2021年的极端天气事件打破了世界各地的记录。数百人死于风暴和热浪。农民们艰难应对干旱以及一些极端的昆虫病例。野火创造了碳排放的新纪录。火灾摧毁了森林、城镇和房屋。
Many of these events were worsened by climate change. Scientists say there are more to come, and worse, as the Earth's atmosphere continues to warm through the next ten years and beyond.
这其中许多事件都是因为气候变化而恶化。科学家们表示，未来十年甚至更久，随着地球大气层继续变暖，还会发生更多、更严重的事件。
Here are some of the events over the last year:
以下是去年发生的一些事件：
February:
二月：
Kenya and other parts of East Africa battled some of the worst locust plagues in tens of years. A locust is a kind of insect that eats crops. The insects destroyed crops and grasslands meant for animals. Scientists say that unusual weather worsened by climate change created good conditions for the insects to expand.
肯尼亚和东非其它地区跟几十年来最严重的蝗虫灾害作斗争。蝗虫是一种以农作物为食的昆虫。这些昆虫破坏了庄稼和牧场。科学家们表示，气候变化导致的异常天气为蝗虫的繁殖创造了良好条件。
March:
三月：
Beijing's sky turned orange and flights were grounded during the Chinese capital's worst sandstorm in ten years.
在中国首都北京十年来最严重的沙城暴期间，天空变成橙色，航班停飞。
Busloads of volunteers arrive in the desert each year to plant trees, which can help the soil and reduce the effects of wind. Scientists predict climate change will worsen the growth of deserts, or desertification, as hotter summers and drier winters reduce moisture levels.
每年都有大批志愿者到沙漠种植树木，这可以保持水土和减少风的影响。科学家们预测气候变化将会加剧沙漠化加剧，因为炎热的夏季和干燥的冬季会降低水分含量。
June:
六月：
Hundreds died during a record-breaking heatwave in the United States and the Canadian Pacific Northwest, which scientists said would have been "virtually impossible" without climate change.
数百人在美国和加拿大太平洋西北地区创纪录的热浪中丧生，科学家们认为，如果不是气候变化，这一切几乎不可能发生。
Over several days, power lines melted and roads became mis-shapen. Cities struggled to deal with the heat. They opened cooling centers to protect the locals. During the heat wave, Portland, Oregon, hit an all-time record high of 46.7 Celsius.
几天之内，电缆融化、道路变形。各个城市努力应对高温。他们开设了避暑中心来保护当地人。在热浪期间，俄勒冈州波特兰市的气温创下了46.7摄氏度的历史新高。
July:
七月：
Large parts of South America suffered from a prolonged drought. Chile is dealing with a ten-year-long megadrought linked to climate change. This year, Brazil saw one of its driest years in a century.
南美洲大部分地区遭遇长期干旱。智利正在应对跟气候变化相关的长达十年的特大干旱。今年，巴西经历了一个世纪以来最干旱的一年。
In Argentina, the Parana, South America's second-longest river, fell to its lowest level since 1944.
在阿根廷，南美洲第二长的巴拉那河的水位降到了1944年以来的最低水平。
Around the world, heatwaves are happening more often and are becoming more severe.
在世界各地，热浪发生的频率越来越高，而且变得越来越严重。
August:
八月：
Nearly all the world's mountain glaciers are shrinking due to climate change. In the Alps, Swiss hotel workers placed protective cloth over one of Mount Titlis's glaciers during the summer months to keep what ice is left.
由于气候变化，世界上几乎所有的山地冰川都在萎缩。在阿尔卑斯山夏季的几个月里，瑞士酒店工作人员在铁力士山的一处冰川上放置了防护布，以保持剩下的冰层。
Switzerland has already lost 500 of its glaciers. The government said it could lose 90 percent of the 1,500 that remain by the end of the century if world carbon output continues to rise.
瑞士已经失去了500处冰川。政府表示，如果世界碳排放量继续增加，到本世纪末，它可能会失去剩下的1500处冰川中的90%。
September:
九月：
Structures and homes in Russia are increasingly in danger as underground permafrost melts and damages the land under them.
随着地下永久冻土融化并破坏下方土地，俄罗斯的建筑物和住宅正面临越来越大的危险。
Permafrost was once a good building base, in some areas staying frozen as far back as the last Ice Age. Rising world temperatures threaten the permafrost's ice, soil, rocks, sand, and organic matter.
永久冻土曾经是一种良好的地基，一些地区早在上个冰河时期就一直处于冻结状态。不断上升的世界气温威胁到永久冻土下的冰、土壤、岩石、沙子和有机物。
November:
十一月：
A large storm emptied a month's worth of rain over two days in British Columbia in Canada. It created floods and moving soil that destroyed roads, railroads, and bridges. It is likely the most expensive natural disaster in Canada's history, although officials are still examining the damage.
在加拿大不列颠哥伦比亚省，一场大风暴在两天内带来了一个月的降雨量。它造成的洪水和泥石流毁坏了道路、铁路和桥梁。虽然有关官员仍在检查受灾情况，但这可能是加拿大历史上损失最惨重的自然灾害。
Meteorologists, or scientists who study the weather, said the rain had come from an atmospheric river. It is a flow of gaseous water stretching hundreds of kilometers long from near the equator, the tropics. Scientists say atmospheric rivers are expected to become larger, and possibly more destructive, with climate change.
气象学家表示，这场降雨来自于一条大气长河。它是一股从位于热带地区的赤道附近延伸数百公里长的气态水流。随着气候变化，这条大气长河预计会更大，而且可能会更具破坏性。
I'm Gregory Stachel.
我是格雷戈里·斯塔切尔。(51VOA.COM原创翻译，请勿转载，违者必究！)