“灾害脆弱性”、“灾害易损性”这一对搭档,乘地球伤风、咳嗽之际,近年频频露脸。 地球人一直以为地球是铁打的金刚,想不到西方名医率先发现:先是愈合无望的皮肤溃疡(臭氧层空洞),再是全球变暖闹腾的非典型性低烧、疑似高烧。冷不丁还打些地震摆子,偶而还玩些海啸啥的深呼吸、飓风型的大喘气。 地球脆弱性是人类长期未曾预料的、也不愿接受与面对的地球变性。然而,地球出现的症状又不能视而不见。地球也脆弱咱地球人只好认了。 灾害脆弱性想说啥我倒是大体明白,只是纳闷为什么不“有话好好说”。 地球脆弱?将心比心,所谓盖亚假说已经称之为地球生命体,咱信了。 灾害咋脆弱?我就整不太明白了。 “灾害脆弱性”、“灾害易损性”说是搭档,其实都是英文小生“Vulnerability to disaster”的大名、小名罢了。 谁脆弱?谁易损?地球及其子民也。说灾害脆弱,只能惹得“灾害”嗤嗤的笑。 此处引用英文网站 www.waterdisaster.org (水灾站点)对脆弱性的如下描述: Vulnerability refers to the susceptibility of a community to a hazard and the prevailing condition, including physical, socio-economic and political factors that adversely affect its ability to respond to hazards or disaster events. The community and its members may or may not be contributing intentionally or directly to the prevailing conditions. However, altogether, they create factors and situations that define the vulnerability of the community. Vulnerabilities can be manifested as physical, social, or attitudinal vulnerability. The disruption of a community can reduced if it is better prepared, e.g. if there is suitable infrastructure and human systems and coordination. Poor countries and citizens are always more prone to disasters through their greater vulnerability to hazard and risk than higher income countries and citizens. For example, epidemics within poor communities often increase during and after hazardous events such as floods, droughts and cyclones. 以科学网2012-4-25的一则新闻为例:“研究提出自然灾害易损性预测评估方法”,报道所附的英文原名为“A Bayesian method to mine spatial datasets to evaluate the vulnerability of human beings to catastrophic risk”。可以看出,该论文原文标题直言人类的脆弱,中文标题摇身一变就成了灾害的易损与脆弱了。 可以看出,脆弱的并不是灾害,而是地球系统及诸位成员们。脆弱性只是地球系统及芸芸众生在灾害面前的脆弱性。 “Vulnerability to disaster”具体如何翻译为妥我也没有合适的想法,只是有些初步的考虑,如“对灾脆弱性、承灾脆弱性、抵灾脆弱性”等,这些近乎鲁迅先生所说的硬译,但意思尚在,然而距“达雅”则颇有距离。
Chemical Engineering News , March 2, 2011, DOI:10.1021/CEN022411134631 Taming Methyl Bromide Pesticides: Researchers use a two-pronged strategy to prevent the fumigant from escaping into the environment Valerie Brown STRAWBERRY FIELDS Research suggests that properly constructed tarps could be used to trap and degrade methyl bromide. Methyl bromide is a popular agricultural fumigant that can kill fungi, insects, weeds, nematodes, and bacteria. Unfortunately, it also depletes stratospheric ozone. Now researchers have devised a plastic film that reacts with or captures most methyl bromide before it enters the atmosphere ( Environ. Sci. Technol. DOI: 10.1021/es103713k , Methyl Bromide-Environmental Science Technology.pdf ). When planting crops such as strawberries, farmers fumigate their fields by injecting methyl bromide into soil. The United Nations' Montreal Protocol placed restrictions on methyl bromide, and the U.S. planned to phase it out by 2005. But because no substitute has such wide efficacy, exemptions allow methyl bromide use on certain crops. Attempts to limit methyl bromide's escape into the environment have included applying plastic tarps to physically hold the fumigant in the soil, or applying a reactive compound to the soil to degrade the pesticide. But the two approaches had not been combined. So Richeng Xuan , Scott Yates , and colleagues at the Department of Agriculture placed soil spiked with methyl bromide in a stainless steel container and covered it with a three-layer film. The film's outer layers were plastic. Its middle layer was tissue paper infused with an aqueous solution of ammonium thiosulfate. The chemical reacts quickly with methyl bromide to produce methyl thiosulfate and bromine, which Xuan says are easy to trap and remove. The scientists found that after 72 hours at 40 °C, nearly all the methyl bromide had moved into the tissue paper and reacted with the ammonium thiosulfate. Only 0.15% of the methyl bromide seeped through all three layers. By contrast, 50% of the fumigant typically escapes to the atmosphere after application on agricultural fields.