The Mississippi river, which drains more than 40 percent of North America's river flow into the Gulf of Mexico, is at its highest point in years, leading to concern that levees protecting the city of New Orleans could be compromised. A few weeks ago, the same conditions farther upstream caused widespread flooding in the Midwest. Officials of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have taken steps to protect the city by diverting water around it.
美国密西西比河水位已上涨到了近年来的最高点。最终归入墨西哥湾的密西西比河囊括了美国40%河流量。河水的上涨引发了有关新奥尔良河堤可能决堤的担忧。几个星期之前，类似的灾情曾在上游地区发生造成中西部大片地区的水灾。美国陆军工兵部队已经在采取措施，对新奥尔良周围的河流分流。
The fortunes of New Orleans have always been tied to the river, but the river can also pose a threat.
河流给新奥尔良带来财富，但同时也可能带来威胁。
Officials in and around New Orleans are keeping a close eye on river levels this spring as water from snow melt and heavy rains up north flow down through the Missouri, the Ohio and other rivers that connect with the Mississippi.
今年春天，新奥尔良与周遭城镇的官员正在密切注意河流水位。北方积雪的溶化，加上大雨带来的降水一同注入密苏里河、俄亥俄河等跟密西西比河交汇的河流。
In order to reduce the river level around New Orleans, officials are directing some of the freshwater of the Mississippi through the Bonnet Carre spillway northwest of the city into Lake Ponchartrain, a brackish-water lake that is connected with the Gulf of Mexico.
为了降低新奥尔良附近河流的水位，政府官员正在将密西西比河的淡水疏导到庞恰特雷恩湖当中。
Lee Guillory, the Natural Disaster Manager for the Army Corps of Engineers in New Orleans, says this does disrupt the natural ecology of the lake, but only for a while.
新奥尔良陆军工兵部队自然灾害部的主任吉洛伊说，这样的确会影响湖的自然生态，不过这仅仅是暂时的：
"When we do a diversion through Lake Ponchartrain it does cause some temporary changes to the lake and to the fisheries in that area, but it is only a temporary measure. It also mimics the natural flows that used to occur many years ago when the levees were not here. It pushes some of the salt water fisheries further out and a few more fresh water fisheries appear in Lake Ponchartrain, but it is only a temporary measure and it will return back to normal in a few months after the structure is closed and it will not cause any long term adverse effects to the environment," explains Guillory.
“分流到庞恰特雷恩湖的确对会湖内的鱼群生态造成某些暂时影响。这跟多年前还没有兴建河堤时，河水自然流入这个湖的情况相似。这会让某些咸水鱼群向外迁徙，而有些淡水鱼群则出现在湖中。但这仅是暂时的情况，几个月工程停止之后就会恢复正常，不会造成对环境长期的负面影响。”
Even with the diversion of water, the river flow is much faster than normal, which Guillory says can be a problem for boat and barge operators.
即使经过疏导，但是密西西比河水流速度依旧比平常要快。吉洛伊说这对中小型船只造成问题：
"It does cause quite a few problems for the navigation industry when the river is this high because the current gets swifter, it gets wider and faster, and to maintain steerage, they have keep their speed up going downstream," he said. "Likewise, when they are going upstream, it takes additional horsepower and more tug to push the same amount of load that they would push in a normal river, a slack river."
“这的确对航运业造成一些问题。当水位这么高的时候，水流变得又快又猛，顺流航行时必须加速才能控制住船。同样的道理，当逆流而上时也要加大马力。同样的负载，拖船比在正常水流情况下承担更大的负荷。”
The Corps of Engineers also maintains the levees that protect the city from being flooded by a surge from a hurricane, such as happened nearly three years ago when Hurricane Katrina passed through.
陆军工兵师团同时也负责维护河堤，使新奥尔良不受类似近3年前卡特里娜飓风那样的水灾侵袭。
But Lee Guillory says efforts to strengthen the levees to withstand a once-in-a-century storm are on track.
吉洛伊说，他们已经在加固河堤，使其足以抵御百年罕见的水灾：
"The city is in fairly good shape," he said. "We have restored most of it to the authorized height and depth, but we are also going beyond that and have made commitments to increase it to the 100-year-level of protection by the year 2011."
“新奥尔良的状况不错。我们已经将河堤大部分修复到规定的高度与宽度。但是我们的努力并不仅仅就是这些，我们同时计划在2011年之前，把河堤加固到可以抵御百年防洪罕见洪灾的标准。”
Water is the life blood of this area, but it takes constant vigilance and effort to keep it in its place.
水是当地的命脉，但也需要不断提高警惕和不懈的努力来使之不至泛滥成灾。 |