Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8 Aunt Nicole convinced Lucas and Eleanor to stay for dinner after all, and soon enough they were gathered around the picnic table. Lucas and Eleanor dug into some tacos and rice and beans. Everyone else helped themselves to some sweet and sticky flan for dessert. Aunt Nicole lit the small candles that were scattered across the table.

第八章妮可姨妈最终还是说服了卢卡斯和埃莉诺留下来吃晚饭，很快他们就聚在野餐桌旁。 卢卡斯和埃莉诺大吃玉米饼、米饭和豆子。 其他人都吃了一些又甜又粘的果馅饼当甜点。 妮可姨妈点燃了散落在桌子上的小蜡烛。

They raised their glasses of lemonade and clinked to King Kong's safe return. And then Mom turned her attention to Lucas and Eleanor. "So tell us about your jobs," she said. "Must be exciting to be firefighters." "We love it," Eleanor said, her eyes sparkling in the candlelight. "But for this time of year, it's a little too exciting. It's not even the hot part of fire season yet—that's not usually until August and the fall. But it's been so hot with no rain. The forests are dry as dust. We've already had some pretty big wildfires." Josh paused mid-bite, thinking about the burned-out forest on their drive in. "You fight wildfires?" he asked. He'd been imagining them putting out house fires, like the firefighters in his town back home. But fighting wildfires? That sounded pretty amazing. Dad would definitely love meeting these two!

他们举起柠檬水杯，为金刚的平安归来而干杯。 然后妈妈把注意力转向了卢卡斯和埃莉诺。 “跟我们说说你的工作吧，”她说。 “当消防员一定很刺激。” “我们很喜欢，”埃莉诺说，她的眼睛在烛光下闪闪发光。 “但在每年的这个时候，这有点太令人兴奋了。 现在甚至还不是火灾季节最热的时候——通常要到8月和秋天才会最热。 但是天气太热了，没有下雨。 森林干燥得像尘土。 我们已经经历了一些相当大的野火。” 乔希咬到一半停了下来，想着他们开车进来时被烧毁的森林。 “你扑灭野火？”他问道。 他一直想象着他们扑灭房屋大火，就像他家乡镇上的消防员一样。 但是扑灭野火呢？听起来很神奇。 爸爸一定会很高兴见到这两位的！

"That's right—they call us wildland firefighters," Lucas said, snagging a taco. "We work for Cal Fire—that's short for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection." "Our air attack base is about ten miles from here," Eleanor added. "Air attack?" Josh said. Sounded like the name of a new video game. "Cal Fire has a small air force for fighting wildfires," Eleanor said, taking a scoop of rice and beans. "Twenty-two bases around the state, about one hundred aircraft. We're usually the first to the scene when a wildfire breaks out." She whipped out her phone, scrolled for a second, and held up a picture of a huge jet airplane. "This is our DC-10 air tanker," she said. "This baby can fly over a fire and drop about twelve thousand gallons of water or flame retardant… that's the red stuff that makes it harder for a fire to spread."

“没错，他们管我们叫荒野消防员，”卢卡斯说着，抓起一个墨西哥卷饼。 “我们为Cal Fire工作，Cal Fire是加州林业和消防部门的简称。” “我们的空袭基地离这里大约10英里，”埃莉诺补充说。 “空袭?”杰克说。听起来像是一个新电子游戏的名字。 “加州消防局有一支小型空军来扑灭野火，”埃莉诺边说边舀起一勺米饭和豆子。 “全州有22个基地，大约有100架飞机。 当野火爆发时，我们通常是第一个到达现场的。” 她拿出手机，滚动了一秒钟，拿出一张巨大喷气式飞机的照片。 “这是我们的DC-10空中加油机，”她说。 “这个婴儿可以飞过火场，洒下大约1.2万加仑的水或阻燃剂……这些红色的东西会让火更难蔓延。”

Josh remembered from the video he saw how the plane seemed to be smearing red finger paint across the sky. "And check this out," Eleanor said with a grin. "This is our Bell UH-1H Super Huey—finest helicopter there is, in my opinion. We use them to transport firefighters, to do water drops, and sometimes to rescue people." Josh studied the picture of the red-and-white helicopter. There was a person waving from the cockpit. He eyed Eleanor. "Is that you?" he asked. Lucas smiled proudly. "Eleanor is one of the best pilots in the state." "Awesome!" Josh blurted out, a little louder than he meant to. "I always wanted to ride in a helicopter." Eleanor peeled back the sleeve of her T-shirt to show off a small helicopter tattoo on her shoulder. Josh smiled, but then he imagined what it must be like to fly a helicopter into a fire. The idea terrified him.

乔希记得他从视频中看到飞机似乎在天空中涂上了红色的手指画。 “看看这个，”埃莉诺笑着说。 “这是我们的贝尔UH-1H超级休伊直升机，在我看来是最好的。 我们用它们来运送消防员、滴水，有时还用来救人。” 乔希仔细研究着那架红白相间的直升机的照片。 驾驶舱里有一个人在挥手。 他看着埃莉诺。“是你吗？”他问。 卢卡斯骄傲地笑了。“埃莉诺是本州最好的飞行员之一。” “棒极了!”乔希脱口而出，声音比他想要的大了一点。 “我一直想坐直升飞机。” 埃莉诺掀开t恤的袖子，露出肩膀上一个小小的直升机纹身。 乔希笑了，但接着他想象着驾驶直升飞机进入火场的感觉。 这个想法把他吓坏了。

"Don't you ever get… scared?" Mom asked, reading Josh's mind. Eleanor nodded, swallowing a bite of taco. "All the time. But it's Lucas and the rest of the ground crew who take most of the risks, battling the fires up close. And some of these big fires we've been having lately…" She shook her head and looked at Lucas. "They're definitely getting worse," he said. "Bigger. Hotter. Harder to control." The candles flickered brighter. "Is this because of climate change?" Mom asked. Josh remembered the woman he and Mom had spoken to at the little store. "Climate change is a huge part of it," Lucas said, picking up his glass of lemonade. "The summers are longer and hotter; the air is drier. But there are other reasons, too, like more and more people building houses in places that used to be

“你从来没有……害怕过吗？”妈妈读懂了乔希的心思，问道。 埃莉诺点点头，吞下一口墨西哥玉米卷。 “一直都是。但卢卡斯和其他地勤人员冒着最大的风险，近距离灭火。 还有我们最近发生的一些大火……”她摇了摇头，看着卢卡斯。 “情况肯定是越来越糟了，”他说。 “大。热。更难控制。” 蜡烛闪烁得更亮了。 “这是因为气候变化吗？”母亲问。 乔希想起了他和妈妈在小店里谈过话的那个女人。 “气候变化是其中很大的一部分，”卢卡斯拿起一杯柠檬水说。 “夏天越来越长，越来越热；空气更干燥了。 但也有其他原因，比如越来越多的人在原来的地方盖房子

wild. It used to be that lightning sparked most wildfires. But now it's people." Eleanor nodded. "And our forests are unhealthy and overgrown, filled with dead trees. That's because in most places we haven't had enough wildfires, the small kind of fires that burn away the dead trees and dried-up brush." "Why is that?" Mom asked. "For about one hundred years, it's been our policy all over America to fight wildfires no matter what. That sounds smart, right? Protect our wilderness. But forests actually need wildfires to be healthy." "I'm confused," Holly said, sitting back in her chair. So was Josh. Weren't wildfires bad? Lucas thought for a minute, then pointed to his plate, which was covered with rice and beans. "Imagine all this is a forest, with a mix of trees. Some are healthy, others are dead or sick, which is normal. If a fire starts in a forest like this, the

野外。过去大多数野火都是由闪电引发的。 但现在是人。”埃莉诺点了点头。 “我们的森林不健康，杂草丛生，到处都是死树。 这是因为在大多数地方，我们没有足够的野火，那种烧掉死树和干灌木的小火灾。” “为什么？”母亲问。“大约一百年来，无论如何都要扑灭野火，这是美国各地的政策。 这听起来很聪明，对吧？保护我们的荒野。 但森林实际上需要野火才能健康。” “我很困惑，”霍莉说，靠在她的椅子上。 乔什也是。野火不是很糟糕吗？ 卢卡斯想了一会儿，然后指着他的盘子，盘子里堆满了米饭和豆子。 “想象这是一片森林，树木混杂在一起。 有些人健康，有些人死亡或生病，这是正常的。 如果在这样的森林里发生火灾