05 德国洪灾导致至少33人遇难
另有数十人下落不明。正在访问美国的德国总理默克尔表示震惊，而她的准接班人拉舍特将洪灾归因于气候变化。
全文共563个词, By Guy Chazan in Berlin
At least 33 people have died and dozens are missing in the worst flooding Germany has seen in years following days of heavy rain that senior politicians have linked to climate change.
多年来最严重的洪灾已在德国造成至少33人丧生，数十人下落不明。一些高层政界人士将持续多日的大雨与气候变化联系起来。
Twenty people died in and around the Rhine city of Cologne, with two of them drowning in their own flooded cellars.
在莱茵河畔城市科隆及其周边地区，有20人丧生，其中两人在自己家被淹的地窖里溺亡。
Rivers burst their banks across large parts of western Germany and swept away houses standing in their path. Several towns, including Altena near Wuppertal, were cut off from the outside world, rail services were disrupted and mobile phone coverage was adversely affected across the region. Hospitals in the Rhine area towns of Leverkusen and Eschweiler had to be evacuated.
在德国西部的大片地区，河流决堤，冲走“挡路”的房屋。多个城镇，包括伍珀塔尔（Wuppertal）附近的阿尔特纳（Altena），与外界交通中断，铁路被迫停运，整个地区的移动通信覆盖受到影响。莱茵河地区两个镇——勒沃库森（Leverkusen）和埃施韦勒（Eschweiler）——的医院不得不疏散所有人员。
Other countries also experienced flooding. In Belgium, two men died due to torrential rain and a 15-year-old girl was reported missing after being swept away by floodwater. Around a dozen houses collapsed in Pepinster after the river Vesdre broke its banks, and residents were evacuated from more than 1,000 homes.
西欧其他国家也遭遇了洪灾。在比利时，暴雨导致两名男子丧生，一名15岁女孩被洪水冲走后下落不明。在韦斯德尔河（Vesdre）决堤后，佩平斯特镇（Pepinster）大约有12座（a dozen）房屋被冲垮，1000多户居民被疏散。
Meteorologists blamed a low-pressure weather system — “Bernd” — that brought hot and wet Mediterranean air towards north and east Germany and was wedged in by two high pressure areas which prevented it moving on.
气象学家将暴雨归因于一个名为"Bernd"的低气压系统，它带着炎热而潮湿的地中海空气朝德国北部和东部方向移动，被两个高气压区域夹住，无法继续前进。
“In the last two days some areas recorded more than 200 litres of rain per square meter,”said Mark Eisenmann, a meteorologist with German TV channel ARD. “Extreme levels [of rain] were reached that were unprecedented. And the effects were accordingly dramatic.”
“过去两天，一些地区每平方米的降雨量超过200升，”德国电视频道ARD的气象学家马克·艾森曼（Mark Eisenmann）表示，“降雨量达到了前所未有的极端水平，因而产生了巨大影响。”
He said the volume of rain was so great “that it was no longer being absorbed by the rivers [or] the soil”.
他表示，降雨量如此之大，“以至于河流或土壤已经不再有能力吸收”。
German TV news showed scenes of devastation, with town centres littered with the debris of ruined houses, uprooted tree-trunks and overturned cars. Helicopters were shown winching people to safety from treetops and the rooves of their houses as the floodwater surged around them.
德国电视新闻显示了洪灾的画面，城镇中心散落着被毁房屋的残骸、被连根拔起的树干以及翻倒的汽车。还有画面显示直升机在营救树梢和屋顶上的人们，他们四周全是汹涌的洪水。
Five people died and dozens were missing in and around Ahrweiler, in the western state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Heavy rain there turned the river Ahr, which flows into the Rhine, into a gushing torrent which destroyed around 100 houses and flooded and damaged 10 schools. The damage was particularly striking In Schuld, a small town on the Ahr near the border with Belgium, where four houses were completely swept away by the flood.
在西部莱茵兰-普法尔茨州（Rhineland-Palatinate）的阿尔韦勒镇（Ahrweiler）及其周边地区，有5人丧生，数十人下落不明。那里的大雨使莱茵河的支流阿尔河（Ahr）变成一股势不可挡的洪流，摧毁大约100座房屋，淹毁10所学校。靠近比利时边境的阿尔河畔小镇舒尔德（Schuld）遭受尤为严重的破坏，该镇有4座房屋被洪水整个冲走。
Angela Merkel, chancellor, who is in the US for talks with Joe Biden, tweeted that she was“shocked by the catastrophe that so many people have had to endure in the flooded areas”.She expressed sympathy for the victims and their families and thanked the “tireless”emergency services “from the bottom of my heart”.
正在美国与乔·拜登（Joe Biden）会谈的德国总理安格拉·默克尔（Angela Merkel）在Twitter上表示，她“对被淹地区如此多的人们不得不遭受的灾难感到震惊”。她对遇难者及其家属表示同情，并“发自内心地”感谢“不知疲倦”的救灾人员。
“There are dead people, there are people missing, there are many who are still in danger,”said Malu Dreyer, governor of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. “It’s really devastating.”
“有人遇难，有人下落不明，还有很多人仍然处于危险之中。”莱茵兰-普法尔茨州州长马鲁·德赖尔（Malu Dreyer）表示，“这真的是毁灭性的局面。”
By lunchtime on Thursday 33 people had been confirmed dead and dozens were still missing. In the city of Cologne, two people were discovered dead in their flooded cellars.
截至周四午餐时间，已确认有33人丧生，数十人下落不明。
Armin Laschet, the governor of North Rhine-Westphalia and the conservative candidate to succeed Merkel as chancellor, linked the floods to climate change.
北莱茵-威斯特法伦州（North Rhine-Westphalia）州长、有望接替默克尔出任德国总理的保守派候选人阿明·拉舍特（Armin Laschet）将洪灾与气候变化联系起来。
“We will be faced with such events over and over, and that means we need to speed up climate protection measures — on the European, federal and global level, because climate change isn’t confined to one state,” he said while on a visit to the town of Hagen, one of those affected by the flooding.
“我们将一次又一次面对此类事件，这意味着我们需要加快气候保护措施——在欧洲、联邦和全球层面，因为气候变化不仅限于一个州。”他在视察遭受洪灾的哈根镇（Hagen）时表示。