Before we get into the naming process, lets talk a bit about why hurricanes are named at all. Up until the 1950s, hurricanes were tracked by year and order, which turned out to be rather confusing when there was more than one storm occurring at once. Specifically, because it was hard to identify one storm from another, broadcast information was often hard to understand and left people confused or concerned with information about a storm that may not even affect them.
At first, hurricanes were named according to the phonetic alphabet, starting with A each year. The names would follow Able, Baker, Charlie, and so on. This means the first-named hurricane was Able!
The practice of giving storms personal names appears to have begun with Clement Wragge, an Australian meteorologist who in the 1890s entertained himself by naming storms after women, mythical figures, and politicians that he didnt like. The modern system of using personal names developed during World War II, when meteorologists began using womens names—often those of wives or girlfriends. Short and quickly understood, names were easier to transmit over the radio and easier to keep straight if there was more than one storm in a given area. The system was formalized in 1953 when the American National Weather Service put together an alphabetical list of female names to be used for storms in the Atlantic basin. Male names were added to the list in 1979.
在談?wù)撁^程之前,讓我們先談?wù)劄槭裁匆o颶風(fēng)命名。直到20世紀(jì)50年代,颶風(fēng)都是按年份和順序進行排列的,當(dāng)不止一場風(fēng)暴同時發(fā)生時,情況就變得相當(dāng)混亂。具體來說,由于很難將一場風(fēng)暴與另一場風(fēng)暴區(qū)分開來,廣播信息通常也難以理解,人們會對可能不會影響他們的風(fēng)暴消息感到困惑或擔(dān)心。
起初,颶風(fēng)是根據(jù)語音字母命名的,每年以A開頭。名字順著埃布爾(Able)、拜克(Baker)、查理(Charlie)往后排。這意味著第一個得到命名的颶風(fēng)被稱為埃布爾!
澳大利亞氣象學(xué)家克萊門特·瓦格可能是第一個用人名給風(fēng)暴命名的人。在19世紀(jì)90年代,他自娛自樂,以他不喜歡的女性、神話人物和政治家的名字來命名風(fēng)暴。在二戰(zhàn)期間,使用人名的現(xiàn)代命名系統(tǒng)發(fā)展起來了。當(dāng)時,氣象學(xué)家開始使用女性的名字(給颶風(fēng)命名),通常是妻子或女朋友的名字。簡短易懂的名稱更容易通過廣播傳播出去,在面對特定區(qū)域內(nèi)不止一場風(fēng)暴時,也能更容易保持準(zhǔn)確性。該命名系統(tǒng)于1953年正式形成,當(dāng)時美國國家氣象局整理了一份按字母順序排列的女性名字列表,用于給大西洋盆地的風(fēng)暴命名。1979年,列表中開始添加男性名字。
So now that weve got some history, how do they actually name the hurricanes?
A special committee of the World Meteorological Organization develops lists of names to be used for hurricane. The name must be easily understood and short. Additionally, they must be culturally sensitive as they will be spoken in several different languages. For the Atlantic basin there are six alphabetical lists of 21 names each, and the lists are recycled every six years. So it is very likely, for example, that many of the names on the 2018 list will recur in 2024. For the Western Pacific and South China Sea basin, where there are a wider variety of languages spoken, names on the lists are contributed by countries in the region. If a hurricane or typhoon is especially destructive, that name will be retired from the list, such as Katrina (2005), ?Sandy (2012), Michael (2018), Ida (2021) and Ian (2022).
Despite the fact that using human names might seem comical, the use of these names helps to keep people protected and informed. When it comes to spreading information, it is vital that the information is accurate, easily understood, and efficient in order to keep the public informed. The hurricane naming process is a great example of this distribution of information.
既然我們已經(jīng)了解了一些有關(guān)風(fēng)暴名稱的歷史,那么實際上颶風(fēng)是如何命名的呢?
世界氣象組織的一個特別委員會制定了颶風(fēng)名稱列表。首先,這些名稱必須易于理解且簡短。此外,因為會被多種不同語言傳播出去,此類命名還要具備文化敏感性。大西洋盆地有六個按字母順序排列的命名列表,每個列表有21個名稱,并且列表每六年循環(huán)一次。因此2018年颶風(fēng)名單上的許多名字,很可能會在2024年再次出現(xiàn)。對于使用多種語言的西太平洋和南海盆地,命名名單上的名字則由該地區(qū)的國家提供。如果颶風(fēng)或臺風(fēng)特別具有破壞性,則該名稱將從列表中刪除,如卡特里娜(2005年)、桑迪(2012年)、邁克爾(2018年)、艾達(2021年)和伊恩(2022年)。
盡管使用人名命名颶風(fēng)可能看起來很滑稽,但使用這些名字有助于保護人們并讓人們了解情況。在信息的傳播過程中,為了讓公眾了解情況,信息的準(zhǔn)確度、通俗易懂和有效性至關(guān)重要。颶風(fēng)的命名過程就是信息傳播方面一個很好的例子。
Word Bank
broadcast /'br??dkɑ?st/ n. 廣播節(jié)目;電視節(jié)目
transmit /tr?ns'm?t/ v. 輸送;播送
recur /r?'k??(r)/ v. 再發(fā)生;反復(fù)出現(xiàn)
distribution /'d?str?'bju??n/ n. 分發(fā);分送