国家地理-2008-06-07 Sinking England 下沉中的英格兰

All may seem calm along these beautiful stretches of British coastline.But there is a battle being fought on the beaches of Britain.It’s a fight for survival against the mighty¹ force of the North Sea.

Erosion of this coastline has been going on for thousands of years. But things have gotten much worse.

Now, top decisions are being made.Spend millions on defending the battered² coastline or abandon huge areas of Britain to the sea.

Here in North Yorkshire, the local and central government has spent a lot of money to defend this battered coastline.

"If we didn't defend, while nature would take its course, and we would invariably lose significant amounts of land, Great Britain is a shrinking asset."

Many seaside towns have to be protected.Cliffs are held in place by rock bolts, and new sand added to receding³ beaches.

But the majority of the money goes to building new seawalls[1] and repairing the Victorian and even older ones.

The sea defences themselves are in a very sorry state. We simply can't continue to pay for all over[2] the crack.

One reason Britain is in such a bad way is its geology.Due to the earth movements after the last Ice Age, the country is gradually tilting⁴.

So while Scotland rises, the south of England falls.On top of that, global warming is set to really stir things up.Sea levels in the Southern UK are expected to rise about 1-3 feet by the end of the century.

These are the salt marshes⁶ of Essex[3], just outside of London.Well, here at Essex, the problem simply couldn't be worse. Because we are in the frontline and that we know that we’ve lost more than 50% of our salt marsh⁵ in just 30 years.

Salt marshes help to defend the coastline by absorbing the energy of the waves. In addition to human development, another process is that have reduced the size of the salt marshes.

Flood defenses are preventing them from spreading naturally inland.So instead of building more seawalls, in some places farmland is flooded, and salt marshes recreated, giving natural protection to the coast.

Whether the choice is to battle against nature or work with it, the long-term outcome remains⁷ unchanged, Britain is an ever shrinking island.

Notes:
[1]seawall: a wall built beside the sea to stop the water from flowing onto the land
[2]all over: adv. over the whole extent (of)
[3]Essex: A historical region and Anglo-Saxon kingdom of southeast England. Probably settled by Saxons in the early sixth century, the kingdom was long dominated by Mercia and later by Wessex before and after its inclusion in the Danelaw territories from 886 to 917. There are important Roman and Saxon remains in the area.

Vocabulary Mix:
battered: adj out of shape because of age, regular use or frequent accidents
rock bolt: A rock bolt is a long anchor bolt, for stabilizing⁸ rock excavations⁹, which may be tunnels or rock cuts. It transfers load from the unstable¹⁰ exterior¹¹, to the confined (and much stronger) interior of the rock mass.

 

1 mighty   

adj.强有力的；巨大的

参考例句：

• A mighty force was about to break loose.一股巨大的力量即将迸发而出。
• The mighty iceberg came into view.巨大的冰山出现在眼前。

2 battered   

adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损

参考例句：

• He drove up in a battered old car.他开着一辆又老又破的旧车。
• The world was brutally battered but it survived.这个世界遭受了惨重的创伤,但它还是生存下来了。

3 receding   

v.逐渐远离( recede的现在分词 )；向后倾斜；自原处后退或避开别人的注视；尤指问题

参考例句：

• Desperately he struck out after the receding lights of the yacht. 游艇的灯光渐去渐远，他拼命划水追赶。 来自辞典例句
• Sounds produced by vehicles receding from us seem lower-pitched than usual. 渐渐远离我们的运载工具发出的声似乎比平常的音调低。 来自辞典例句

4 tilting   

倾斜，倾卸

参考例句：

• For some reason he thinks everyone is out to get him, but he's really just tilting at windmills. 不知为什么他觉得每个人都想害他，但其实他不过是在庸人自扰。
• So let us stop bickering within our ranks.Stop tilting at windmills. 所以，让我们结束内部间的争吵吧！再也不要去做同风车作战的蠢事了。

5 marsh   

n.沼泽，湿地

参考例句：

• There are a lot of frogs in the marsh.沼泽里有许多青蛙。
• I made my way slowly out of the marsh.我缓慢地走出这片沼泽地。

6 marshes   

n.沼泽，湿地( marsh的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Cows were grazing on the marshes. 牛群在湿地上吃草。
• We had to cross the marshes. 我们不得不穿过那片沼泽地。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

8 stabilizing   

n.稳定化处理[退火]v.（使）稳定， （使）稳固( stabilize的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The disulfide bridges might then be viewed primarily as stabilizing components. 二硫桥可以被看作是初级的稳定因素。 来自辞典例句
• These stabilizing design changes are usually not desirable for steady-state operation. 这些增加稳定性的设计改变通常不太符合稳态工作的要求。 来自辞典例句

9 excavations   

n.挖掘( excavation的名词复数 )；开凿；开凿的洞穴（或山路等）；（发掘出来的）古迹

参考例句：

• The excavations are open to the public. 发掘现场对公众开放。
• This year's excavations may reveal ancient artifacts. 今年的挖掘可能会发现史前古器物。 来自辞典例句

10 unstable   

adj.不稳定的，易变的

参考例句：

• This bookcase is too unstable to hold so many books.这书橱很不结实，装不了这么多书。
• The patient's condition was unstable.那患者的病情不稳定。

11 exterior   

adj.外部的，外在的；表面的

参考例句：

• The seed has a hard exterior covering.这种子外壳很硬。
• We are painting the exterior wall of the house.我们正在给房子的外墙涂漆。