美国国家公共电台 NPR--The Mississippi River's water level is at a record low, which affects grain exports

The Mississippi River's water level is at a record low, which affects grain exports

Transcript¹

The Mississippi River is at a record-low level, grounding boats and causing shipping² delays. From the Port of Memphis, here's a story about efforts to keep America's largest river open for business.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

The water level of the Mississippi River dropped to record lows in some key shipping areas recently due to the dry summer. Christopher Blank of member station WKNO in Memphis reports on the efforts to keep the river and its traffic flowing.

CHRISTOPHER BLANK, BYLINE³: Water depth on the Mississippi has been so important for so long that the author Samuel Clemens, a one-time riverboat pilot, took his pen name from a measurement - the Mark Twain. In his day, that meant the water was deep enough to boat on. Today, Captain Adrian Pirani could probably write his own book about the Mississippi and its ebbs⁴ and flows.

ADRIAN PIRANI: The river was completely closed here for a few days.

BLANK: Pirani, who runs the Army Corps⁵ of Engineers ship called the Dredge Hurley, arrived in this section of the river north of Memphis early last week to get it back open. Water levels here recently dipped below a record set in 1988.

PIRANI: This is the worst I've ever seen.

BLANK: With his long hair and cowboy boots, Pirani oversees⁶ the dredge as it sucks up debris⁷ and sand from the riverbed to make the shipping lane deeper. In the past month, it's traveled some 900 miles from New Orleans to Cairo, Ill., and is now headed back south in an around-the-clock effort to keep the lower Mississippi open for business.

For Mike Clay, a hydrologist with the Corps of Engineers, even the science is trying to keep up. He says measuring water this low is more difficult these days, as he stands at the end of a boat ramp⁸ that now drops off onto a pile of rocks.

MIKE CLAY: The gauges⁹ that have been installed for decades were not built to measure water this low.

BLANK: The past decade has been one of extremes on the Mississippi. Historic high and low depths have come almost back to back, a pattern intensified¹⁰ by the warming climate. This year's drought in the heartland, Clay says, resembles a dry weather cycle last seen in 2000. The water levels remained low all the way into January, and that could happen again.

CLAY: At the moment, there's not a significant amount of rain out on the horizon.

BLANK: Which means agencies that manage river traffic will likely stay busy for the foreseeable future.

PHILLIP VANDERWEIT: We're all hands on deck. This is 24/7 work that we're doing, and we're throwing all the assets that we have and people at it.

BLANK: That is Lieutenant¹¹ Phillip VanderWeit with the U.S. Coast Guard. The agency is in charge of moving the buoys¹² that mark safe lanes for boats to travel.

VANDERWEIT: The river conditions are changing every day, you know? So it takes an active approach to stay ahead of that.

BLANK: And it's critical since half of America's grain export flows down the river. Randy Chamness with the Lower Mississippi Committee, an association of shipping groups, says storage has run out for farmers waiting to get the fall harvest onto barges¹³.

RANDY CHAMNESS: And although we are moving it, we're moving it in much less quantities. So it just keeps backing up and backing up.

BLANK: Yet some scenes along Old Man River remain the same. In Memphis, Captain Scott Musgrove is in the wheelhouse of a sightseeing boat. Harbor dredging has kept the company afloat. As we head downriver, he points out curiosity seekers on the newly exposed riverbed, exploring some twisted metal.

SCOTT MUSGROVE: I think that's part of an old steamboat right there.

BLANK: All up and down the river, the low water has revealed the skeletons of sunken ships and artifacts that date back more than a century.

MUSGROVE: This is the time to explore with a metal detector¹⁴ and all. That's where you need to be right now.

BLANK: But on the main deck, tourists have lost interest in the riverbed and drift back to the bar and dance floor. And the music is appropriate.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "PROUD MARY")

TINA TURNER: (Singing) Rolling on the river.

BLANK: They are certainly rolling on the river - others, not so much.

For NPR News, I'm Christopher Blank in Memphis.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "PROUD MARY")

TURNER: (Singing) Yeah. All right. Rollin' on the river.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 ebbs   

退潮( ebb的名词复数 )； 落潮； 衰退

参考例句：

• When the tide ebbs it's a rock pool inhabited by crustaceans. 退潮时，它便成为甲壳动物居住的岩石区潮水潭。
• The new Russia steadily ebbs away drive out of Moscow. 驶离莫斯科愈来愈远以后，俄罗斯崭新的景象也逐渐消失。

5 corps   

n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组

参考例句：

• The medical corps were cited for bravery in combat.医疗队由于在战场上的英勇表现而受嘉奖。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

6 oversees   

v.监督，监视( oversee的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• She oversees both the research and the manufacturing departments. 她既监督研究部门又监督生产部门。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Department of Education oversees the federal programs dealing with education. 教育部监管处理教育的联邦程序。 来自互联网

7 debris   

n.瓦砾堆，废墟，碎片

参考例句：

• After the bombing there was a lot of debris everywhere.轰炸之后到处瓦砾成堆。
• Bacteria sticks to food debris in the teeth,causing decay.细菌附着在牙缝中的食物残渣上，导致蛀牙。

8 ramp   

n.暴怒，斜坡，坡道；vi.作恐吓姿势，暴怒，加速；vt.加速

参考例句：

• That driver drove the car up the ramp.那司机将车开上了斜坡。
• The factory don't have that capacity to ramp up.这家工厂没有能力加速生产。

9 gauges   

n.规格( gauge的名词复数 )；厚度；宽度；标准尺寸v.（用仪器）测量( gauge的第三人称单数 )；估计；计量；划分

参考例句：

• A thermometer gauges the temperature. 温度计可测量温度。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The fuel gauges dropped swiftly. 燃料表指针迅速下降。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 intensified   

v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Violence intensified during the night. 在夜间暴力活动加剧了。
• The drought has intensified. 旱情加剧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 lieutenant   

n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员

参考例句：

• He was promoted to be a lieutenant in the army.他被提升为陆军中尉。
• He prevailed on the lieutenant to send in a short note.他说动那个副官，递上了一张简短的便条进去。

12 buoys   

n.浮标( buoy的名词复数 )；航标；救生圈；救生衣v.使浮起( buoy的第三人称单数 )；支持；为…设浮标；振奋…的精神

参考例句：

• The channel is marked by buoys. 航道有浮标表示。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Often they mark the path with buoys. 他们常常用浮标作为航道的标志。 来自辞典例句

13 barges   

驳船( barge的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The tug is towing three barges. 那只拖船正拖着三只驳船。
• There were plenty of barges dropping down with the tide. 有不少驳船顺流而下。

14 detector   

n.发觉者，探测器

参考例句：

• The detector is housed in a streamlined cylindrical container.探测器安装在流线型圆柱形容器内。
• Please walk through the metal detector.请走过金属检测器。