2019年12月四级第1套长篇阅读匹配原文翻译及答案

A) On Wednesday, a polar wind brought bitter cold to the Midwest. Overnight, Chicago reached a low of 21 degrees Fahrenheit below zero, making it slightly colder than Antarctica (南极洲), Alaska, and the North Pole. Wind chills were 64 degrees below zero in Park Rapids, Minnesota and 45 degrees below zero in Buffalo, North Dakota, according to the National Weather Service. Schools, restaurants, and businesses closed, and more than 1,000 flights were cancelled.

周三，一股极地寒流给中西部带来了严寒。一夜之间，芝加哥的气温降至零下21华氏度，使其比南极洲、阿拉斯加和北极还要稍冷一些。根据美国国家气象局的数据，明尼苏达州帕克拉皮兹的风寒指数为零下64度，北达科他州布法罗为零下45度。学校、餐厅和企业关闭，超过1000个航班被取消。

B) Even the United States Postal Service (USPS) suspended mail delivery. "Due to this arctic outbreak and concerns for the safety of USPS employees," USPS announced Wednesday morning, "the Postal Service is suspending delivery Jan. 30 in some 3-digit ZIP Code locations." Twelve regions were listed as unsafe on Wednesday; on Thursday, eight remained.

甚至美国邮政服务（USPS）也暂停了邮件递送。USPS在周三上午宣布：“由于此次北极寒流爆发以及对USPS员工安全的担忧，邮政服务将于1月30日暂停在部分3位邮编区域的递送。”周三有12个地区被列为不安全地区；周四，仍有8个地区。

C) As global surface temperatures increase, so does the likelihood of extreme weather. In 2018 alone, wildfires, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, mudslides, and other natural disasters cost at least $49 billion in the United States. As my colleague Vann Newkirk reported, Puerto Rico is still confronting economic and structural destruction and resource scarcity from 2017's Hurricane Maria. Natural disasters can wreck a community's infrastructure, disrupting systems for months or years. Some services, however, remind us that life will eventually return, in some form, to normal.

随着全球表面温度升高，极端天气的可能性也随之增加。仅在2018年，野火、火山爆发、飓风、泥石流和其他自然灾害在美国造成的损失至少达490亿美元。正如我的同事Vann Newkirk报道，波多黎各仍在应对2017年飓风玛丽亚带来的经济和结构性破坏以及资源短缺。自然灾害可以摧毁一个社区的基础设施，使系统中断数月甚至数年。然而，一些服务提醒我们，生活最终会以某种形式回归正常。

D) Days after the deadly 2017 wildfires in Santa Rosa, California, a drone (无人机) caught footage (连续镜头) of a USPS worker, Trevor Smith, driving through burned homes in that familiar white van, collecting mail in an affected area. The video is striking: The operation is familiar, but the scene looks like the end of the world. According to Rae Ann Haight, the program manager for the national-preparedness office at USPS, Smith was fulfilling a request made by some of the home owners to pick up any mail that was left untouched. For Smith, this was just another day on the job. "I followed my route like I normally do," Smith told a reporter. "As I came across a box that was up but with no house, I checked, and there was mail—outgoing mail—in it. And so we picked those up and carried on."

在2017年加利福尼亚州圣罗莎致命野火发生几天后，一架无人机拍摄到USPS员工特雷弗·史密斯驾驶那辆熟悉的白色货车穿过被烧毁的房屋，在受影响地区收集邮件的镜头。这段视频令人震惊：操作很熟悉，但场景看起来像世界末日。据USPS国家准备办公室的项目经理雷·安·海特说，史密斯正在满足一些房主的要求，取走任何未被触动的邮件。对史密斯来说，这只是工作中的另一天。“我像往常一样遵循我的路线，”史密斯告诉记者。“当我遇到一个邮箱还在但房子没了的情况，我检查了一下，里面有邮件——寄出的邮件。于是我们取走了那些邮件，继续前进。”

E) USPS has sophisticated emergency plans for natural disasters. Across the country, 285 emergency management teams are devoted to crisis control. These teams are trained annually using a framework known as the three Ps: people, property, product. After mail service stops due to weather, the agency's top priority is ensuring that employees are safe. Then it evaluates the health of infrastructure, such as the roads that mail carriers drive on. Finally, it decides when and how to re-open operations. If the destruction is extreme, mail addressed to the area will get sent elsewhere. In response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, USPS redirected incoming New Orleans mail to existing mail facilities in Houston. Mail that was already processed in New Orleans facilities was moved to an upper floor so it would be protected from water damage.

USPS有针对自然灾害的复杂应急计划。全国有285个应急管理团队致力于危机控制。这些团队每年接受培训，使用一个被称为“三个P”的框架：人员、财产、产品。在邮件服务因天气停止后，该机构的首要任务是确保员工安全。然后评估基础设施的健康状况，如邮递员驾驶的道路。最后，决定何时以及如何重新开始运营。如果破坏极端，寄往该地区的邮件将被转发到其他地方。为应对2005年的卡特里娜飓风，USPS将新奥尔良的来件重定向到休斯顿现有的邮件设施。已在新奥尔良设施处理的邮件被移到上层楼以保护免受水损。

F) As soon as it's safe enough to be outside, couriers (邮递员) start distributing accumulated mail on the still-accessible routes. USPS urges those without standing addresses to file change-of-address forms with their new location. After Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, mail facilities were set up in dozens of locations across the country in the two weeks that USPS was unable to provide street delivery.

一旦户外足够安全，邮递员就开始在仍可通行的路线上分发积压的邮件。USPS敦促那些没有固定地址的人提交地址变更表，提供他们的新位置。2005年卡特里娜飓风袭击后，在USPS无法提供街道递送的两周内，全国各地的数十个地点设立了邮件设施。

G) Every day, USPS processes, on average, 493.4 million pieces of mail—anything from postcards to Social Security checks to medicine. Spokespeople from both USPS and UPS told me all mail is important. But some mail can be extremely sensitive and timely. According to data released in January 2017, 56 percent of bills are paid online, which means that just under half of payments still rely on delivery services to be completed.

USPS每天平均处理4.934亿件邮件——从明信片到社会保障支票再到药品，无所不包。USPS和UPS的发言人都告诉我，所有邮件都很重要。但有些邮件可能极其敏感和时效性强。根据2017年1月发布的数据，56%的账单是在线支付的，这意味着近一半的支付仍依赖递送服务来完成。

H) It can be hard to identify which parcels are carrying crucial items such as Social Security checks, but USPS and UPS try their best to prioritize sensitive material. They will coordinate with the Social Security Administration to make sure that Social Security checks reach the right people in a timely fashion. After Hurricane Florence and Hurricane Michael last fall, USPS worked with state and local election boards to make sure that absentee ballots were available and received on time.

很难识别哪些包裹携带着关键物品，如社会保障支票，但USPS和UPS尽最大努力优先处理敏感材料。他们将与社会保障管理局协调，确保社会保障支票及时送达正确的人。去年秋天飓风弗洛伦斯和飓风迈克尔之后，USPS与州和地方选举委员会合作，确保缺席选票可用并按时收到。

I) Mail companies are logistics (物流) companies, which puts them in a special position to help when disaster strikes. In a 2011 USPS case study, the agency emphasized its massive infrastructure as a "unique federal asset" to be called upon in a disaster or terrorist attack. "I think we're unique as a federal agency," USPS official Mike Swigart told me, "because we're in literally every community in this country. We're obligated to deliver to that point on a daily basis."

邮件公司是物流公司，这使它们在灾难发生时处于特殊的帮助位置。在2011年的一份USPS案例研究中，该机构强调其庞大的基础设施是“独特的联邦资产”，可在灾难或恐怖袭击中被调用。“我认为我们作为联邦机构是独特的，”USPS官员迈克·斯威格特告诉我，“因为我们在这个国家的几乎每个社区都有存在。我们有义务每天递送到那个点。”

J) Private courier companies, which have more dollars to spend, use their expertise in logistics to help revitalize damaged areas after a disaster. For more than a decade, FedEx has supported the American Red Cross in its effort to get emergency supplies to areas affected by disasters, both domestically and internationally. In 2012, the company distributed more than 1,200 MedPacks to Medical Reserve Corps groups in California. They also donated space for 3.1 million pounds of charitable shipping globally. Last October, the company pledged $1 million in cash and transportation support for Hurricanes Florence and Michael. UPS's charitable arm, the UPS Foundation, uses the company's logistics to help disaster-struck areas rebuild. "We realize that as a company with people, trucks, warehouses, we need to play a larger role," said Eduardo Martinez, the president of the UPS Foundation. The company employs its trucks and planes to deliver food, medicine, and water. The day before I spoke to Martinez in November, he had been touring the damage from Hurricane Michael in Florida with the American Red Cross. "We have an obligation to make sure our communities are thriving," he said.

拥有更多资金的私营快递公司利用它们在物流方面的专业知识，帮助灾后重建受损地区。十多年来，联邦快递一直支持美国红十字会，向国内外受灾地区运送紧急物资。2012年，该公司向加利福尼亚州的医疗后备队团体分发了1200多个MedPacks。它们还全球捐赠了310万磅慈善运输空间。去年10月，该公司承诺为飓风弗洛伦斯和飓风迈克尔提供100万美元现金和运输支持。UPS的慈善机构UPS基金会利用公司的物流帮助受灾地区重建。“我们意识到，作为一家拥有人员、卡车和仓库的公司，我们需要发挥更大的作用，”UPS基金会总裁爱德华多·马丁内斯说。该公司使用其卡车和飞机运送食物、药品和水。在11月我与马丁内斯交谈的前一天，他正与美国红十字会一起巡视佛罗里达州飓风迈克尔造成的破坏。“我们有义务确保我们的社区繁荣，”他说。

K) Rebuilding can take a long time, and even then, impressions of the disaster may still remain. Returning to a normal life can be difficult, but some small routines — mail delivery being one of them — may help residents remember that their communities are still their communities. "When they see that carrier back out on the street," Swigart said, "that's the first sign to them that life is starting to return to normal."

重建可能需要很长时间，即使如此，灾难的印象可能仍然存在。回归正常生活可能很困难，但一些小日常——邮件递送就是其中之一——可能帮助居民记住他们的社区仍然是他们的社区。“当他们看到邮递员回到街上，”斯威格特说，“对他们来说，那是生活开始回归正常的第一个迹象。”