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Few could argue with the fact that July has felt miserably hot, even for a summer month. |
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Heat advisories and warnings have been issued from the U.S. to Taiwan, with high temperatures often reaching into the upper 30s Celsius -- that's triple digits in Fahrenheit. |
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More than 4,500 record highs have been set across the U.S. alone in the past 30 days, according to the National Climatic Data Center. |
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七月確實熱得不得了，即便就夏季月分而言也是如此，這點沒什麼人能夠否認。從美國到台灣都發布了許多高溫特報與警告，而且高溫經常達到接近攝氏四十度──那在華氏可是三位數了。在過去這三十天，光是美國各地就出現了超過四千五百項破紀錄的高溫，美國國家氣候數據中心指出。 |
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But in certain parts of the world, this is the norm -- or maybe even on the cool side. |
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不過，在世界上某些地區，這樣的高溫卻是常態──甚至可能算是涼爽了。 |
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Try Kuwait City, for instance. In July, its average high temperature is 116 degrees Fahrenheit. |
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Or Timbuktu in Mali, where the high average 108 in May was once recorded at 130! |
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That ranks fifth on the all-time list. |
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以科威特市為例。這座城市在七月的平均高溫是華氏一百一十六度。再以馬利的廷巴克圖為例，五月的平均高溫為一百零八度，還曾經創下一百三十度的紀錄！這個溫度在史上最高溫排行榜上排名第五。 |
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The highest temperature ever recorded on the planet was in 1922, when a thermometer in El Azizia, Libya, hit 136. |
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Some dispute that mark, saying it was improperly measured. |
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If that's true, the record would be 134, reached nine years earlier in Death Valley, California. |
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地球上曾記錄到最高的溫度出現於一九二二年，當時利比亞阿季札的溫度計達到了一百三十六度。有些人對這個溫度提出異議，聲稱是測量錯誤的結果。如果真是這樣，那麼最高溫的紀錄就是一百三十四度，在那之前的九年出現於加州死谷。 |
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But the world's hottest place might not be any of these, according to a team of scientists from the University of Montana. |
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It says the highest temperatures on Earth are found in areas that don't even have weather stations. |
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不過，蒙大拿大學的一群科學家指出，世界上最熱的地點可能不是這些地方。那群科學家表示，地球上的最高溫其實都出現在根本沒有設置氣象站的地方。 |
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"Earth's hot deserts -- such as the Sahara, the Gobi, the Sonoran and the Lut -- are climatically harsh and so remote that access for routine measurements and maintenance of a weather station is impractical," said David Mildrexler, lead author of a recent study that used NASA satellites to detect Earth's hottest surface temperatures. |
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「地球上的炎熱沙漠──例如撒哈拉、戈壁、索諾蘭與魯特──不僅氣候極為嚴酷，位置也極為偏遠，以致從事例行性測量以及維護氣象站根本不可行，」大衛•米卓斯勒表示。他是近來一項研究的主筆，該項研究利用美國太空總署的衛星偵測地球上最高的表面溫度。 |
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The satellites detect the infrared energy emitted by land, and over a seven-year period, from 2003 to 2009, they found Iran's Lut Desert to be the hottest place on Earth. |
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這些衛星可偵測陸地散發出來的紅外線能量。在二００三到二００九年的這七年裡，他們發現伊朗的魯特沙漠是地球上最熱的地方。 |
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The Lut Desert had the highest recorded surface temperature in five of the seven years surveyed, reaching 159 degrees in 2005. |
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Other notable annual highs came from Queensland, Australia (156 degrees in 2003), and China's Turpan Basin (152 degrees in 2008). |
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在那七年所記錄到的溫度裡，魯特沙漠的表面溫度有五年是最高的，在二００五年達到一百五十九度。其他引人注意的年度高溫也曾出現在澳洲昆士蘭（二００三年達到一百五十六度），以及中國的吐魯番盆地（二００八年達到一百五十二度）。 |
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Remember these hotspots the next time someone poses this rhetorical question: "Is it hot enough for you?" |
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下次再有人提出這個反問句：「夠熱了沒？」可別忘了這些熱點。 |
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