密歇根新闻广播 亚洲鲤鱼在美国泛滥成灾

 

When scientists were working on the top-secret Manhattan Project to build the atomic bomb, there was a brief moment when some thought there was a small chance it might ignite the entire atmosphere.

Which would have meant good-bye life on earth. Enrico Fermi, who had a puckish sense of humor, took bets on whether the test of the bomb would destroy the world, or only New Mexico.

Eventually, new calculations showed essentially¹ no chance of that. But I’ve always wondered what would have happened if there had in fact been a one percent chance, say, that the bomb would have destroyed the world. Would the military and the bureaucrats² have said, “That’s a risk, but we’ve spent billions on this, so let’s test it anyway?”

That could have happened. I know that because the reverse is true. We are curiously³ reluctant to spend money to counter major environmental threats.

Take the finally released report from the U.S. Army Corps⁴ of Engineers on how to prevent Asian carp from moving into the Great Lakes, something that would have devastating⁵ consequences for everything from fishing to tourism.

The Trump⁶ administration refused to release this for months, probably because they don’t want to pay to deal with this threat. What the Corps suggests is building what sounds like a Rube Goldberg apparatus⁷ to keep the carp out.

There would first be an electric barrier designed to zap them enough to chase them away. If they made it past that, there would be an underwater noise generator⁸ to scare them away. (I wonder if it would play country music at full blast, or maybe heavy metal.)

And if that still didn’t stop them, there would be some device to flush any surviving carp back downstream.

The cost of all this was put at $275 million dollars, two-thirds of it paid for by the federal government. The states would have to pay about $8 million a year to maintain it.

What we don’t know is whether Washington will be willing to build this, and if they’ll try to cut corners and do it on the cheap. We also don’t know if they will get it done in time, or if it would work.

According to their calculations, if they don’t build it, there is a 29 percent chance that the two species of Asian carp, the Bighead and the Silver, eventually get into Lake Michigan.

If they do build it, the chance falls dramatically, but there would remain a 13 percent possibility the carp get in.

Plus the system, even in a best case scenario⁹, wouldn’t be finished until 2025. Given that carp have been found only nine miles from Lake Michigan, what are the chances they going to wait?

There is, however, a much more surefire way of stopping the carp: Permanently¹⁰ close the lock connecting the man-made canals from the Mississippi River to Lake Michigan. That would knock the chances of the invasive species getting in to a mere¹¹ two percent.

That, however, would disrupt shipping¹² and cost private industry a lot of money. What happens next is anyone’s guess.

But if 20 years from now sport fishing on the Great Lakes has all but disappeared, and boaters are having their arms broken by leaping silver carp, you’ll know we didn’t do enough.

1 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

2 bureaucrats   

n.官僚( bureaucrat的名词复数 )；官僚主义；官僚主义者；官僚语言

参考例句：

• That is the fate of the bureaucrats, not the inspiration of statesmen. 那是官僚主义者的命运，而不是政治家的灵感。 来自辞典例句
• Big business and dozens of anonymous bureaucrats have as much power as Japan's top elected leaders. 大企业和许多不知名的官僚同日本选举出来的最高层领导者们的权力一样大。 来自辞典例句

3 curiously   

adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地

参考例句：

• He looked curiously at the people.他好奇地看着那些人。
• He took long stealthy strides. His hands were curiously cold.他迈着悄没声息的大步。他的双手出奇地冷。

4 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。

5 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

6 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

7 apparatus   

n.装置，器械；器具，设备

参考例句：

• The school's audio apparatus includes films and records.学校的视听设备包括放映机和录音机。
• They had a very refined apparatus.他们有一套非常精良的设备。

8 generator   

n.发电机，发生器

参考例句：

• All the while the giant generator poured out its power.巨大的发电机一刻不停地发出电力。
• This is an alternating current generator.这是一台交流发电机。

9 scenario   

n.剧本，脚本；概要

参考例句：

• But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
• This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。

10 permanently   

adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地

参考例句：

• The accident left him permanently scarred.那次事故给他留下了永久的伤疤。
• The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London.该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。

11 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

12 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。