美国国家公共电台 NPR--Ukraine is still assessing the damage caused when a dam was destroyed

Ukraine is still assessing the damage caused when a dam was destroyed

Transcript¹

Russia and Ukraine traded accusations² over who was to blame for damage to a key dam on Ukraine's Dnipro River which has flooded homes and forced evacuations in the south of the country.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

We have an update on the war in Ukraine. Satellite images show a landscape transformed.

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

The images show the dam break earlier this week altered the shape of the Dnipro River. Entire waterfront neighborhoods that stood on dry land are now underwater. The dam itself is largely swept away. Ukraine blames its collapse³ on Russia. Russians who occupy that region of southern Ukraine deny it.

INSKEEP: All of this happened in a region where Ukrainians were widely expected to launch an offensive against Russian troops. So what's this mean for civilians⁵ and for the war? NPR's Greg Myre is in Kyiv.

Hey there, Greg.

GREG MYRE, BYLINE⁶: Good morning, Steve.

INSKEEP: How does this flooded area relate to the battlefield?

MYRE: Well, the dam is on the Dnipro River, the main river that runs north-south through Ukraine. It is the front line in this area. The Ukrainians are on the west side. The Russians are on the east side. If you go a little further south of the dam - 50 miles - to the large city of Kherson, the Russians fire across the river every day. It's one of the hardest-hit urban areas in Ukraine. So it's very much part of the fighting now. And as you noted⁷, it could be part of a Ukrainian effort to cross the river and drive out the Russians.

INSKEEP: Yeah. We don't know the Ukrainians will attack that way. And, in fact, all of the telegraphing in that direction would almost imply they might attack somewhere else. But does the flooding there make the potential military problem harder?

MYRE: Absolutely, if indeed that's the case. We know, generally speaking, the Ukrainians probably will want to attack somewhere in the south to try to cut the Russian forces in two. We know that river crossings are always difficult military operations. So if you flood the area, it could certainly make it more difficult. The Ukrainians have already addressed this, saying they have all the necessary watercraft for such an operation, and they're not talking in any detail about what they might do militarily. One quick historical note here, in World War II, the Soviets⁸ blew up a dam in this area, about 100 miles north on the same river, in an attempt to prevent a Nazi⁹ German offensive. So there is a precedent¹⁰ here.

INSKEEP: Yeah. We don't know the cause of this dam break, but we do know that dams have been deliberately¹¹ broken for various reasons in past wars. Greg, I want to ask about the people in those satellite images from Maxar that we've been looking at. How many people got away?

MYRE: Well, Steve, the initial fear was this torrent¹² of water could cause huge numbers of casualties, especially when it reached this this big city of Kherson further south. Now, the water was so powerful, we saw video of a house that was lifted off its foundation and swept down the river intact, just like it was a boat. In a town next to the dam, a zoo was flooded, and more or less 300 animals were killed. But Ukrainian officials, including the prime minister, say no human deaths have been reported on the western side of the river, which Ukraine controls. There are media reports on the Russian side that a few people are missing. And that's the side, as I noted, that Russia occupies.

INSKEEP: How do we find out who's responsible?

MYRE: So Ukraine and Russia continue to accuse each other, and it'll be hard to investigate because the dam is gone, and the river is the front line in the war, as we noted. Now, we should emphasize a couple of points. Russian troops seized the dam at the very beginning of the war in February last year and have been in control ever since. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is claiming that Russia blew up the dam from the inside. Now, there are the Ukrainian forces nearby on the western side of the river, but it's not clear how they could conduct a massive sabotage¹³ operation without being detected. This is a huge, or was, a huge dam. It can't be taken out with a single missile. Also, we should note Russia has attacked Ukrainian infrastructure¹⁴, civilian⁴ targets throughout the war. Russia spent the entire winter firing missiles at Ukraine's electrical grid¹⁵ in every corner of the country.

INSKEEP: NPR's Greg Myre. Thanks for your reporting there in Kyiv.

MYRE: Sure thing, Steve.

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 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

3 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

4 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

5 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

6 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。

7 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

8 soviets   

苏维埃（Soviet的复数形式）

参考例句：

• A public challenge could provoke the Soviets to dig in. 公开挑战会促使苏联人一意孤行。
• The Soviets proposed the withdrawal of American ballistic-missile submarines from forward bases. 苏联人建议把美国的弹道导弹潜艇从前沿基地撤走。

9 Nazi   

n.纳粹分子，adj.纳粹党的，纳粹的

参考例句：

• They declare the Nazi regime overthrown and sue for peace.他们宣布纳粹政权已被推翻，并出面求和。
• Nazi closes those war criminals inside their concentration camp.纳粹把那些战犯关在他们的集中营里。

10 precedent   

n.先例，前例；惯例；adj.在前的，在先的

参考例句：

• Is there a precedent for what you want me to do?你要我做的事有前例可援吗？
• This is a wonderful achievement without precedent in Chinese history.这是中国历史上亘古未有的奇绩。

11 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。

12 torrent   

n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发

参考例句：

• The torrent scoured a channel down the hillside. 急流沿着山坡冲出了一条沟。
• Her pent-up anger was released in a torrent of words.她压抑的愤怒以滔滔不绝的话爆发了出来。

13 sabotage   

n.怠工，破坏活动，破坏；v.从事破坏活动，妨害，破坏

参考例句：

• They tried to sabotage my birthday party.他们企图破坏我的生日晚会。
• The fire at the factory was caused by sabotage.那家工厂的火灾是有人蓄意破坏引起的。

14 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。

15 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。