美国国家公共电台 NPR Wet, Wild And High: Lakes And Rivers Wreak Havoc Across Midwest, South

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Many Americans have seen their communities devastated¹ by floods this year. Some regions have seen record amounts of rain since the early spring. The Mississippi River and tributaries² spent months above flood stage, while all of the Great Lakes are nearly at or above historic heights. And today we're beginning a four-part series looking at the cost and the impact of all of that water. Here's NPR's Cheryl Corley in Chicago.

CHERYL CORLEY, BYLINE³: I'm standing⁴ at Juneway Terrace Beach, a small beach right next to an apartment building on Chicago's far North Side. The waves are calm today, but the beach has been completely submerged by water, and the sidewalk here, smashed into pieces. And there are barriers around a huge sinkhole.

JENNY LEARNER: To me, it's a crisis.

CORLEY: Jenny Learner (ph) is an artist who lives in an apartment adjacent to this beach. She says the steel girders and rocks buttressing⁵ the building just aren't enough.

LEARNER: The waves hit my kitchen window and my dining room window. Extremely powerful waves. And they have no place to go if they don't have a barrier. It's not just a crisis for me, personally. It's a crisis for the whole city.

CORLEY: Six years ago, it was record-low water levels in the Great Lakes worrying people. Now the opposite is true. Hydrology expert Keith Kompoltowicz is with the U.S. Army Corps⁶ of Engineers, which measures rivers and lakes. Data shows for several years now the Great Lakes have been on the rise, especially in recent months.

KEITH KOMPOLTOWICZ: The months of April and May, we had extremely wet weather across the Great Lakes Basin. And that caused the lakes to rise very quickly this spring and now brought us to where we are, either setting records or approaching records, depending on the lake.

(SOUNDBITE OF CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT WORKING)

CORLEY: In Duluth, Minn., crews are at work rebuilding the Lake Walk at the edge of Lake Superior. Project supervisor⁷ Mike LeBeau (ph) says in just one year, three major storms with waves as high as 25 feet caused about $25 million in damage. LeBeau says the latest storm, last year, took away acres of land.

MIKE LEBEAU: It undermined the boardwalk there. It undermined the buried electrical wiring for the lights. It moved a lot of material, including some very large rocks, just back out into the lake. So it's been hard for the city to catch its breath, frankly⁸.

CORLEY: And now it's not just the lakes. The Mississippi River has had a record-high water season for months now. The river and its tributaries have flooded millions of acres of farmland, damaged roads, levees, slowed commercial river traffic and affected⁹ downstream fisheries. Paul Osman with the Illinois Office of Water Resources says some of the greatest damage, though, often occurs in neighborhoods far from a river or lake because older communities sometimes don't have the capacity to handle intense rainfall.

PAUL OSMAN: And it will deluge¹⁰ an old, archaic¹¹ stormwater or drainage system, and basements fill up and houses that are nowhere near the floodplain suddenly find themselves underwater.

(SOUNDBITE OF WAVES CRASHING)

CORLEY: Today 8-foot waves are crashing over the bike path at Chicago's lakefront, drenching¹² cyclists and joggers.

(SOUNDBITE OF BIKE BELL RINGING)

CORLEY: Joel Brammeier heads the Alliance for the Great Lakes and says it's typical for water levels to fluctuate, but this extended rise is unusual. He says intense storms lead to more pollution running off into the lakes.

JOEL BRAMMEIER: In western Lake Erie, for example, you're seeing massive blooms of algae¹³ that are sometimes toxic¹⁴ to people and pets that are being caused by this concentration of agriculture fertilizer washing off into Lake Erie.

CORLEY: And the runoff from city streets causes pollution problems, too. A forecast from the Army Corps of Engineers shows the Lakes should begin their seasonal¹⁵ decline in the next several weeks. But fall is a very active storm season, and with strong storms churning up lake and river waters, floods, coastal¹⁶ erosion and many problems that come with high water are likely to persist.

Cheryl Corley, NPR News, Chicago.

1 devastated   

v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的

参考例句：

• The bomb devastated much of the old part of the city. 这颗炸弹炸毁了旧城的一大片地方。
• His family is absolutely devastated. 他的一家感到极为震惊。

2 tributaries   

n. 支流

参考例句：

• In such areas small tributaries or gullies will not show. 在这些地区，小的支流和冲沟显示不出来。
• These tributaries are subsequent streams which erode strike valley. 这些支流系即为蚀出走向谷的次生河。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

5 buttressing   

v.用扶壁支撑，加固( buttress的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• This way of asset-pricing lacks buttressing by solid theory. 这一资产定价方法缺乏扎实的理论根基。 来自互联网

6 corps   

n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组

参考例句：

• The medical corps were cited for bravery in combat.医疗队由于在战场上的英勇表现而受嘉奖。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

7 supervisor   

n.监督人，管理人，检查员，督学，主管，导师

参考例句：

• Between you and me I think that new supervisor is a twit.我们私下说，我认为新来的主管人是一个傻瓜。
• He said I was too flighty to be a good supervisor.他说我太轻浮不能成为一名好的管理员。

8 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

9 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。

10 deluge   

n./vt.洪水，暴雨，使泛滥

参考例句：

• This little stream can become a deluge when it rains heavily.雨大的时候，这条小溪能变作洪流。
• I got caught in the deluge on the way home.我在回家的路上遇到倾盆大雨。

11 archaic   

adj.(语言、词汇等)古代的，已不通用的

参考例句：

• The company does some things in archaic ways,such as not using computers for bookkeeping.这个公司有些做法陈旧，如记账不使用电脑。
• Shaanxi is one of the Chinese archaic civilized origins which has a long history.陕西省是中国古代文明发祥之一，有悠久的历史。

12 drenching   

n.湿透v.使湿透( drench的现在分词 )；在某人（某物）上大量使用（某液体）

参考例句：

• A black cloudburst was drenching Siena at midday. 中午，一场天昏地暗的暴风雨在锡耶纳上空倒下来。 来自辞典例句
• A drenching rain poured down and the rising hurricane drove it in sheets along the ground. 一阵倾盆大雨泼下来了，越来越大的狂风把它顺着地面刮成了一片一片的雨幕。 来自辞典例句

13 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。

14 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。

15 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。

16 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。