美国国家公共电台 NPR In Egypt, A Rising Sea — And Growing Worries About Climate Change's Effects

 

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

The effects of climate change move slowly, but they are broad. WEEKEND EDITION is taking a look at these effects around the world. NPR's Jane Araff went to the ancient city of Alexandria in northern Egypt, where rising sea levels are causing great concern.

JANE ARAFF, BYLINE¹: Music plays at a beachfront restaurant in Alexandria on the Mediterranean² coast. With tourists worried about security, the restaurants are already almost empty. But there's a much bigger worry looming³. Just ask Hazem Adel. He sells hats and handbags from a stall on the waterfront. There's no beach on this part of the shore. Sand washed away years ago. There's a sidewalk and then concrete barriers to keep back the waves of the Mediterranean.

HAZEM ADEL: (Through interpreter) The water used to flood and cover the people and their cars. That's why the government put up the barriers - to stop the high water so it won't flood the street.

ARAFF: Adel is one of tens of thousands of college graduates who can't find a job. In a poor country, rising sea levels and higher temperatures would hit tourism, fishing and farming and make Egypt even poorer.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: (Foreign language spoken).

ARAFF: For 2,000 years, Alexandria's fortunes rose and fell with the sea. Near the souvenir sellers, guides lead tourists through a stone fortress⁴ built partly on the ruins of the Light House of Alexandria, one of the wonders of the ancient world. For more than a thousand years, the stone lighthouse was the tallest building on Earth. It used mirrors and fire to warn sailors away from the rocks. And then, after a series of earthquakes, it tumbled into the water. Over centuries, the sea erased⁵ the outline of the harbor itself.

There are huge, limestone⁶ blocks covered with moss⁷ rising out of the water. The tour guides here say that they were part of the base of the lighthouse. But the remains⁸ of the lighthouse itself had been submerged for centuries. What used to be a thriving harbor here is now completely underwater. Almost 1,000 years later, scientists generally agree that climate change is making the sea higher and hotter. On the Alexandria waterfront, local fishermen stand on the blocks, casting lines into the water.

SALEH HILMI: (Foreign language spoken).

ARAFF: Saleh Hilmi is trying to teach his 13-year-old son Mohammed how to fish. Hilmi has been fishing out here for sport for 25 years. He says the fish now are smaller. He throws the ones he catches to stray cats. He says bigger fish have retreated to cooler, deeper water.

HILMI: (Through interpreter) Of course, it's normally really hot here in the summer. But the temperature here has become like the Arab Gulf⁹ countries.

ARAFF: The hotter it gets in Egypt, the fewer tourists will come and the harder it will be for fishermen and farmers to make a living. It's a big worry for climate change experts like Mohamed el-Raey. He sits looking out over the brilliant, blue sea of Egypt's north coast. At the University of Alexandria, he's been researching climate change for decades.

MOHAMED EL-RAEY: The model shows that the Middle East would think increase in temperature and decrease in precipitation. The sea-level rise would affect all coasts, all beaches, all lowland beaches.

ARAFF: Most scientists predict a sea-level rise here of almost 30 inches by the end of the century.

MOHAMMED KANDEEL: Some areas would be - would have water - be covered by water. Also, some areas would suffer from seawater intrusion, which would make the soil more salty and the salinity¹⁰ of the water higher. So that would impact agriculture land in the northern Delta¹¹.

ARAFF: That's Mohammed Kandeel. He works for the World Bank, which says Egypt is one of the country's most vulnerable to climate change. Eventually, entire neighborhoods could be underwater. The Nile Delta that Kandeel is talking about is crucial to Egypt. More than half of its crops are grown in that triangle where the Nile spreads out and drains into the sea.

(SOUNDBITE OF PUMPING WATER)

ARAFF: And farmland along the Nile, diesel¹² pumps bring up water from the river for irrigation. Increasingly, seawater is creeping in.

YOUSSEF GHAZALI: (Foreign language spoken).

ARAFF: Youssef Ghazali has been farming for 50 years. He says in the last few years, the water has become more and more saline. He shows me a patch of his land where he says nothing can grow.

GHAZALI: (Through interpreter) The crops die. If you water them with salty water, they die immediately. If I had good water, I could grow rice, clover, cotton. I could grow anything.

ARAFF: Just two years ago, there was rice planted here. And now I'm looking at bare earth. Off in the distance, there are crops that look like they're dying, as well, and a herd¹³ of very skinny cows.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: (Foreign language spoken).

ARAFF: Another farmer says they've had to abandon traditional crops like sugar cane¹⁴ because of the salinity of the water. Science on this is clear. It says greenhouse gas emissions¹⁵ from things like factories and cars are leading to global warming. I ask Ghazali if he's heard of human activity changing the weather.

GHAZALI: (Through interpreter) We've heard for a long time we shouldn't burn word or straw - they say because the smoke from that and smoke from the cars - it affects the temperature.

(SOUNDBITE OF BIRDS SQUAWKING)

ARAFF: Further up the Nile Delta, Bedair Mohammad, a fisherman, says winter storms have been so fierce recently. Some villagers believe God is punishing them.

BEDAIR MOHAMMAD: (Through interpreter) Last winter was the worst. The sea swallowed up some of the land and got closer and closer to the village. We're seeing things we never saw before in a way that could make us believe that this is anger from God on the village and its people.

ARAFF: Mohammed says fishermen here have to go further and further out to catch big fish. He shows me where the water is brown for a few hundred feet before it turns blue. That's where the sea covered what used to be bare earth.

MOHAMMAD: (Foreign language spoken).

ARAFF: Mohamed says, last year, the winds were so strong, boats were tossed from the water up onto the road. He says he doesn't know if climate change is to blame. "I can only tell you what I see," he says, "the reality I'm living in." Jane Arraf, NPR News, on the Nile Delta.

1 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。

2 Mediterranean   

adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的

参考例句：

• The houses are Mediterranean in character.这些房子都属地中海风格。
• Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean.直布罗陀是地中海的要冲。

3 looming   

n.上现蜃景（光通过低层大气发生异常折射形成的一种海市蜃楼）v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的现在分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近

参考例句：

• The foothills were looming ahead through the haze. 丘陵地带透过薄雾朦胧地出现在眼前。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Then they looked up. Looming above them was Mount Proteome. 接着他们往上看，在其上隐约看到的是蛋白质组山。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 回顾与展望

4 fortress   

n.堡垒，防御工事

参考例句：

• They made an attempt on a fortress.他们试图夺取这一要塞。
• The soldier scaled the wall of the fortress by turret.士兵通过塔车攀登上了要塞的城墙。

5 erased   

v.擦掉( erase的过去式和过去分词 )；抹去；清除

参考例句：

• He erased the wrong answer and wrote in the right one. 他擦去了错误答案，写上了正确答案。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He removed the dogmatism from politics; he erased the party line. 他根除了政治中的教条主义，消除了政党界限。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 limestone   

n.石灰石

参考例句：

• Limestone is often used in building construction.石灰岩常用于建筑。
• Cement is made from limestone.水泥是由石灰石制成的。

7 moss   

n.苔，藓，地衣

参考例句：

• Moss grows on a rock.苔藓生在石头上。
• He was found asleep on a pillow of leaves and moss.有人看见他枕着树叶和苔藓睡着了。

8 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

9 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。

10 salinity   

n.盐分；咸度；盐浓度；咸性

参考例句：

• In the sea water sampled the salinity is two parts per thousand.在取样的海水中，盐度为千分之二。
• In many sedimentary basins the salinity of the formation water increases with depth or compaction.在许多沉积盆地中，地层水的含盐量随深度或压实作用而增高。

11 delta   

n.（流的）角洲

参考例句：

• He has been to the delta of the Nile.他曾去过尼罗河三角洲。
• The Nile divides at its mouth and forms a delta.尼罗河在河口分岔，形成了一个三角洲。

12 diesel   

n.柴油发动机，内燃机

参考例句：

• We experimented with diesel engines to drive the pumps.我们试着用柴油机来带动水泵。
• My tractor operates on diesel oil.我的那台拖拉机用柴油开动。

13 herd   

n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• He had no opinions of his own but simply follow the herd.他从无主见，只是人云亦云。

14 cane   

n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的

参考例句：

• This sugar cane is quite a sweet and juicy.这甘蔗既甜又多汁。
• English schoolmasters used to cane the boys as a punishment.英国小学老师过去常用教鞭打男学生作为惩罚。

15 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。