PBS高端访谈:纽约利用桑迪的经验教训,建立抵御超级风暴的机制

 　　GWEN IFILL: This week marks a year since superstorm Sandy struck. More than 70 people were killed along the Eastern Seaboard. Damage totaled more than $65 billion, and it pounded New Jersey¹ and New York City hard. It also prompted a reexamination -- a reexamination about how to prepare for future disasters.

　　The NewsHour’s science correspondent, Miles O'Brien, has the first of two reports for us, this on changes in New York.

　　MILES O’BRIEN: Hurricane Sandy brought mighty² Gotham to its knees. And one year later, the people who keep this city running are scrambling³ to figure out how to keep it dry as storms worsen and the sea level rises.

　　The Consolidated⁵ Edison power substation that sits at the end of 14th street right next to the East River is about six feet above sea level.

　　ROBERT SCHIMMENTI, Consolidated Edison: The water and electricity doesn't mix, obviously.

　　MILES O’BRIEN: Most of the electricity for Lower Manhattan flows through these transformers and relays, as long as they're not underwater. For over 50 years, the 11-foot-high flood walls worked just fine, until Sandy's storm surge pushed 14 feet of water over the banks of the East River.

　　MAN: And the waters were coming over this.

　　MILES O’BRIEN: The flash point was a circuit breaker that shorted out after the saltwater rushed in.

　　MAN: That breaker was at a lower elevation⁶. And as the water started to rise, that breaker flashed over, and then caused a subsequent failure at the transformer. And so then you saw this big flash of light. And there was a cascading⁷ failure because of the other relays. And then the station ended up shut down.

　　MILES O’BRIEN: Con⁴ Ed's vice⁸ president of engineering and planning, Bob Schimmenti, is determined¹⁰ tokeep this station dry whenever the next megastorm hits. They're building about 180 aluminum¹¹ doors to plug any holes in the substation's protective ring.

　　ROBERT SCHIMMENTI: So if the same event occurred and the same storm surge occurred, there would be no customers out in Manhattan.

　　MILES O’BRIEN: And beneath the sidewalks, all across the city, workers are installing waterproof¹² equipment.

　　MAN: Everything you saw, even if you are submerged underwater, this is all submersible equipment. If it is underwater, it will still operate normally.

　　MILES O’BRIEN: And they're deploying¹³ more smart grid¹⁴ technology that can be monitored remotely and reduce power outages.

　　ROBERT SCHIMMENTI: What we will do over the long-term is work with the latest climate science so that we're further protected in the future.

　　As more information comes in, our designs will be flexible that we can adjust, change, elevate different types of equipment, add a higher wall. We will have a different set of options that will be most cost-effective going forward.

　　MILES O’BRIEN: The electrical grid is just one piece of the vast infrastructure¹⁵ clobbered¹⁶ by megastorm Sandy. On the West Side of Manhattan, the phone call Verizon also got a climate change wakeup call.

　　CHRISTOPHER LEVENDOS, Verizon: The impact of Hurricane Sandy to Verizon was the largest impact to our line the our wire line infrastructure in our 100-year history.

　　MILES O’BRIEN: Chris Levendos is Verizon's vice president of national operations. Verizon world headquarters sits at 140 West Street, about 250 yards from the Hudson River, about five-and-a-half feet above sea level. The ornate art deco lobby is normally gilded¹⁷ and gleaming. But the night Sandy roared in, it wasn't such a pretty picture.

　　CHRISTOPHER LEVENDOS: We had water come in through the front and the rear doors of the building. Andthe water gets into the elevator shafts¹⁸, down the stair walls and begins to fill up the five subbasements of this building.

　　MILES O’BRIEN: In the basement is the vault¹⁹ where Verizon keeps its crown jewels, telephone cables, on that night, most of them copper²⁰. Bad enough, but below the vault is a pump system that delivers diesel²¹ fuel to the emergency generators²² on the 10th floor.

　　But the pump wasn't waterproof. When it failed, the dominoes started falling. No pump, no power. No power, and these crucial machines stop working, air compressors. Verizon pumps air into its copper cables to keep water from seeping²³ in. Water, especially seawater, destroys copper.

　　CHRISTOPHER LEVENDOS: The network was completely destroyed with one massive storm in one very destructive night.

　　MILES O’BRIEN: But there was, literally²⁴ and figuratively, one glimmer²⁵ of light amid the unimaginablemess. Fiberoptic cables, long thin strands²⁷ of glass that transmit voice and data with bursts of light,are far more efficient than copper wires. And, best of all, they're impervious²⁸ to water.

　　After Sandy, the company started immediately replacing the entire copper wire network in Lower Manhattan with fiber²⁶. The changeover was supposed to take years. Verizon did it in six months. In all, Sandy cost Verizon about $1 billion. And that crucial fuel pump? It's now in a watertight room with a submarine door.

　　Protecting New York's vulnerable and venerable subway system may be the biggest challenge of all. Sandy caused about $5 billion worth of harm to the nation's largest transit²⁹ system, hardest-hit, South Ferry Station at the southern tip of Manhattan. The station was only 3 years old, built at a cost of $550million. The day after Sandy, it lay in ruins.Joe Leader is the man in charge of New York subways.

　　JOE LEADER, Metropolitan³⁰ Transportation Authority: The water level reached this high.

　　MILES O’BRIEN: More than $50 million gallons of seawater came rushing into South Ferry, filling the station almost to street level.

　　JOE LEADER: You try and prevent it. You try and deter⁹ it, you know, and that's the best thing do. Butcan you really actually stop it?

　　MILES O’BRIEN: It wasn't for lack of trying. As Sandy bore down on the city, transit workers frantically³¹ fought to stem the tide with inflatable dams, sandbags and plywood. But there was no stopping thewater. Subway stations, rail yards and nine tunnels flooded.

　　MARC MENDE, Metropolitan Transportation Authority: The water was coming from everywhere. There was no way of stopping it. You needed Superman, I guess.

　　MILES O’BRIEN: Marc Mende is the general manager of the Hugh Carey Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, which normally carries cars and trucks between Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan.

　　MARC MENDE: We abandoned the place. We basically pulled everybody out of here.

　　MAN: Marc, come on. We have got to go.

　　MILES O’BRIEN: Here, there was little they could do; 80 million gallons of seawater gushed³² in. The tunnel was practically full.

　　Work crews managed to clean it up. They removed the ceiling tiles and replaced enough lighting³³, cameras and communications gear to reopen the tunnel just two weeks after the storm. But there are years of work ahead to get things back to the pre-Sandy condition.

　　Ten months after Sandy hit, engineers tested a water-filled emergency dam that might offer a layer of defense³⁴ for the tunnel the next time. They're also considering this idea from West Virginia University, an inflatable plug. In the meantime, carpenters have erected³⁵ this plywood wall at the low point where the water gushed in.

　　But in the long run, will plywood and inflatables and other small-scale changes be enough to protect this metropolis³⁶?

　　JOE LEADER: If I made this airtight and we didn't allow the $66 million gallons of water that we pumped out to come into our system, where would that water be? It would be in the streets and it would be in the basements and on the first floors of all the buildings surrounding. It's got to be a really regional issue to decide how do you deal with something like that.

　　MILES O’BRIEN: In June, New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg released a $20 billion plan to make the city more resilient. It calls for several small barriers at strategic locations, as well as plenty of new seawalls.

　　But it doesn't support construction of massive storm surge barriers like they have built in places like the Netherlands. Building structures that expensive and extensive would surely require regional, if not national, planning and support.

　　GWEN IFILL: Tomorrow, Miles reports from the Netherlands, a world leader in adapting to rising sea levels and severe storms.

1 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

2 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。

3 scrambling   

v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞

参考例句：

• Scrambling up her hair, she darted out of the house. 她匆忙扎起头发，冲出房去。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• She is scrambling eggs. 她正在炒蛋。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 con   

n.反对的观点，反对者，反对票，肺病；vt.精读，学习，默记；adv.反对地，从反面；adj.欺诈的

参考例句：

• We must be fair and consider the reason pro and con.我们必须公平考虑赞成和反对的理由。
• The motion is adopted non con.因无人投反对票，协议被通过。

5 consolidated   

a.联合的

参考例句：

• With this new movie he has consolidated his position as the country's leading director. 他新执导的影片巩固了他作为全国最佳导演的地位。
• Those two banks have consolidated and formed a single large bank. 那两家银行已合并成一家大银行。

6 elevation   

n.高度；海拔；高地；上升；提高

参考例句：

• The house is at an elevation of 2,000 metres.那幢房子位于海拔两千米的高处。
• His elevation to the position of General Manager was announced yesterday.昨天宣布他晋升总经理职位。

7 cascading   

流注( cascade的现在分词 )； 大量落下； 大量垂悬； 梯流

参考例句：

• First of all, cascading menus are to be avoided at all costs. 首先，无论如何都要避免使用级联菜单。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Her sounds began cascading gently. 他的声音开始缓缓地低落下来。

8 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

9 deter   

vt.阻止，使不敢，吓住

参考例句：

• Failure did not deter us from trying it again.失败并没有能阻挡我们再次进行试验。
• Dogs can deter unwelcome intruders.狗能够阻拦不受欢迎的闯入者。

10 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

11 aluminum   

n.(aluminium)铝

参考例句：

• The aluminum sheets cannot be too much thicker than 0.04 inches.铝板厚度不能超过0.04英寸。
• During the launch phase,it would ride in a protective aluminum shell.在发射阶段，它盛在一只保护的铝壳里。

12 waterproof   

n.防水材料；adj.防水的；v.使...能防水

参考例句：

• My mother bought me a waterproof watch.我妈妈给我买了一块防水手表。
• All the electronics are housed in a waterproof box.所有电子设备都储放在一个防水盒中。

13 deploying   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的现在分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Provides support for developing and deploying distributed, component-based applications. 为开发和部署基于组件的分布式应用程序提供支持。
• Advertisement, publishing, repair, and install-on-demand are all available when deploying your application. 在部署应用程序时提供公布、发布、修复和即需即装功能。

14 grid   

n.高压输电线路网；地图坐标方格；格栅

参考例句：

• In this application,the carrier is used to encapsulate the grid.在这种情况下，要用载体把格栅密封起来。
• Modern gauges consist of metal foil in the form of a grid.现代应变仪则由网格形式的金属片组成。

15 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

16 clobbered   

v.狠揍， （不停）猛打( clobber的过去式和过去分词 )；彻底击败

参考例句：

• The paper got clobbered with libel damages of half a million pounds. 这家报纸被罚以五十万英镑的诽谤损害赔偿金。
• The robbers clobbered the shopkeeper to make him open the safe. 强盗们殴打店主迫使他打开保险箱。 来自辞典例句

17 gilded   

a.镀金的，富有的

参考例句：

• The golden light gilded the sea. 金色的阳光使大海如金子般闪闪发光。
• "Friends, they are only gilded disks of lead!" "朋友们，这只不过是些镀金的铅饼！ 来自英汉文学 - 败坏赫德莱堡

18 shafts   

n.轴( shaft的名词复数 )；（箭、高尔夫球棒等的）杆；通风井；一阵（疼痛、害怕等）

参考例句：

• He deliberately jerked the shafts to rock him a bit. 他故意的上下颠动车把，摇这个老猴子几下。 来自汉英文学 - 骆驼祥子
• Shafts were sunk, with tunnels dug laterally. 竖井已经打下，并且挖有横向矿道。 来自辞典例句

19 vault   

n.拱形圆顶，地窖，地下室

参考例句：

• The vault of this cathedral is very high.这座天主教堂的拱顶非常高。
• The old patrician was buried in the family vault.这位老贵族埋在家族的墓地里。

20 copper   

n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的

参考例句：

• The students are asked to prove the purity of copper.要求学生们检验铜的纯度。
• Copper is a good medium for the conduction of heat and electricity.铜是热和电的良导体。

21 diesel   

n.柴油发动机，内燃机

参考例句：

• We experimented with diesel engines to drive the pumps.我们试着用柴油机来带动水泵。
• My tractor operates on diesel oil.我的那台拖拉机用柴油开动。

22 generators   

n.发电机，发生器( generator的名词复数 )；电力公司

参考例句：

• The factory's emergency generators were used during the power cut. 工厂应急发电机在停电期间用上了。
• Power can be fed from wind generators into the electricity grid system. 电力可以从风力发电机流入输电网。 来自《简明英汉词典》

23 seeping   

v.（液体）渗( seep的现在分词 )；渗透；渗出；漏出

参考例句：

• Water had been slowly seeping away from the pond. 池塘里的水一直在慢慢渗漏。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Chueh-hui could feel the cold seeping into his bones. 觉慧开始觉得寒气透过衣服浸到身上来了。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）

24 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

25 glimmer   

v.发出闪烁的微光；n.微光，微弱的闪光

参考例句：

• I looked at her and felt a glimmer of hope.我注视她，感到了一线希望。
• A glimmer of amusement showed in her eyes.她的眼中露出一丝笑意。

26 fiber   

n.纤维，纤维质

参考例句：

• The basic structural unit of yarn is the fiber.纤维是纱的基本结构单元。
• The material must be free of fiber clumps.这种材料必须无纤维块。

27 strands   

n.（线、绳、金属线、毛发等的）股( strand的名词复数 )；缕；海洋、湖或河的)岸；（观点、计划、故事等的）部份v.使滞留，使搁浅( strand的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Twist a length of rope from strands of hemp. 用几股麻搓成了一段绳子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She laced strands into a braid. 她把几股线编织成一根穗带。 来自《简明英汉词典》

28 impervious   

adj.不能渗透的，不能穿过的，不易伤害的

参考例句：

• He was completely impervious to criticism.他对批评毫不在乎。
• This material is impervious to gases and liquids.气体和液体都透不过这种物质。

29 transit   

n.经过，运输；vt.穿越，旋转；vi.越过

参考例句：

• His luggage was lost in transit.他的行李在运送中丢失。
• The canal can transit a total of 50 ships daily.这条运河每天能通过50条船。

30 metropolitan   

adj.大城市的，大都会的

参考例句：

• Metropolitan buildings become taller than ever.大城市的建筑变得比以前更高。
• Metropolitan residents are used to fast rhythm.大都市的居民习惯于快节奏。

31 frantically   

ad.发狂地, 发疯地

参考例句：

• He dashed frantically across the road. 他疯狂地跑过马路。
• She bid frantically for the old chair. 她发狂地喊出高价要买那把古老的椅子。

32 gushed   

v.喷，涌( gush的过去式和过去分词 )；滔滔不绝地说话

参考例句：

• Oil gushed from the well. 石油从井口喷了出来。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Clear water gushed into the irrigational channel. 清澈的水涌进了灌溉渠道。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

33 lighting   

n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光

参考例句：

• The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
• The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。

34 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

35 ERECTED   

adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立

参考例句：

• A monument to him was erected in St Paul's Cathedral. 在圣保罗大教堂为他修了一座纪念碑。
• A monument was erected to the memory of that great scientist. 树立了一块纪念碑纪念那位伟大的科学家。

36 metropolis   

n.首府；大城市

参考例句：

• Shanghai is a metropolis in China.上海是中国的大都市。
• He was dazzled by the gaiety and splendour of the metropolis.大都市的花花世界使他感到眼花缭乱。