美国国家公共电台 NPR Protecting The Netherlands' Vulnerable Coasts With A 'Sand Motor'

Protecting The Netherlands' Vulnerable Coasts With A 'Sand Motor'

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

The aftermaths of storms like Harvey and Irma has left coastal¹ areas puzzling over how to manage flooding. Across the Atlantic in the low-lying Netherlands, the masters of water management are thinking beyond dams and dikes as they plan for climate change. Joanna Kakissis discovered they're experimenting with a surprisingly simple tool.

(SOUNDBITE OF SEAGULLS SQUAWKING)

JOANNA KAKISSIS, BYLINE³: On the western coast of the Netherlands, kite surfers ride the waves off a giant sandbar that juts⁴ deep into the North Sea. This sandbar is not just the postcard-pretty place for beachcombers and seagulls. It's also a flood prevention tool. It's called the Sand Motor.

(SOUNDBITE OF VIDEO)

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: The Sand Motor, an artificial peninsula designed to nourish the Delfland coast for the coming 20 years.

KAKISSIS: This informational video explains that the peninsula was created six years ago with tons of sand dredged from the sea.

(SOUNDBITE OF CRASHING WAVES)

KAKISSIS: The ocean currents sweep the sand from the peninsula into protective barriers that stretch 12 miles along the coast. The shoreline erodes⁵ easily. It's replenished⁶ every five years. But engineer Jasper Fusilier, who worked on the Sand Motor, says that won't be enough with the changing climate.

JASPER FUSILIER: We see, because of sea level rise, that, probably, we have to increase nourishment⁷ of the shoreline.

KAKISSIS: That's where the Sand Motor comes in.

FUSILIER: Creates wider beaches. Wider beaches stimulates⁸ natural formation of dunes¹⁰. The dunes will get bigger. That will give more safety in the end.

KAKISSIS: Safety from the perpetual threat of floods in a country built extensively on reclaimed¹¹ wetlands. Dutch developers are also planning for rising seas.

MARNIX DE VOS: It's almost a normal thing now to do.

KAKISSIS: Marnix De Vos is an urban designer in Rotterdam.

DE VOS: Like, before, it was normal to put a street. Well, now it's normal to make a sustainable living area that does something with the protection against the raising water levels.

KAKISSIS: Dunes manage flooding. But he says they can also elevate low-lying areas.

DE VOS: So we say, well, why don't we combine water defense¹² with a very beautiful landscape to live in.

KAKISSIS: De Vos and the Rotterdam architecture firm ZUS are testing out that idea in a new housing development near Almere, a suburb of Amsterdam about an hour east of the Sand Motor. ZUS architect Jos Hartmann explains that this area was actually underwater until the 1960s, when the Dutch reclaimed it after building a seawall.

JOS HARTMANN: When it started up, it was kind of the big farm field of Holland. Like, you had super-nutrient-rich agriculture land here. You had a lot of space.

KAKISSIS: Most of the land is flat and sits below sea level, but not the new neighborhood called Duin. Hartmann leads me up a path made of seashells. There's this hill with grass on it, but it's a sand dune⁹, isn't it?

HARTMANN: Yeah. It's a sand dune. Yes. Yes. Two and a half million cubic meters of sand. It was all brought by boat here.

(SOUNDBITE OF WOODEN WIND CHIMES RATTLING)

KAKISSIS: Wooden wind chimes hang outside a row of elegant brick homes. The artificial dunes raised these homes up to 10 meters above sea level, which means resident Marian Voigt can see over the dike² and enjoy views of the nearby lake.

MARIAN VOIGT: It looks like you're in a vacation (laughter) resort, yeah.

KAKISSIS: And elevating lowlands with sand has one more benefit. The dunes absorb heavy rainfall and actually purify the water through natural filtration. For NPR News, I'm Joanna Kakissis in Almere, The Netherlands.

(SOUNDBITE OF YOULU'S "THE GAME")

1 coastal   

adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的

参考例句：

• The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。

2 dike   

n.堤，沟；v.开沟排水

参考例句：

• They dug a dike along walls of the school.他们沿校墙挖沟。
• Fortunately,the flood did not break the dike.还好，这场大水没有把堤坝冲坏。

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 juts   

v.（使）突出( jut的第三人称单数 )；伸出；（从…）突出；高出

参考例句：

• A small section of rock juts out into the harbour. 山岩的一小角突入港湾。 来自辞典例句
• The balcony juts out over the swimming pool. 阳台伸出在游泳池上方。 来自辞典例句

5 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。

6 replenished   

补充( replenish的过去式和过去分词 )； 重新装满

参考例句：

• She replenished her wardrobe. 她添置了衣服。
• She has replenished a leather [fur] coat recently. 她最近添置了一件皮袄。

7 nourishment   

n.食物，营养品；营养情况

参考例句：

• Lack of proper nourishment reduces their power to resist disease.营养不良降低了他们抵抗疾病的能力。
• He ventured that plants draw part of their nourishment from the air.他大胆提出植物从空气中吸收部分养分的观点。

8 stimulates   

v.刺激( stimulate的第三人称单数 )；激励；使兴奋；起兴奋作用，起刺激作用，起促进作用

参考例句：

• Exercise stimulates the body. 运动促进身体健康。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Alcohol stimulates the action of the heart. 酒刺激心脏的活动。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

9 dune   

n.(由风吹积而成的)沙丘

参考例句：

• The sand massed to form a dune.沙积集起来成了沙丘。
• Cute Jim sat on the dune eating a prune in June.可爱的吉姆在六月天坐在沙丘上吃着话梅。

10 dunes   

沙丘( dune的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The boy galloped over the dunes barefoot. 那男孩光着脚在沙丘间飞跑。
• Dragging the fully laden boat across the sand dunes was no mean feat. 将满载货物的船拖过沙丘是一件了不起的事。

11 reclaimed   

adj.再生的；翻造的；收复的；回收的v.开拓( reclaim的过去式和过去分词 )；要求收回；从废料中回收（有用的材料）；挽救

参考例句：

• Many sufferers have been reclaimed from a dependence on alcohol. 许多嗜酒成癖的受害者已经被挽救过来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They reclaimed him from his evil ways. 他们把他从邪恶中挽救出来。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

12 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。