VOA标准英语2011--Development Helps Fuel Southeast Asian Flooding

Development Helps Fuel Southeast Asian Flooding

In some parts of Southeast Asia the floodwaters just keep coming, inundating¹ fields and towns, and leaving behind death and destruction. But, the problems could have been worse.

It is a scene that has become all too common in Bangkok - residents slogging through knee-deep water. In some parts of the Thai capital, tensions boil over.

Even as Bangkok residents try to carry on, there is the realization² things could be much worse.

Mark Bartolini, a disaster expert with the U.S. Agency for International Development, says the slow-moving floodwaters in Thailand gave people time to prepare and reduce the damage. That is not always the case.

“The fact is that development gains can be lost overnight," he said. "Years and years of billions of dollars being spent on countries and governments as well, in terms of their investments.”

Bartolini says Thailand and other countries have proven to be resilient, but there are still concerns.

“Whenever you are in low-lying, flood-prone areas and the populations grow and grow, you’re bound to have problems periodically," he said. "And again with climate change we’re seeing more and more of this.”

“The U.S. is giving more than $2.7 million in aid to help Southeast Asia recover from the floods. But it is also trying to share something more - lessons from its own catastrophe³.”

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina slammed the U.S. Gulf⁴ Coast, flooding New Orleans, sending desperate residents to their rooftops to await rescue.

U.S. officials are working with officials from across Southeast Asia to improve disaster preparation and communication.

MIT urban planning expert Balakrishnan Rajagopal says that is not enough.

“Cities have to think very hard about how they grow, the kind of technology that they use when they grow and they in which they anticipate problems and take measures to prevent those problems from becoming a crisis,” he said.

For instance, Rajagopal says, the use of concrete to in growing cities like Bangkok contributes to floods by paving over natural drainage systems.

For now, many Thais are just trying to hang on, waiting for the water to recede⁵.

1 inundating   

v.淹没( inundate的现在分词 )；（洪水般地）涌来；充满；给予或交予（太多事物）使难以应付

参考例句：

• Floodwaters are inundating states up and down the Eastern Seaboard. 洪水淹没了东部沿海各州。 来自互联网
• Their invasion of the city effecttidal wave inundating first the immigrant colonies. 他们的涌入城市，象潮头一样首先淹没了移民地带。 来自互联网

2 realization   

n.实现；认识到，深刻了解

参考例句：

• We shall gladly lend every effort in our power toward its realization.我们将乐意为它的实现而竭尽全力。
• He came to the realization that he would never make a good teacher.他逐渐认识到自己永远不会成为好老师。

3 catastrophe   

n.大灾难，大祸

参考例句：

• I owe it to you that I survived the catastrophe.亏得你我才大难不死。
• This is a catastrophe beyond human control.这是一场人类无法控制的灾难。

4 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

5 recede   

vi.退(去)，渐渐远去；向后倾斜，缩进

参考例句：

• The colleges would recede in importance.大学的重要性会降低。
• He saw that the dirty water had begun to recede.他发现那污浊的水开始往下退了。