英语音频杂志：内陆国家

 　　Land-locked countries

　　by Richard Sidaway

　　Is geography important? Here’s a question for you to answer.

　　What have the following countries got in common: Australia, Japan, the United Kingdom, Iceland and Madagascar?

　　Quite easy if you can picture them on the globe - they are all islands. Australia is so big that it’s almost a continent by itself so you don’t think of it as an island, but of course all of these nations are surrounded by sea.

　　Now how about this question...

　　What have these five nations got in common? Hungary, Botswana, Kazakhstan, Paraguay and Liechtenstein. A bit more difficult to answer, but of course you’ve already read the title of this article. Yes, they are all landlocked. In other words, in contrast to the first five countries whose coastline forms their border, the second five have no coastline at all. If you are a Hungarian or a Paraguayan, you have to pass through somebody else’s country if you want to go to the beach.

　　Liechtenstein is even more of a geographical¹ phenomenon; it is ‘doubly landlocked’ because the countries that surround it - Austria and Switzerland are also landlocked. Lucky old Liechtensteiners. There is only one other country in the world in a similar position, Uzbekistan, which is surrounded by five other landlocked countries. Go and have a look at the map if you want to know which…

　　So how do countries become landlocked? If you are Swiss or Nepalese, you have probably never thought things could be any other way. Switzerland’s mountains, like the Himalayas, have formed a natural boundary for thousands of years. But there are borders and there are borders. Where one country ends and another begins is not something that is fixed² for all time.

　　Take Poland or the Democratic Republic of Congo, for example. They were landlocked at one time in their history but managed to get the map changed so that a thin piece of land gave them access to the sea. The Polish state created by the Treaty of Versailles after the First World War included a corridor of land to link it to the Baltic, because the rest of the coastline belonged to Germany. In Africa, Cabinda is still isolated³ from the rest of Angola because the King of Belgium, the colonial⁴ power in Congo, insisted on a similar corridor at the Berlin Conference in 1885, the meeting which started the division of the continent into nation states.

　　Then there are countries like Ethiopia and Bolivia which did have a bit of coast but don’t any more. Does it matter? The Ethiopians are not happy that the creation⁵ of Eritrea means they now have to use another country’s port, when before they had a long coastline on the Red Sea.

　　Bolivia’s President is trying to get their neighbour Chile to give them some land so they can get to the Pacific like they did in the nineteenth century. The two countries haven’t spoken to each other for 30 years.

　　But why does coastline matter so much? Throughout history people have preferred to live near the sea, and not just for the fish. Sea means trade, which means wealth. Think of the great empires of the past based around the Mediterranean⁶ or successful cities like Singapore, New York or Hong Kong today. Russia has fought several wars over the centuries so that its ships could have access to the Baltic, the Black Sea and the Pacific

　　Not having coastline is not so critical if you can get to somebody else’s seaport⁷ via a river. In Europe the landlocked Austrians can reach the ports of Rotterdam, Antwerp or Marseilles by inland waterway, and of course they can use the River Danube to go east. The Czechs can go down the River Elbe to Hamburg, the Slovaks to Polish ports. Adam Smith said that European industrialization only started in the 18th century because of the existence of navigable rivers.

　　In central Asia or Africa, however, having a river that takes you from the interior⁸ to the sea is very rare. And this seems to make all the difference. There are 42 landlocked countries in the world. The United Nations classifies 30 of them (71%) as developing; and all except one of these are in Africa or Asia. None of these thirty are major exporters of manufactured goods. Why? Some economists⁹ estimate that these countries pay between 30% and 50% more in transport costs than coastal¹⁰ nations. In Asia, it is not only transit¹¹ routes but oil and gas pipelines¹² that are affected¹³ if their neighbours decide to charge a high price to let them pass through their territory to get to the sea.

　　So what can these countries do to escape the disadvantage of being landlocked? You can’t move mountains or make rivers, but perhaps other means of transport can be improved. The United Nations has its own High Representative to look at ways of improving cooperation from those countries that stand between the landlocked and the sea, most recently at an international meeting in Almaty, Kazakhstan in August 2003. The European Union gives money to help develop road and rail routes from the African interior to ports on the East and West coasts.

　　And what about redrawing the map? Some African intellectuals suggest a second Berlin conference to make Central African borders fairer. If Western Europe can take away their borders, why not in other parts of the world?

　　Geography, it seems, can make a big difference.

1 geographical   

adj.地理的；地区(性)的

参考例句：

• The current survey will have a wider geographical spread.当前的调查将在更广泛的地域范围內进行。
• These birds have a wide geographical distribution.这些鸟的地理分布很广。

2 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

3 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

4 colonial   

adj.殖民地的，关于殖民的；n.殖民地，居民

参考例句：

• The natives were unwilling to be bent by colonial power.土著居民不愿受殖民势力的摆布。
• The people of Africa have successfully fought against colonial rule.非洲人民成功地反抗了殖民统治。

5 creation   

n.创造，创造的作品，产物，宇宙，天地万物

参考例句：

• Language is the most important mental creation of man.语言是人类头脑最重要的产物。
• The creation of new playgrounds will benefit the local children.新游戏场的建立将有益于当地的儿童。

6 Mediterranean   

adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的

参考例句：

• The houses are Mediterranean in character.这些房子都属地中海风格。
• Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean.直布罗陀是地中海的要冲。

7 seaport   

n.海港，港口，港市

参考例句：

• Ostend is the most important seaport in Belgium.奥斯坦德是比利时最重要的海港。
• A seaport where ships can take on supplies of coal.轮船能够补充煤炭的海港。

8 interior   

adj.在内的，内部的，内地的，国内的；n.内部

参考例句：

• There is water in the interior of the cave.在山洞的内部有水。
• They went into the interior room.他们进了内室。

9 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 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。

11 transit   

n.经过，运输；vt.穿越，旋转；vi.越过

参考例句：

• His luggage was lost in transit.他的行李在运送中丢失。
• The canal can transit a total of 50 ships daily.这条运河每天能通过50条船。

12 pipelines   

管道( pipeline的名词复数 )； 输油管道； 在考虑（或规划、准备） 中； 在酿中

参考例句：

• The oil is carried to the oil refinery by pipelines. 石油通过输油管输送到炼油厂。
• The oil carried in pipelines. 石油用管道输送。

13 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。