2019高考英语真题翻译·浙江卷·阅读理解C篇(精校精译)

■翻译：张必成（安徽）  刘学英（湖北）

California has lost half its big trees since the 1930s, according to a study to be published Tuesday and climate change seems to be a major factor (因素).

The number of trees larger than two feet across has declined by 50 percent on more than 46,000 square miles of California forests, the new study finds. No area was spared or unaffected, from the foggy northern coast to the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the San Gabriels above Los Angeles. In the Sierra high country, the number of big trees has fallen by more than 55 percent; in parts of southern California the decline was nearly 75 percent.

Many factors contributed to the decline, said Patrick McIntyre, an ecologist who was the lead author of the study. Woodcutters targeted big trees. Housing development pushed into the woods. Aggressive wildfire control has left California forests crowded with small trees that compete with big trees for resources (资源).

But in comparing a study of California forests done in the 1920s and 1930s with another one between 2001 and 2010, McIntyre and his colleagues documented a widespread death of big trees that was evident even in wildlands protected from woodcutting or development.

The loss of big trees was greatest in areas where trees had suffered the greatest water shortage. The researchers figured out water stress with a computer model that calculated how much water trees were getting in comparison with how much they needed, taking into account such things as rainfall, air temperature, dampness of soil, and the timing of snowmelt (融雪).

Since the 1930s, McIntyre said, the biggest factors driving up water stress in the state have been rising temperatures, which cause trees to lose more water to the air, and earlier snowmelt, which reduces the water supply available to trees during the dry season.

翻译：即将于周二发表的一项研究显示，自从20世纪30年代以来，加州已经丧失了其一半的大型树木; 目前看来，气候变化似乎是导致这种状况的一个主要原因。（译者注：本文选自2015年1月19号周一出版的《国家地理》杂志，其所谈及的研究于第二天周二发表。）

翻译：这份新研究发现，加州超过4.6万平方英里的森林中，直径超过两英尺的树木数量已经减少了50%。从雾霭茫茫的北部海岸到内华达山脉，再到横亘洛杉矶东北部的圣盖博山脉，所有地区均无一幸免或免遭波及。在塞拉高地，大型树木的数量已经下降了55%以上；在南加州的部分地区，这一数字甚至已经接近75%。

翻译：这项研究的首席作者，生态学家帕特里克·麦金太尔说，许多因素导致了这种下降——伐木者们盯上了大型树木；房产开发向森林推进；激进的山火防控措施则导致小树遍布，与大树争抢资源。

翻译：在将20世纪20年代和30年代对加州森林的一项研究与本世纪最初十年的另一项研究进行对比时，麦金太尔和他的同事们用文献证实了大型树木大面积死亡的事实，即便在禁止砍伐及开发的野生区域这种情况依然如此。

翻译：在树木缺水最严重的地区，大型树木的损失最为惨重。研究人员通过一个计算机模型计算出水分胁迫（系数），在与树木所需水量进行对比的情况下，该模型计算出树木所获得的水量，并同时考虑了降雨量、气温、土壤湿度和融雪时间等因素。

翻译：麦金太尔说，自20世纪30年代以来，导致该州水分胁迫的最大因素是气温上升及融雪期提早——气温上升会导致树木向空气中流失更多水分；融雪期提早则导致旱季树木的供水减少。