停电又停水，断粮又断暖，这还是那个富饶的美国德州吗

Southern cities hit hard by storms face new crisis: No water

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Southern cities slammed by winter storms that left millions without power for days have traded one crisis for another: Busted water pipes ruptured by record-low temperatures created shortages of clean drinking water, shut down the Memphis airport on Friday and left hospitals struggling to maintain sanitary conditions.

In Texas, 7 million people — a quarter of the population of the nation’s second-largest state — were under orders to boil tap water before drinking it because low water pressure could have allowed bacteria to seep into the system. A man died at an Abilene health care facility when a lack of water pressure made medical treatment impossible.

参考译文：

冬季暴风席卷南方，让本就面临连日停电困境的数百人再受打击：前所未有的低温引起水管爆裂，纯净的饮用水短缺，导致周五孟菲斯机场关闭，医院更是难以维持卫生条件。

在德州，700万人（占美国第二大州总人口的四分之一）受到要求必须将水烧开后再饮用，因为低水压可能会导致细菌渗入。因水压过低导致无法进行治疗，一名男子死于阿比林医疗机构。

About 260,000 homes and businesses in the Tennessee county that includes Memphis were told to boil water because of water main ruptures and pumping station problems. Restaurants that can’t do so or don’t have bottled water were ordered to close. And water pressure problems prompted Memphis International Airport to cancel all incoming and outgoing Friday flights.

In Jackson, Mississippi, most of the city of about 161,000 had no running water. Crews pumped water to refill city tanks but faced a shortage of chemicals for treatment because icy roads made it difficult for distributors to deliver them, Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba said.

TIPS:

water main 总水管

pumping station 泵站；泵房

running water 自来水

参考译文：

由于总水管破裂以及泵站问题，包括孟菲斯在内的田纳西州约有26万户家庭和企业受到要求必须烧开水后饮用。无法执行此令或没有瓶装水的餐馆将勒令关闭。水压问题也导致孟菲斯国际机场取消周五全部往来航班。

在密西西比州杰克逊市，16.1万人无自来水可用。市长乔克韦·安塔尔·卢蒙巴（Chokwe Antar Lumumba）说，工作人员已将水注满水箱，但是由于路面结冰，分销商难以运送处理水用的化学用品。

He said the city’s water mains are more than 100 years old and not built to handle the freezing weather that hit the city as multiple storms dumped record amounts of snow across the South.

“We are dealing with an extreme challenge with getting more water through our distribution system,” said Lumumba.

The city was providing water for flushing toilets and drinking, but residents had to pick it up, leaving the elderly and those living on icy roads vulnerable.

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市长说，该市的水管已有百年历史，设计之初没有考虑到冰雪天气的影响，然而现在多场暴风雪席卷南方，降雪量前所未有。

“我们正应对一场极端挑战，即通过我们的配水系统获得更多水资源。”卢蒙巴市长说。

该市提供了用来冲厕所和饮用的水，但是居民们需要出门接水才能用，这给老年人和生活在结冰道路附近的人带来很大不便。

Lisa Thomas said her driveway on a hill in Jackson was a sheet of ice. Her husband, who is on a defibrillator and heart monitor, has only enough heart medication to get him through Sunday because she hasn’t been able to go to the pharmacy.

“People are in dire need here,” Thomas said.

Paul Lee Davis got to the front of the line at a water station set up by city officials only to have the water run out. He was still waiting for it to be replenished three and a half hours after arriving.

“We need water, the stores all are out. I don’t see what choice we have,” Davis said.

TIPS:

defibrillator n.除颤器

参考译文：

丽莎·托马斯（Lisa Thomas）说，她家车道位于杰克逊市的山上，路面结满了冰。她的丈夫正在接受除颤器治疗和心脏监测，由于她没法去医院，他的药只够用到周日。

“这里的人都急需帮助。”托马斯说。

保罗·李·戴维斯（Paul Lee Davis）走到市政府设立的水站的队伍前时，发现水已经发完了，到达三个半小时候后，他还在等待补水。

“我们需要水，商店的水都卖完了，我实在没有办法了。”戴维斯说。

The water woes were the latest misery for people across the South who went without heat or electricity for days after the ice and snow storms earlier in the week, forcing rolling blackouts from Minnesota to Texas.

Texas electrical grid operators said electricity transmission had returned to normal for the first time since historic snowfall and single-digit temperatures created a surge in demand for electricity to warm up home — buckling the state’s power grid and causing the widespread blackouts.

参考译文：

本周早些时候的冰雪风暴导致明尼苏达州和德克萨斯州接连停电，现在的停水问题让几天来没有供暖、无法用电的南方城市雪上加霜。

德克萨斯州电网运营商表示，自历史性降雪发生以来，降至个位数的温度导致大家对电力和取暖的需求激增，导致该州电力系统崩溃，出现大规模停电，现在电力传输系统已恢复正常。

新的一天，新的魔幻新闻。

极端寒流，零下低温，美国南方数百万人停电停水，暖气也停止供应。

但与此同时，共和党籍的德州参议员克鲁兹(Ted Cruz)，却被发现与家人搭机飞往墨西哥度假……