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Keeping Above Water: Holland’s North Sea Protection Works 伟哉荷兰北海防洪工程

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Everyone’s heard of the little Dutch boy who saved Holland by sticking his finger into a___1___ dyke. However, for low-lying Holland, the fight against flooding is not just fiction. Without the North Sea Protection Works, the country ___2___ couldn’t stay above water.

每个人都听说过荷兰有一个小男孩，他把手指插在漏水的堤防上，因而拯救了荷兰的故事。但是对于地势低洼的荷兰来说，与洪水之间的战争并不只是像故事里面说的一样。要是没有北海防洪工程，这个国家根本无法维持在水面上。

Because half of Holland lies below sea level, flooding from the North Sea and Holland’s rivers has caused ___3___ death and hardship over the centuries. In the twentieth century, the Dutch ___4___ with two monumental and amazingly complex engineering undertakings.

因为荷兰有一半低于海平面，过去几个世纪以来，来自北海以及荷兰河川的洪水，已经造成了相当多人死亡及诸多不幸。二十世纪时，荷兰以两项巨大又异常复杂的工程来做因应之道。

The first project was a massive series of dams and dykes built to ___5___ a section of the North Sea called the Zuiderzee. During construction, salt water was pumped back into the ocean, ___6___ fresh water lakes and farmland. Today, the Zuiderzee no longer exists and over 1,650-square kilometers of new farmland stands in ___7___ place.

第一项工程是要建造大量的水坝及堤防来围住往北海的一个区域—南海。堤防把南海围住时，盐水会被抽回大海，于是就产生了淡水湖泊及农地。现今，南海已经不复存在，取而代之的是超过1650平方公里的新农地。

Holland began the second part of its North Sea Protection Works after a 1953 storm that killed over 1,800 people. This time, the goal was to tame the river delta ___8___ by the Rhine and Meuse Rivers. The central feature of this project was the Oosterschelde dam. This 8.5-kilometer barrier, ___9___ gargantuan gates are lowered when necessary, controls flooding while allowing water andmarine wildlife to still move naturally.

1953年的一场暴风雨夺走了1800多条人命后，荷兰开始了第二部分的北海防洪工程。这次的目标是要整治由莱茵河及马斯河所形成的三角洲。这个工程的主要建物为东须尔得水坝。这个长达8.5公里的屏障，有着必要时可以下降的巨大闸门，借着让海水自然流动及海洋生物自然迁徒来保护环境。

These projects have allowed Holland to exist while balancing the needs of the environment.As such, they ___10__ a unique engineering wonder – one which allows people and nature to coexist.

这些工程使荷兰得以继续存在并平衡了环境的需求。就这点来说，这些工程代表一个独一无二的工程奇迹，让人类与自然并存。

－By Darshan Tyler & Iain Ferguson

Vocabulary

undertaking [͵ʌndɚˋtekɪŋ] n. 事业；企业；工作

massive [ˋmæsɪv] adj. 巨大的

barrier [ˋbærɪr] n. 障碍物

marine [məˋrin] adj. 海的；海生的

coexist [ˋkoɪgˋzɪst] v. 共存

literally [ˋlɪtərəlɪ] adv. 实在地，不加夸张地; 简直

More Information

hear of 听说过

stick [stɪk] v. 刺﹐戳﹐插

dyke [daɪk] n. 堤; 坝; 堰

low-lying [ˋloˋlaɪɪŋ] adj. 低的；低洼的

hardship [ˋhɑrdʃɪp] n. 艰难，困苦

monumental [͵mɑnjəˋmɛnt!] adj. 巨大的; 留存于历史上的；不朽的

pump [pʌmp] v. 用唧筒抽（水等）；

delta [ˋdɛltə] n.（河口的）三角洲

gargantuan [gɑrˋgæntʃʊən] adj. 庞大的，巨大的

as such 就其本身而论

Oosterschelde dam - Pijlerdam - Deltawerken

Answer