听力来源：NPR，仅用于个人英语学习。
原文链接：https://www.npr.org/2019/06/03/729390433/californias-largest-utility-warns-people-to-expect-blackouts-this-summer
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California's Largest Utility Warns People To Expect Blackouts This Summer
June 3, 2019
AUDIE CORNISH, HOST: California's largest utility has warned residents they may be left in the dark this summer. PG&E plans to power down parts of the grid whenever there's a high risk of wildfire. The last two fire seasons were the worst on record, and the utilities' electrical equipment caused much of the damage.
From member station KQED in San Francisco, Lily Jamali reports.
LILY JAMALI, BYLINE: PG&E's plan to de-energize parts of the grid comes from a familiar playbook. For a decade now, San Diego Gas & Electric has relied on this method to stop fires from starting or spreading, communicating with customers through public service announcements like this one.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: We pride ourselves on keeping the lights on. But when wildfires and severe weather threaten our system, we'll turn off the power.
JAMALI: State officials and regulators point to San Diego as a model for how utilities should respond to wildfire dangers. But the practice of plunging customers into the dark is a last resort.
JEFF SMITH: We do not take the decision to suspend service, to turn off power as a result of the Public Safety Power Shutoff program, lightly.
JAMALI: PG&E spokesman Jeff Smith says these public safety power shutoffs, as the utility calls them, could take place several times this coming fire season. Last year, the utility shut down power to its distribution lines only once. It notably didn't shut down power ahead of last November's Camp Fire, California's deadliest and most destructive, now blamed on PG&E equipment.
This year, for the first time, the company may shut down the giant, high-voltage transmission lines that serve as arteries to the system, possibly leaving large cities like San Francisco and San Jose, hundreds of miles from a wildfire zone, in the dark. This is raising concerns about how widespread power shutdowns will affect the most vulnerable.
SUSAN GORIN: That would include, certainly, our medically fragile folks, seniors who need air-conditioning as well as small businesses.
JAMALI: Susan Gorin is a Sonoma County supervisor.
GORIN: And please, before you allow this to happen, make sure that there is a very effective communication plan going forward.
JAMALI: Others point to the fact that PG&E, just weeks ago, scaled back the wildfire prevention plan it submitted to the state, which included expensive but important measures that could stop a pre-emptive shutdown in the first place.
2017 wildfire survivor Will Abrams fears the power shutdown plan gives the utility an easy out.
WILL ABRAMS: What this does is, unfortunately, it provides a release valve for the investor-owned utilities, where they can do this not as a matter of last resort and not have motivations to do the other mitigation that's so critical.
JAMALI: For now, PG&E is pushing to ensure they have the most updated contact information for the 16 million people who rely on the utility to keep the lights on.
For NPR News, I'm Lily Jamali.
知识点笔记
1.与电气有关的表达：
utility：供电、供气等公共事业
e.g.No driver's license, no utility bills, nothing.
- blackout:灯火管制（大面积停电）
e.g.How long's this blackout supposed to last? - be left in the dark:漆黑，也就是停电了
- ...plunging customers into the dark
plunge (somebody/something) into something: to suddenly experience a difficult or unpleasant situation, or to make someone or something do this使某人/某事陷入困难境地
e.g.1.A strike would plunge the country into chaos.
2.The house was suddenly plunged into darkness.
3.After the war, the family plunged into debt.
2.下面的几个短语都是表示供电公司停电：
1....to de-energize parts of the grid
2....to power down parts of the grid
3.turn off the power
4.shut down power
5.power shutoffs
注意这里grid：网格，也表示输电网络
e.g.1....breakdowns in communications and electric power grids.
2.National Grid国家电网
3.playbook：剧本；秘籍
e.g.Did you at least use the playbook?
4.last/final resort：最后办法；最后手段
e.g.1.Drug treatment should only be used as a last resort.
2.Economic sanctions will be used only in the last resort.
3.As a last resort you may have to accept their point of view.
5.suspend:暂停
e.g.1.Sales of the drug will be suspended until more tests are completed.
2.Talks between the two countries have now been suspended.
6....giant, high-voltage transmission lines that serve as arteries to the system,
high-voltage transmission line: 高压输电线
artery: 动脉，引申为主干线、主干道
e.g.1.Clarence Street was one of the northbound arteries of the central business district.
2....the point where the Ohio River, itself a great artery, joins the Mississippi.
7.scale back：缩减
e.g.1.Despite current price advantage, UK manufacturers are still having to scale back production.
2.This year, however, Mr. Park says he is feeling the pinch due to the global financial crisis, and is scaling back his celebrations.
8.pre-emptive：预先的；先发制人的
e.g.1.We're not involved. I'm gonna do a preemptive strike.
2.The two companies organized a preemptive alliance against a possible takeover by another firm.
9.mitigation：减轻、缓解、缓和
e.g.1.His marriage had brought a slight mitigation of the monotony of his existence.
2....the emphasis is on the identification and mitigation of pollution.