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科学美国人60秒 SSS 美国珊瑚礁每年为美国节省18亿美元

时间:2020-02-25 02:58:33

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(单词翻译)

This is Scientific American's 60-second Science, I'm Christopher Intagliata.

这里是科学美国人——60秒科学系列,我是克里斯托弗·因塔格里塔。

A physics lesson may be the last thing on your mind as you relax at the ocean, however:

当你在海边放松时,物理课可能是你最不会想起的事,但是:

"If you're sitting on a lovely Hawaiian beach with your Mai Tai and you're looking offshore1 and you see 20-foot waves and people surfing on them, and you notice that it's only lapping up on the shoreline here with teeny little waves, that's the reef working to dissipate that energy."

“如果你拿着迈泰鸡尾酒坐在美丽的夏威夷海滩,向海面望去,你会看到20英尺高的海浪以及在上面冲浪的人们,你还会注意到极小的海浪拍打着海岸线,而这是珊瑚礁正在消耗能量。”

Mike Beck studies the intersection2 of engineering, ecology, economics and finance at UC Santa Cruz. He says reefs act a whole lot like our human-built coastal3 infrastructure4 to tame the energy of incoming waves.

迈克·贝克在加州大学圣克鲁兹分校研究工程学、生态学、经济学和金融学交叉学科。他表示,珊瑚礁很像我们人类建造的沿海基础设施,可以抑制涌向岸边的海浪的能量。

"Coral reefs act just like a low crested5 submerged breakwater. That's an engineering term. But it means there are really good engineering models for describing the benefits of reefs."

“珊瑚礁的作用就像低顶水下防波堤。这是工程学术语。这意味着我们有相当好的工程模型来描述珊瑚礁的益处。”

And those models are the key behind a new report from the U.S. Geological Survey, with Beck as one of its authors. The researchers modeled hypothetical storms hitting coastlines in areas with offshore reefs, like Florida, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. They studied how reefs of various heights would dampen waves and hold back flooding, and they found that every year the country's reefs save the U.S. an estimated $1.8 billion dollars in direct flooding damages and other economic losses.

这些模型是美国地质调查局一份新报告的关键,贝克是该报告的作者之一。研究人员模拟了风暴袭击海岸有近海珊瑚礁区的场景,比如佛罗里达、夏威夷和波多黎各的海岸。他们研究了不同高度的珊瑚礁如何抑制海浪和洪水,他们发现,美国的珊瑚礁每年为美国减少了约18亿美元的直接洪水损失和其它经济损失。

That dollar number is important because it allows reef rebuilding projects—like gluing little healthy coral nubbins on damaged reefs—to tap into billions of dollars of federal money set aside for hurricane and disaster resilience.

这些美元数额非常重要,因为它使珊瑚礁重建项目——比如在受损的珊瑚礁上粘上健康的珊瑚礁小块——可以动用联邦政府为飓风和灾后恢复划拨的数十亿美元资金。

"If you can rigorously value the benefits of any of these habitats, you can unlock any of the funding mechanisms6 that would have typically been applied7 to developing a seawall or a breakwater."

“如果你能严格评估这些栖息地的益处,你就能启动任何通常用于建造海堤或防波堤的筹资机制。”

That's a win-win—for life below the water and for those of us who live on land as well. 

这是种双赢局面——对生活在水下的生命还有对生活在陆地上的我们来说,都是如此。

Thanks for listening for Scientific American — 60-Second Science. I'm Christopher Intagliata.

谢谢大家收听科学美国人——60秒科学。我是克里斯托弗·因塔利亚塔。


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 offshore FIux8     
adj.海面的,吹向海面的;adv.向海面
参考例句:
  • A big program of oil exploration has begun offshore.一个大规模的石油勘探计划正在近海展开。
  • A gentle current carried them slowly offshore.和缓的潮流慢慢地把他们带离了海岸。
2 intersection w54xV     
n.交集,十字路口,交叉点;[计算机] 交集
参考例句:
  • There is a stop sign at an intersection.在交叉路口处有停车标志。
  • Bridges are used to avoid the intersection of a railway and a highway.桥用来避免铁路和公路直接交叉。
3 coastal WWiyh     
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。
4 infrastructure UbBz5     
n.下部构造,下部组织,基础结构,基础设施
参考例句:
  • We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
  • We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设,发展各类群众文化。
5 crested aca774eb5cc925a956aec268641b354f     
adj.有顶饰的,有纹章的,有冠毛的v.到达山顶(或浪峰)( crest的过去式和过去分词 );到达洪峰,达到顶点
参考例句:
  • a great crested grebe 凤头䴙䴘
  • The stately mansion crested the hill. 庄严的大厦位于山顶。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
6 mechanisms d0db71d70348ef1c49f05f59097917b8     
n.机械( mechanism的名词复数 );机械装置;[生物学] 机制;机械作用
参考例句:
  • The research will provide direct insight into molecular mechanisms. 这项研究将使人能够直接地了解分子的机理。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • He explained how the two mechanisms worked. 他解释这两台机械装置是如何工作的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
7 applied Tz2zXA     
adj.应用的;v.应用,适用
参考例句:
  • She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
  • This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

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