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An unusually early heat wave in India has likely reduced the country's wheat harvest.
印度一场异常提前的热浪可能会导致该国小麦收成减产。
That has left observers doubting that the country can meet its own needs while increasing crop exports to replace shortages caused by Russia's war in Ukraine.
这让观察人士怀疑，该国能否在满足自身需求的同时，增加粮食出口，以弥补俄乌战争造成的短缺。
Recently, several large areas near India's capital New Delhi which are used for waste storage have caught fire.
最近，印度首都新德里附近的几个用于储存垃圾的大片区域发生火灾。
The fires were blamed on the heat.
火灾原因是高温。
Schools in eastern India shut down because of the heat.
由于高温，印度东部的学校停课。
In the city of Rajgarh in central India, temperatures reached a record high 46.5 degrees Celsius.
在印度中部的拉吉加尔市，气温达到了创纪录的46.5摄氏度。
Temperatures reached 45 degrees Celsius in nine other cities.
其他九个城市的气温达到了45摄氏度。
But it was the heat in March that hurt crops.
但3月份的高温对农作物造成了损害。
Wheat is easily affected by heat.
小麦很容易受高温影响。
Indian farmers time their planting so that the wheat ripens during India's cooler spring.
印度农民调整种植时间，以使小麦在印度凉爽的春天成熟。
But climate change has made India's temperatures rise, said Friederike Otto.
但弗里德里克·奥托说，气候变化使印度的气温上升。
She is a climate scientist at the Imperial College of London.
她是伦敦帝国理工学院的气候科学家。
She said that before human activity increased world temperatures, heat waves like this year's would have struck India once in 50 years.
她说，在人类活动导致全球气温升高之前，像今年这样的热浪50年才会袭击印度一次。
"But now it is a much more common event--we can expect such high temperatures about once in every four years," she said.
她说：“但现在这是一个更常见的事件——我们预计大约每四年会有一次这样的高温。”
India's vulnerability to extreme heat increased 15 percent from 1990 to 2019.
从1990年到2019年，印度易受极端高温袭击的几率增加了15%。
That information comes from a 2021 report by the British medical publication Lancet.
这一信息来自英国医学杂志《柳叶刀》2021年发表的一份报告。
India is among the top five countries where vulnerable people, like the old and the poor, have the highest exposure to heat.
印度是老年人和穷人等弱势群体暴露在高温下最多的五个国家之一。
India and Brazil have the highest number of heat-related deaths in the world, the report said.
该报告称，印度和巴西是世界上与高温相关的死亡人数最多的国家。
Farm workers like Baldev Singh are among the most vulnerable.
诸如巴尔德夫·辛格这样的农场工人是最脆弱的。
Singh is a farmer in northern India's Punjab state.
辛格是印度北部旁遮普邦的一名农民。
He watched his crop dry up before his eyes as a usually cool spring changed to extreme heat.
他眼睁睁地看着自己的庄稼在眼前干枯，以往凉爽的春天变成了酷热的天气。
He lost about one-fifth of his crop.
他损失了大约五分之一的收成。
"I am afraid the worst is yet to come," Singh said.
辛格说：“恐怕最糟糕的情况还在后头”。
Punjab is usually the biggest supplier to India's national crop reserves.
旁遮普通常是印度国家粮食储备的最大供应地。
The government had hoped to buy about one-third of this year's production from the area.
政府曾希望从该地区购买今年产量的约三分之一。
But government officials predict lower production numbers this year.
但政府官员预测，今年的产量会有所下降。
Agriculture policy expert Devinder Sharma said he expected to get 25 percent less wheat.
农业政策专家德文德·夏尔马表示，他预计小麦产量将会减少25%。
The same is true in other major wheat-producing states like Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
在北方邦和中央邦等其他主要小麦生产邦，情况也是如此。
The Indian government purchased over 43 million metric tons of wheat in 2021.
印度政府在2021年购买了4300多万吨小麦。
Sharma estimates it will instead get 20 to 50 percent less.
夏尔马估计，相反，这将减少20%至50%。
India is the world's second-largest producer of wheat.
印度是世界第二大小麦生产国。
But the country exports only a small percentage of its harvest.
但该国只出口了其收成的一小部分。
India had been hoping to gain from the worldwide disruption of wheat supplies by Russia's war in Ukraine.
印度一直希望能从俄乌战争导致的全球小麦供应中断中获益。
Officials also want to develop new markets for Indian wheat in Europe, Africa, and Asia.
官员们还希望在欧洲、非洲和亚洲开发印度小麦的新市场。
India needs about 25 million tons of wheat for the large food welfare program that usually feeds more than 80 million people.
印度需要大约2500万吨小麦来满足大型食品福利计划的需要，该计划通常为8000多万人提供食物。
Before the coronavirus, India had far more supplies than it needed.
在新冠疫情爆发之前，印度的供应量远远超过了它的需求量。
But Sharma said those reserves have been strained by the food welfare program.
但夏尔马说，这些储备已经因为食品福利计划而变得紧张。
Officials provided free grain during the pandemic to about 800 million people.
官员们在疫情期间向大约8亿人免费提供了粮食。
The program was extended until September.
该计划被延长至9月份。
But it is unclear if the program will continue beyond that time.
但目前还不清楚该计划是否会在这段时间之后继续执行下去。
I'm Jonathan Evans.
乔纳森·埃文斯为您播报。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
