今年日本的樱花开得比往年都要早，事实上，这是日本1200多年来最早的一次。专家指出，樱花开得越来越早预示着更严重的气候危机和生态危机。

 

Think of Japan in the spring, and the image that comes to mind is likely the country's famous cherry blossoms, also known as "sakura" -- white and pink flowers, bursting across cities and mountains, petals¹ covering the ground.

想起春天的日本，映入脑海的应该是日本著名的樱花。白色和粉色的花朵盛开在城市和山间，地面上铺满了花瓣。

 

The flowers, which experience a "peak bloom" that only lasts a few days, have been revered² in Japan for more than a thousand years. Crowds celebrate with viewing parties, flocking to the most popular locations to take photos and have picnics underneath³ the branches.

盛花期只有几天的樱花一千多年来在日本备受推崇。人们举办赏花会来庆祝，蜂拥到热门景点拍照，在樱花树下野餐。

 

But this year, cherry blossom season has come and gone in the blink of an eye, in one of the earliest blooms on record -- and scientists warn it's a symptom of the larger climate crisis threatening ecosystems⁴ everywhere.

但是今年，樱花季眨眼之间来了又去，花期前所未有地早。科学家警告说，这预示着更大规模威胁各地生态系统的气候危机即将到来。

 

Yasuyuki Aono, a researcher at Osaka Prefecture University, has gathered records from Kyoto back to 812 AD from historical documents and diaries. In the central city of Kyoto, cherry blossoms peaked on March 26, the earliest in more than 1,200 years, Aono said.

大阪府立大学的研究员青野靖之收集了京都从公元812年至今的历史文献和日志。青野指出，京都市中心的樱花在3月26日达到全盛，这是1200多年来最早的一次。

 

And in the capital Tokyo, cherry blossoms reached full bloom on March 22, the second-earliest date on record.

在日本首都东京，樱花在3月22日达到了全盛，这是有记录以来第二早的盛花期。

 

"As global temperatures warm, the last spring frosts are occurring earlier and flowering is occurring sooner," said Dr. Lewis Ziska from Columbia University's Environmental Health Sciences.

哥伦比亚大学环境健康科学系的路易斯·齐思卡博士说：“随着全球气温变暖，春天最后一次霜冻时间提前，花开得也更早了。”

 

The peak bloom dates shift every year, depending on numerous factors including weather and rainfall, but have shown a general trend of moving earlier and earlier. In Kyoto, the peak date hovered⁵ around mid-April for centuries, according to Aono's data, but began moving into early April during the 1800s. The date has only dipped into late March a handful of times in recorded history.

樱花花期每年都不同，取决于天气、雨水等诸多因素，但是总体趋势是越来越早。根据青野的数据，京都过去几百年的盛花期都是在四月中旬，但是19世纪开始变成四月初。根据记载，历史上只有几次在三月末进入盛花期。

 

"Sakura blooms are very temperature sensitive," said Aono. "Flowering and full bloom could be earlier or later depending on the temperature alone," he said. "The temperature was low in the 1820s, but it has risen by about 3.5 degrees Celsius⁶ to this day."

青野说：“樱花对气温十分敏感。光是气温变化就可以提早或推迟花期。19世纪20年代气温较低，但自那以后气温已经上升了约3.5摄氏度。”

 

This year's seasons in particular influenced the blossom dates, he added. The winter was very cold, but the spring came fast and unusually warm, so "the buds are completely awake after enough rest."

他补充道，今年的春季对花期影响尤其大。冬天非常寒冷，但是春天很快就来了，而且异常温暖，因此“花骨朵在足够的休息后完全觉醒了”。

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