【趣谈英语】曼谷正在下沉-Bangkok Is Sinking

Pre-Listening Vocabulary

• temple: a religious building where people gather to worship
• metropolis¹: a large, heavily populated city
• urban sprawl²: the uncontrolled growth of a city
• erosion: the gradual loss of ground surface
• depletion³: the using up or emptying of something
• foundation: the structure below ground that supports a building

Bangkok Is Sinking

 

If you’ve always wanted to visit Bangkok and tour its historic temples, now might be the time. The capital of Thailand is sinking twice as fast as it was a decade ago. Scientists fear the metropolis could be completely underwater within 20 years. Urban sprawl is largely to blame for the surface erosion and depletion of groundwater. Thailand is also very sensitive to climate change. As the water rises and the ground erodes⁴, one of the biggest problems will be drainage. Many of the historic buildings are in danger already because they weren’t built with deep foundations. Other large cities that are at risk of sinking in the near future are New York, New Orleans, Venice, Shanghai, and Mexico City.

1 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。

2 sprawl   

vi.躺卧，扩张，蔓延；vt.使蔓延；n.躺卧，蔓延

参考例句：

• In our garden,bushes are allowed to sprawl as they will.在我们园子里，灌木丛爱怎么蔓延就怎么蔓延。
• He is lying in a sprawl on the bed.他伸开四肢躺在床上。

3 depletion   

n.耗尽，枯竭

参考例句：

• Increased consumption of water has led to rapid depletion of groundwater reserves.用水量的增加导致了地下水贮备迅速枯竭。
• Farmers should rotate crops every season to prevent depletion of the soil.农夫每季应该要轮耕，以免耗尽土壤。

4 erodes   

侵蚀，腐蚀( erode的第三人称单数 )； 逐渐毁坏，削弱，损害

参考例句：

• The sea erodes the rock. 海水侵蚀岩石。
• The sea erodes the land. 海洋侵蚀陆地。