Punishing heat waves gripped three continents on Tuesday, breaking records in cities around the Northern Hemisphere less than two weeks after the Earth recorded what scientists said were likely its hottest days in modern history.

周二，酷暑席卷三个大洲，打破了诸多北半球城市的高温记录，而就在不到两周前，科学家才称地球出现了可能是现代历史上最热的几天。

Firefighters in Greece scrambled to put out wildfires, as parched conditions raised the risk of more blazes throughout Europe. Beijing logged another day of 95-degree heat, and people in Hangzhou, another Chinese city, compared the choking conditions to a sauna. From the Middle East to the American Southwest, delivery drivers, airport workers and construction crews labored under blistering skies. Those who could stay indoors did.

希腊的消防员紧急出动扑灭野火，炎热天气也增加了整个欧洲的火灾风险。北京又迎来35度高温的一天，另一座中国城市杭州的居民则将这种闷热形容为桑拿天。从中东到美国西南部，送货司机、机场工作人员和建筑施工队在酷热之下劳作。能待在室内的人都不再出门。

The temperatures, afflicting so much of the world all at once, were a withering reminder that climate change is a global crisis, driven by human-made forces: the emissions of heat-trapping gases, mainly caused by the burning of fossil fuels.

世界上如此多地区同时遭遇高温天气，是在尖锐地提醒人们，气候变化是一场全球危机，并受到人为因素的推动：主要由燃烧化石燃料引起的温室气体排放。

John Kerry, the U.S. special envoy for climate change, sought to coordinate some of the global response with the Chinese premier in Beijing, as a heat wave clutched a huge swath of China.

“The world really is looking to us for that leadership, particularly on the climate issue,” Mr. Kerry told Chinese officials. “Climate, as you know, is a global issue, not a bilateral issue. It’s a threat to all of humankind.”

“特别是在气候问题上，全世界都在期待美中两国发挥领导作用，”克里向中方官员表示。“如你们所知，气候是全球而非双边问题。这是对全人类的威胁。”

The planet has warmed about 2 degrees Fahrenheit since the 19th century and will continue to grow hotter until humans essentially stop burning coal, oil and gas, scientists say. The warmer temperatures contribute to extreme weather events and help make periods of extreme heat more frequent, longer and more intense.

科学家表示，地球自19世纪以来已经升温约1摄氏度，而且还将继续变暖，直到人类停止燃烧煤炭、石油和天然气。气温升高会导致极端天气，并使极端高温期变得更频繁、更漫长也更剧烈。

Also affecting this year’s conditions is the return of El Niño, a cyclical weather pattern that, depending on the sea surface temperature and the pressure of the air above it, can originate in the Pacific and have wide-ranging effects on weather around the world.

For hundreds of millions of people on Tuesday, the heat was hard to escape. In the United States, Phoenix broke a nearly half-century-old record on Tuesday, with the city’s 19th consecutive day of temperatures above 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43.3 Celsius). Elsewhere around the country, hot and humid conditions were expected to worsen along the Gulf Coast and throughout the Southeast.

对于数以亿计的人们而言，周二的高温无处可避。在美国，菲尼克斯连续19天气温超过43.3摄氏度，打破了近半世纪以来的高温记录。而在美国其他地方，墨西哥湾沿岸和整个东南部地区预计将会更加湿热。

Wildfires raged on for yet another week in Canada, having burned a staggering 25 million acres so far this year, an area roughly the size of Kentucky. With more than a month of peak fire season to go, 2023 has already eclipsed Canada’s annual record, from 1989.

加拿大的野火又持续了一周，今年到目前为止野火已蔓延多达上千万公顷的土地，大约相当于整个肯塔基州。距离火灾高峰季节结束还有一个月时间，但加拿大2023年的火灾频率已经超过了自1989年以来的年度记录。

Fires also forced evacuations in villages south, west and north of Athens, burning an estimated 7,400 acres of forest in Greece despite aerial water bombardments to bring the blazes under control.

大火还迫使雅典南部、西部和北部的村庄进行了疏散，尽管通过航空灭火控制了火势，但希腊仍有约3000公顷的森林被烧毁。

“We’ve had fires, we have them now and we’ll have them in the future, and this is one of the consequences of the climate crisis that we are living with ever greater intensity,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in a statement.

“我们过去经历过火灾，现在在经历火灾，未来也还会有火灾，这就是眼下这场愈发严重的气候危机带来的后果之一，”希腊总理基里亚科斯·米佐塔基斯在声明中表示。

Mr. Mitsotakis cut short a trip to meet European leaders in Brussels in order to oversee the firefighting. The Greek authorities, who opened air-conditioned venues in Athens to offer some relief, are also expected to restrict access to the Acropolis to cooler morning and afternoon hours, as they did last weekend after a tourist collapsed.

为监督灭火工作，米佐塔基斯缩短了在布鲁塞尔会见欧洲领导人的行程。希腊当局在雅典开放了空调场馆供民众避暑，雅典卫城的参观时间预计也将限制在较为凉爽的清晨和下午，上周末在一名游客昏倒后曾进行过这样的调整。

In many European cities, officials have introduced cooling stations. And mindful of the danger — more than 61,000 people died in last summer’s heat waves in Europe, according to a recent study — they have urged visitors and residents alike to stay indoors during the day’s hottest hours.

In Rome, where the temperatures surpassed 100 Fahrenheit (37.8 Celsius) on Tuesday, officials mobilized a task force to hand out water and help people suffering from heat stress at sites like the Colosseum and outdoor markets.

The Japanese authorities, similarly, have rushed to help people suffering from the heat: At a festival in Kyoto on Monday, nine people, ranging in age from 8 to more than 80, were taken to a hospital as temperatures neared 100 degrees Fahrenheit. In Toyota City in Aichi Prefecture, where the temperature hit more than 102 degrees Fahrenheit, the regional board of education urged 415 elementary and middle schools to cancel gym classes and outdoor activities.

日本当局也迅速采取了类似措施，帮助民众缓解高温之苦：在京都周一的节日期间，气温接近38度，有九人被送往医院，年纪从8岁到80多岁不等。在爱知县丰田市，气温接近39度，当地教育委员会敦促415所中小学取消了体育课和户外活动。

And in China, where a series of heat waves have seared the country since late June, Beijing and other cities have recorded day after day of heat over 90 degrees.

而在中国，自6月下旬以来，一连串酷暑天气席卷全国，北京和其他城市连续出现30多度的高温天气。

Power stations, in turn, have broken records for generating electricity, according to the official China Energy News — burning more coal to meet demand for cooling. China uses considerable solar, wind and hydro power, but still relies on coal for three-fifths of its electricity. Some internet users in two provinces, Guangdong and Sichuan, reported scattered blackouts this week; state media, which tends to be slow to acknowledge power problems, has been silent about blackouts.

A remote town in northwestern China on Sunday reported the highest temperature ever recorded in that country — 52.2 Celsius, or 126 Fahrenheit.

周日，中国西北部一处偏远城镇报告了该国有记录以来的最高气温——52.2摄氏度。

For millions of people in South and Southeast Asia, the stifling heat began long before the summer. India recorded the hottest February in its history, then endured high temperatures in April, when 11 people died of heat stroke on a single day, and again in May and June. Monsoon rains cooled temperatures across the country only in recent weeks.

Even regions where high heat is normal — and where those who can afford to barely venture outside in the summer — have been experiencing extremes.

即使是在高温是常态、夏季几乎不能去户外的地方，也仍然经历了极端天气。

At Persian Gulf International Airport on Iran’s southwestern coast, the heat index — which measures how hot it really feels outside based on both temperature and humidity — hit an extraordinary high of 152 degrees Fahrenheit (66.7 Celsius) at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday, according to weather data. The combination of 104-degree heat and soaked air, with 65 percent humidity, pushed conditions at the airport beyond what scientists have said humans can normally withstand.

根据气象数据，伊朗西南海岸的波斯湾国际机场在中午12点半的炎热指数（基于气温和湿度的室外体感温度）达到极端的66.7摄氏度。40摄氏度的高温再加上高达65%的空气湿度让机场环境超出了科学家所说的人类通常可以承受的范围。

In Death Valley National Park in California, the thermometer read just over 128 degrees (53 Celsius) on Sunday.

周日，加州死亡谷国家公园的温度计读数超过53摄氏度。

It was in Death Valley, the 3,000-square-mile stretch of the Mojave Desert along the California-Nevada border, where the highest temperature was ever recorded on earth, according to the World Meteorological Organization. In 1913 in Furnace Creek, Calif., the temperature reached 134 degrees Fahrenheit, or 56.6 Celsius.

根据世界气象组织的信息，地球有记录以来的最高气温，就是在死亡谷录得的，这里属于加州和内华达州交界沿线的莫哈韦沙漠，面积约7800平方公里。1913年，加州熔炉溪的气温达到56.6摄氏度。

In recent years, thermometers there have come close, hitting 130 degrees Fahrenheit in 2020 and 2021, and forecasters warned it could near the mark again this summer. But this week at least, the National Weather Service forecast that temperatures in the national park should ease, relatively speaking, to 122 to 125 degrees Fahrenheit.

近年来，当地温度曾多次接近这一数字，在2020年和2021年均达到54.4摄氏度，天气预报警告称，今夏气温可能会再次逼近这一记录。但至少在本周，国家气象局预测该国家公园的高温将得到相对的缓解，降至50到52摄氏度之间。