美国有线新闻 CNN 意大利威尼斯防洪工程饱受指责

What Italian city is also known by the nickname Serenissima? Palermo, Genoa, Venice or Florence. Meaning serene¹, La Serenissima was a nickname for the Republic of Venice.

哪个意大利城市也被昵称为“Serenissima”？巴勒莫、热那亚、威尼斯还是佛罗伦萨？“Serenissima”意为宁静，是威尼斯共和国的昵称。

Acqua alta is another Italian term related to our next story. It means high water. It describes the very high tide that traditionally causes flooding throughout much of Venice. This has been going on for 1,200 years but an aqua alta that hit last November was particularly damaging. It flooded almost 90 percent of the city and that combined with the coronavirus pandemic caused tourist visits to plummet². Last Saturday was supposed to be the first acqua alta of the season but instead of this, St. Mark's Square looked more like this. Pretty dry except for some large puddles³ circling around the drains.

“Acqua alta”是另一个与我们下则新闻有关的意大利语词汇。这个词的意思是高水位。该词形容通常会导致威尼斯大部分地区洪水泛滥的极高的潮水。这种情况已经持续了1200年，但去年11月来袭的“高水位”破坏力极强。洪水淹没了威尼斯市近90%的地区，再加上冠状病毒的流行，导致游客人数骤减。上周六本应是本季第一个高水位出现的时间，但与此相反，圣马可广场却是这种情况：除了排水沟附近有一些大水坑外，其他地方非常干燥。

Since 1984, a project has been in development to try to stem the floods of Venice. It involves 78 flood barriers installed around the city. They're supposed to rise up to form a dam when acqua alta arrives keeping the Adriatic Sea from flooding Venice. The project has cost billions. It's been repeatedly delayed and distorted by corruption⁴ and controversy⁵ and many Venetians thought it wouldn't work, but apparently⁶ it did.

自1984年以来，威尼斯市一直在开发抗洪工程。该工程包括在城市周围安装78个防洪堤。当“高水位”到达时，防洪堤会上升形成大坝，防止亚得里亚海淹没威尼斯。这一工程耗资数十亿美元。但由于腐败和争议，该工程一再被拖延和曲解，许多威尼斯人认为它行不通，但显然它做到了。

Places that are normally knee deep in flood waters were mostly dry on Saturday and Italian politicians called it a clear success for the project.

周六，通常水深齐膝的洪水地区大部分都很干燥，意大利政界人士称这是该项目取得的明显成功。

It didn't last though. The barriers are only set up to rise when the tide hits a very high level. If it falls short of that level, the barriers stay down but the city can still flood. That's what happened the next day and that's why some Venetians were disappointed. They're hoping the barriers will be adjusted to rise sooner preventing any seasonal⁷ flooding in the city.

但这种情况并没能持续下去。只有当潮水涨到很高的水位时，防洪堤才会升起。如果水位达不到该水平，那防洪堤就不会升起，城市仍有可能被洪水淹没。这就是第二天所发生的事情，这也是一些威尼斯人感到失望的原因。他们希望能尽快调整防洪堤以防止城市发生季节性洪水。

1 serene   

adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的

参考例句：

• He has entered the serene autumn of his life.他已进入了美好的中年时期。
• He didn't speak much,he just smiled with that serene smile of his.他话不多，只是脸上露出他招牌式的淡定的微笑。

2 plummet   

vi.(价格、水平等)骤然下跌；n.铅坠；重压物

参考例句：

• Mengniu and Yili have seen their shares plummet since the incident broke.自事件发生以来，蒙牛和伊利的股票大幅下跌。
• Even if rice prices were to plummet,other brakes on poverty alleviation remain.就算大米价格下跌，其它阻止导致贫困的因素仍然存在。

3 puddles   

n.水坑， （尤指道路上的）雨水坑( puddle的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The puddles had coalesced into a small stream. 地面上水洼子里的水汇流成了一条小溪。
• The road was filled with puddles from the rain. 雨后路面到处是一坑坑的积水。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

5 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

6 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

7 seasonal   

adj.季节的，季节性的

参考例句：

• The town relies on the seasonal tourist industry for jobs.这个城镇依靠季节性旅游业提供就业机会。
• The hors d'oeuvre is seasonal vegetables.餐前小吃是应时蔬菜。