VOA文化艺术2024--Locals Worried about Olympic Surfing Event in Tahiti

Locals Worried about Olympic Surfing Event in Tahiti

　　The Summer Olympic Games this year are in Paris, France.

　　Paris does not have an ocean. So, how do organizers plan to present competition in the sport of surfing?

　　They are taking that Olympic event halfway¹ around the world to the South Pacific country of French Polynesia. The athletes will compete on the island of Tahiti, in a small coastal² village called Teahupo'o. The area is rural³. It did not even have a road until the 1970s.

　　Hundreds of people are expected to visit Teahupo'o to watch the sport, as the surfers go out onto the famous waves from July 27 to August 4.

　　Peva Levy⁴ is a Tahitian surfer. He said the Teahupo'o beach was a "secret spot" when he first rode the waves there more than fifty years ago. But, he added, it did not stay secret. Teahupo'o gained fame among surfers around the world in the years since.

　　Levy said the place has a special energy, a feeling known as "mana" in the local language.

　　And the people who live there want that special quality protected. There are concerns that a week of Olympic competition in Teahupo'o could destroy the "mana" and harm the environment that surrounds it.

　　Proposed⁵ preparations for the event included building temporary housing⁶, roads, and even a large structure out on the water. The work called for drilling into a coral reef⁷. Opposition⁸ to the plans quickly grew.

　　Environmentalists, locals and surfers joined forces to protect Teahupo'o's culture, its corals and other sea life.

　　"It was too much for us, a big change," said Levy, who also serves on a local environmental organization Vai Ara o Teahupo'o.

　　The group told the Olympic organizers they did not want new buildings or roads. And organizers are adjusting their plans as a result.

　　For example, they will not be building any Olympic housing. Instead, athletes will stay on a nearby boat. Homes of locals will serve other Olympic housing needs.

　　Organizers also shrunk⁹ the size of the planned structure, a platform, they will build in the ocean. Judges will watch the competition from the platform.

　　Some people worry that the drilling into the reef will disrupt¹⁰ the ecosystem¹¹ and attract a dangerous algae¹². If fish eat the algae, people who eat the fish can become sick.

　　Twenty-two-year-old Mormon Maitei is concerned about the fish in the area. Maitei is a spearfisher who catches fish to feed his family. He sells what they do not need. The water is "where we get our dinner," he said.

　　Tahitians also worry that changing the reef could also change the shape of the famous waves.

　　Levy said if the reef cracks and breaks off "there will be no more wave over here, it will be finished for us."

　　In December, the worries of the locals were confirmed when a boat working on some Olympic construction hit a piece of the reef and broke it.

　　Cindy Otcenasek, the president of Via Ara o Teahupo'o, called the destruction¹³ deeply hurtful.

　　She said in Polynesian culture, people believe gods and spirits are everywhere, "in the coral, in the ocean. The ocean is considered to be our most sacred temple," she said.

　　Otcenasek said the fish live in and around the corals, "so if we break a coral, we break a home."

　　Barbara Martins-Nio is a senior event manager for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games Organization Committee. She called the accident "awful." She said Tahitians have a "special relationship with nature ... and it was like a bomb for us."

　　Since the incident, Martins-Nio said, the relationship between the organizers and locals has improved. The Olympic group is moving slowly and asking for more input¹⁴ from the local groups.

　　Words in This Story

　　coral reef –n. a long section of material formed on the bottom of the sea by the skeletons¹⁵ of small creatures that is home to sea life and living coral

　　drill –v. to make a hole in something with a powerful tool

　　algae –n. a kind plant life that grows in water

　　awful –adj. something very bad or upsetting

1 halfway   

adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途

参考例句：

• We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路，天就黑了。
• In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上，最忌讳的是有始无终。

2 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。

3 rural   

adj.乡下的，田园的，乡村风味的

参考例句：

• He lived a rural life.他过着田园生活。
• We left the city for a rural home.我们离开城市，去农村安家。

4 levy   

n.征收税或其他款项，征收额

参考例句：

• They levy a tax on him.他们向他征税。
• A direct food levy was imposed by the local government.地方政府征收了食品税。

5 proposed   

被提议的

参考例句：

• There is widespread discontent among the staff at the proposed changes to pay and conditions. 员工对改变工资和工作环境的建议普遍不满。
• an outcry over the proposed change 对拟议的改革所发出的强烈抗议

6 housing   

n.房屋，住宅；住房建筑；外壳，外罩

参考例句：

• Do you think our housing sales will turn around during this year?你认为今年我们的住宅销路会好转吗？
• The housing sales have been turning down since the summer.入夏以来，房屋的销售量日趋减少。

7 reef   

n.礁，礁石，暗礁

参考例句：

• The ship and its crew were lost on the reef.那条船及船员都触礁遇难了。
• The ship was wrecked on a coral reef.这条船在珊瑚暗礁上撞毁了。

8 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

9 shrunk   

shrink的过去式和过去分词:收缩,缩短,皱缩,退避

参考例句：

• I confess it with shame--shrunk icily into myself, like a snail. 我羞愧地忏悔了——冷冰冰地退缩，像个蜗牛。
• The peasantry has shrunk from 74.6 millions to 65.5. 农民人数已从7460万减至6550万。

10 disrupt   

adj.分裂的，分散的；vt.使分裂，使瓦解

参考例句：

• The war seemed likely to disrupt the state.战争可能使这个国家分裂。
• The conflict seemed likely to disrupt the government.这场冲突可能使政府垮台。

11 ecosystem   

n.生态系统

参考例句：

• This destroyed the ecosystem of the island.这样破坏了岛上的生态系统。
• We all have an interest in maintaining the integrity of the ecosystem.维持生态系统的完整是我们共同的利益。

12 algae   

n.水藻，海藻

参考例句：

• Most algae live in water.多数藻类生长在水中。
• Algae grow and spread quickly in the lake.湖中水藻滋蔓。

13 destruction   

n.破坏，毁灭，消灭

参考例句：

• The enemy bombs caused widespread destruction.敌人的炸弹造成大面积的破坏。
• Overconfidence was his destruction.自负是他垮台的原因。

14 input   

n.输入(物)；投入；vt.把(数据等)输入计算机

参考例句：

• I will forever be grateful for his considerable input.我将永远感激他的大量投入。
• All this information had to be input onto the computer.所有这些信息都必须输入计算机。

15 skeletons   

n.（建筑物等的）骨架( skeleton的名词复数 )；骨骼；梗概；骨瘦如柴的人（或动物）

参考例句：

• Only skeletons of buildings remained. 只剩下了建筑物的框架。 来自辞典例句
• It looks like six skeletons in front of that stone door! 在这石头门前看上去就象有六副骨骼！ 来自辞典例句