BBC Learning English - 6 Minute English: Climate change and extreme weather

Episode 260903 / 03 Sep 2026

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核心介绍

中文简介

本期节目探讨气候变化如何影响极端天气。Phil 邀请 BBC 气象学家 Sarah Keith-Lucas 讨论热带风暴（飓风/气旋/台风）、风暴潮、山体滑坡、泥石流等极端天气现象，以及全球变暖如何加剧这些灾害。教授核心词汇：likelihood、landslide、mudslide、storm surge、sweep in、casualty。

本周问题

By how much has Earth’s temperature increased since 1970?

自 1970 年以来，地球温度上升了多少？

a) Around 0.5°C

b) Around 1°C ✅

c) Around 2°C

答案：Around 1°C（约 1 摄氏度）。这是全球陆地和海洋表面的平均值。北极升温速度是平均值的 3 倍。仅 1°C 的平均升温就能导致热浪、山火、洪水等极端事件大幅增加。

重点词汇表

课文重点解析

1. 核心区别：Weather vs Climate

Sarah Keith-Lucas: “The weather is what you see and feel every day. Climate is more long-term.”

莎拉·基思-卢卡斯: “天气是你每天看到和感受到的。气候是更长期的。”

关键点：

• ✅ Weather = 短期、日常体验 (today’s rain, tomorrow’s sun)
• ✅ Climate = 长期统计模式 (30 年平均)
• ✅ 气候变化通过改变长期统计表现为更频繁/更强烈的天气

2. 热带风暴三重奏：同一现象，不同名称

Sarah: “Hurricanes are found in the Atlantic, Cyclones in the Indian Ocean and Typhoons in the West Pacific.”

莎拉: “飓风见于大西洋，气旋见于印度洋，台风见于西太平洋。”

气候变化影响：全球变暖 → 海水升温 → 风暴更具破坏性、移动更慢 → 雨量更大、持续更久

3. 风暴减速的连锁效应

Darren Bett: “Scientists also think storms are slowing down… more likelihood of flooding and landslides and also mudslides.”

达伦·贝特: “科学家认为风暴在减速……洪水、山体滑坡、泥石流的可能性更大。”

机制链：

全球变暖 → 海洋升温 → 风暴移动减速
    ↓
同一区域停留时间更长
    ↓
风力持续更久 + 降雨持续更久
    ↓
洪水风险 ↑ + 山体滑坡/泥石流风险 ↑

4. 致命要素：风暴潮

Darren Bett: “Storm surge… produces more casualties than any other [element of a storm].”

达伦·贝特: “风暴潮……产生的伤亡比风暴任何其他要素都多。”

Sarah Keith-Lucas: “A storm surge is where the sea level rises quickly pushed by the strong winds caused by a storm. This water comes onto land with an enormous amount of force, and storm surges can be up to 10 metres high.”

莎拉·基思-卢卡斯: “风暴潮是强风推动海平面急剧上升。海水以巨大力量涌向陆地，高度可达 10 米。”

加剧因素：

• ✅ 海平面上升 → 基准线更高 → 风暴潮更深、更远
• ✅ 海水升温 → 风暴更强 → 推水能力更强

5. 地质次生灾害对比

批判性思考题

1. 1°C 的非线性放大：全球平均升温 1°C，为何极端事件频率/强度远超线性增长？(Clausius-Clapeyron relation, moisture holding capacity, energy budget)

2. 风暴命名的地缘政治：Hurricane/Cyclone/Typhoon 同一物理现象，不同名称反映了何种气象史/殖民史？统一术语 tropical cyclone 推广面临何种阻力？

3. 风暴减速机制争议：storm stalling 归因于 weakened steering currents / Arctic amplification / expanded subtropical highs。当前气候模型对这一机制的共识度如何？

4. 风暴潮与海平面上升的叠加风险：10m storm surge + 0.3m SLR (since 1993) + high tide + wave setup。沿海城市防灾标准如何动态调整？(design flood elevation, freeboard, adaptation pathways)

5. Casualty 统计的伦理维度：casualty 合并死亡/受伤，掩盖了脆弱群体(老人/儿童/贫困/残障)的不成比例风险。灾害社会学关键词汇： vulnerability, exposure, coping capacity, differential impact。

完整对话记录

Transcript

Phil: Hello, this is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I’m Phil. It seems that we’re hearing about more and more terrible weather, but how exactly is climate change affecting extreme weather? I’m lucky today to be joined by BBC Weather forecaster, meteorologist and presenter, Sarah Keith-Lucas. Hi Sarah.

Sarah Keith-Lucas: Hi Phil. It’s great to be here.

Phil: Sarah’s here to help us understand what’s happening with extreme weather. She’ll also help explain some of the words and expressions used in a new series of BBC Learning English videos all about weather and climate and the language we use to talk about them. You can find the link to them on our webpage, or in the show notes for this podcast. Sarah, let’s start with a really important question: what’s the difference between climate and weather?

Sarah Keith-Lucas: That’s a great question, Phil. The weather is what you see and feel every day. Climate is more long-term. Today I’ll explain how a change in the climate over the long term can be seen in the weather.

Phil: As always, we will also be learning some key vocabulary to talk about the topic. And, Sarah, it’s traditional for us to set a quiz question. Have you got one for us?

Sarah Keith-Lucas: Yes, I have! By how much has Earth’s temperature increased since 1970. Is it? a) Around 0.5C b) Around 1C c) Around 2C

Phil: I don’t know, about 2 degrees?

Sarah Keith-Lucas: I’ll give the answer at the end of the programme, so listen to the end to find out.

Phil: Now, we’re going to talk about tropical storms. What do we mean by ’tropical storms’, Sarah?

Sarah Keith-Lucas: Well, those are hurricanes, cyclones and typhoons. They’re large rotating storm systems formed over warm tropical waters. These are actually the same, we just use different names depending on where in the world they form. Hurricanes are found in the Atlantic, Cyclones in the Indian Ocean and Typhoons in the West Pacific. As the world warms, climate scientists think that these storms will get more destructive.

Phil: In one of our new Learning English for weather videos, meteorologist Darren Bett tells us about another worrying change.

Darren Bett: Scientists also think storms are slowing down. They’re not moving across as quickly, and that means if a storm is in the same area for longer, the winds will be stronger for longer, and the rain will last for longer producing more flooding and more likelihood of flooding and landslides and also mudslides.

Phil: Darren said that if a storm moves more slowly, there will be more likelihood of flooding. Likelihood is the noun that we use to say how probable, or how likely something is to happen. Darren also told us about landslides and mudslides.

Sarah Keith-Lucas: Yes, landslides are where a large amount of earth or rock moves down a slope quickly. Mudslides tend to be faster and more liquid. Both of these things can happen after particularly heavy rain and can cause damage to buildings. People can also be killed or injured by them.

Phil: What else causes loss of life in a hurricane, typhoon or cyclone?

Sarah Keith-Lucas: Well, something else that is very dangerous is a storm surge. Let’s hear again from my colleague Darren Bett.

Darren Bett: Storm surge, that’s that body of water that gets swept inland and produces widespread flooding. Climate change is warming our seas, and the sea levels are rising. That potentially could mean that a storm surge which is one element of a storm that produces more casualties than any other, those storm surges could become even more dangerous.

Phil: So, we had the word casualty, and this is used to talk about people killed or injured by an accident, a military attack, or in this case an extreme weather event.

Sarah Keith-Lucas: Darren talked about storm surges. A storm surge is where the sea level rises quickly pushed by the strong winds caused by a storm. This water comes onto land with an enormous amount lot of force, and storm surges can be up to 10 metres high. Buildings get destroyed, people can drown.

Phil: We heard about the storm sweeping inland. Something sweeping in is moving quickly and powerfully. And you can hear more from Darren in the videos on our website. Sarah, how about the answer to the quiz question you asked earlier?

Sarah Keith-Lucas: OK, Phil. So, I asked by how much has the world’s average temperature increased since 1970.

Phil: And I thought that it was around two celsius.

Sarah Keith-Lucas: It’s actually around one degree celsius. 1C is just an average across all of earth’s land and ocean surface. Some places are warming much quicker than this such as the Arctic that’s warming 3 times faster than the average rate. Just a small increase in average temperature can lead to a much bigger increase in extreme events such as heatwaves, wildfires and floods.

Phil: Oh wow, so that is an important difference. OK, let’s recap the vocabulary we’ve learned, starting with likelihood, which is noun that we use to talk how probable or how likely something is to happen.

Sarah Keith-Lucas: Landslides and mudslides which can occur after heavy rainfall make earth or mud move downhill very fast.

Phil: A storm surge is a sudden rise in the sea level, that can move inland causing destruction.

Sarah Keith-Lucas: If something sweeps in, it moves in very fast and very powerfully.

Phil: And finally, a casualty is someone who is injured or killed by an accident, attack, or something like an extreme weather event. Once again, our six minutes are up.

Sarah Keith-Lucas: Goodbye!

Phil: Thank for joining us today, Sarah! Bye!

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相关链接

• 6 Minute English 系列主页
• 上一集：How do we describe smells? (260827)
• [下一集：待发布]
• BBC Weather 视频系列：How we talk about the weather
• BBC Learning English 官网

Source: BBC Learning English - 6 Minute English
Published: 03 Sep 2026
Length: ~6 minutes
Presenters: Phil, Sarah Keith-Lucas
Series: 6 Minute English
Episode Code: 260903