扑灭席卷该地区的大火。这场大火还引发了反政府抗议活动和国际社会的声讨。

Some 44,000 troops will be available for "uNPRecedented" operations to put out the fires, and forces are heading to six Brazilian states that asked for federal help to contain the blazes, Defense Minister Fernando Azevedo said. The states are Roraima, Rondonia, Tocantins, Para, Acre and Mato Grosso.

巴西国防部长费尔南多·阿泽维多表示，大约4.4万名军人将参加这次“前所未有的”灭火行动，并前往请求联邦政府帮助控制火势的六个州，分别是罗赖马、隆多尼亚、托坎廷斯、帕拉、阿克和马托格罗索。

The military's first mission will be the deployment of 700 troops to the area around Porto Velho, capital of Rondonia, Azevedo said. He added that the military will use two C-130 Hercules aircraft capable of dumping up to 3,170 gallons of water on fires.

阿泽维多说，军方的首个任务将是向隆多尼亚州首府韦柳港附近部署700名军人。他补充说，军方将出动两架C-130大力神运输机，最多可向火灾区域喷洒3170加仑的水。

An Associated Press journalist flying over the Porto Velho region Saturday morning reported hazy conditions and low visibility. On Friday, the reporter saw many already deforested areas that were burned, apparently by people clearing farmland, as well as a large column of smoke billowing from one fire.

周六上午，美联社一名记者在飞经韦柳港地区上空时，报道称那里烟雾弥漫，能见度低。周五，这名记者看到多处遭砍伐的林地着火，显然是开荒所致，大火中还冒出滚滚浓烟。

billow ['bɪləʊ]：vi.翻腾 

The Brazilian military operations came after widespread criticism of President Jair Bolsonaro's handling of the crisis. The president Friday authorized the armed forces to get involved in putting out the fires, saying he is committed to protecting the Amazon region.

此前，外界普遍批评巴西总统雅伊尔·博索纳罗处理这场危机的方式。博索纳罗于周五（8月23日）授权军方参与灭火，并称他致力于保护亚马孙雨林地区。

"It shows the concern of Bolsonaro's government about this issue," Azevedo said. "It was a very fast response."

阿泽维多说：“这显示了博索纳罗政府对火灾的关注，反应非常迅速。

The defense minister noted US President Trump's offer in a tweet to help Brazil fight the fires, and said there had been no further contact on the matter. Bolsonaro has previously described rainforest protections as an obstacle to Brazil's economic development, sparring with critics who say the Amazon absorbs vast amounts of greenhouse gases and is crucial for efforts to contain climate change.

阿泽维多在推特上提到了美国总统特朗普帮助巴西灭火的提议，并表示未就此进行进一步接触。博索纳罗此前曾表示，亚马孙雨林的保护是巴西经济发展的障碍，而批评人士则认为，亚马孙雨林吸收了大量的温室气体，对遏制气候变化至关重要。

The Amazon fires have become a global issue, escalating tensions between Brazil and European countries who believe Bolsonaro has neglected commitments to protect biodiversity. Protesters gathered outside Brazilian diplomatic missions in European and Latin American cities Friday, and demonstrators also marched in Brazil.

亚马孙雨林大火已经成为一个全球性问题，加剧了巴西和欧洲国家之间的紧张关系。一些欧洲国家认为博索纳罗忽视了保护生物多样性的承诺。上周五，抗议者聚集在巴西驻欧洲和拉丁美洲一些城市的使领馆外，示威者也在巴西游行。

Conservationist Paul Rosolie told "CBS This Morning" that military action isn't enough and said the Amazon is at risk of "collapsing."

环保主义者保罗·罗索里在接受《CBS今晨》节目采访时表示，军队参与灭火还不够，亚马孙雨林正面临“崩溃”的风险。

conservationist [kɒnsə'veɪʃ(ə)nɪst]：n.（自然环境、野生动植物等）保护主义者

"As we chop more of the rainforest down – and this has been going on for decades, this is not an isolated issue — as we chop more of the rainforest, what we're risking is reaching a tipping point, where that moisture system might be too dry to produce the rain. And then you have a serious problem on your hands, because you're talking about the entire Amazon sort of collapsing."

他说：“随着我们砍伐更多的雨林，我们面临的风险正达到一个临界点，到那时，空气可能过于干燥，没有降雨。砍伐雨林的问题已经持续了几十年，这不是一个孤立的问题。之后人类就面临着一个严重的问题，那就是整个亚马孙雨林的崩溃。”

tipping point：临界点，引爆点

The dispute spilled into the economic arena when French President Emmanuel Macron threatened to block a European Union trade deal with Brazil and several other South American countries. He wants G-7 leaders meeting at a summit in France this weekend to discuss the Amazon crisis.

当法国总统埃马纽埃尔•马克龙威胁要阻止欧盟与巴西和其他几个南美国家达成一项贸易协定时，这场关于亚马孙雨林灭火的争端蔓延到了经济领域。马克龙希望七国集团领导人本周末在法国的峰会上讨论亚马孙雨林危机。

"First, we need to help Brazil and other countries put out these fires," Macron said Saturday.

马克龙周六说：“首先，我们需要帮助巴西和其他国家扑灭大火。”

The goal is to "preserve this forest that we all need because it is a treasure of our biodiversity and our climate thanks to the oxygen that it emits and thanks to the carbon it absorbs," he said.

他说，我们的目标是“保护这片我们都需要的森林，因为它是地球生物多样性和气候的宝藏，这要感谢它所排放的氧气和吸收的碳。”

Bolivia and Paraguay have also struggled to contain fires that swept through woods and fields, in many cases set to clear land for farming. A US-based aircraft, the B747-400 SuperTanker, is flying over devastated areas in Bolivia to help put out the fires and protect forests.

玻利维亚和巴拉圭也在努力扑灭席卷森林和田野的大火，很多情况下大火是开荒导致。美国飞机波音747-400“超级油轮”正在玻利维亚受灾地区上空帮助灭火和保护森林。

Fires are common in Brazil in the annual dry season, but they are much more widespread this year. Brazilian state experts reported nearly 77,000 wildfires across the country so far this year, up 85% over the same period in 2018.

火灾在巴西每年的旱季都很常见，但今年更加来势汹汹。巴西的专家报告称，到目前为止，今年巴西共发生了近7.7万起野火，较2018年同期增长85%。