美国国家公共电台 NPR Foreign Investors Shrug Off Miami's Rising Sea Levels

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

The editorial boards of the Miami Herald¹, Palm Beach Post and South Florida Sun Sentinel are working together to issue a warning with help from WLRN public media. They want people to take the threat of sea level rise seriously. Freelance reporter Roben Farzad grew up in Miami. And he says it's a message that isn't reaching foreign investors³.

ROBEN FARZAD, BYLINE⁴: A decade ago amid the foreclosure crisis, Miami's skyline was marred⁵ by half-empty buildings and idled cranes. Billboards⁶ advertised lawyers who could get back condo deposits. An outright⁷ real estate depression was staved off by foreign investors. Armed with cash, some snapped up homes without visiting even once. Even as the buying frenzy⁸ has lately taken a breather, the place has never felt this prosperous and vertical⁹. But there's a gurgling anxiety at sea level. Locals are increasingly finding even inland streets flooded during high tide. Here's CBS 4 Miami on a watery¹⁰ mess downtown.

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UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Police are reminding you that what looks like a puddle¹¹ may be much deeper. If you look in the center of your screen, there are a couple of cars that are stuck in the water almost halfway¹² submerged.

FARZAD: Donna Shalala, a former Clinton administration official and president of the University of Miami, is running for U.S. Congress in Miami. She says that sea level rise tops constituent¹³ concerns.

DONNA SHALALA: What we do with existing buildings, what kind of retrofitting we do, what kind of pressure we're prepared to put on our national government is extremely important.

FARZAD: Already Miami Beach is eyeing $500 million in infrastructure¹⁴ upgrades, installing 80 new pumps over a decade to redirect water back to the ocean. The flooding is so bad that an octopus¹⁵ was spotted¹⁶ in a South Beach parking garage. According to the journal Ocean & Coastal¹⁷ Management, Miami Beach saw tide-induced flooding soar 400 percent between 2006 and 2013.

SHALALA: Look; I own an apartment down on Miami Beach that's right on the water. I really could not get hurricane and flood insurance. I mean, there's just no question.

FARZAD: Zillow estimates that by the end of the century, nearly half a million Miami homes could be submerged. That's tops in the country. But while folks at ground level fret¹⁸ about wearing plastic bags around their feet, sea level rise hasn't seemed to faze foreign investors whose luxury apartments tower high above the floodwaters. The Miami Herald's Nicholas Nehamas won a Pulitzer Prize for covering the rush of offshore¹⁹ money in the skyline.

NICHOLAS NEHAMAS: Foreign investors think they're going to sell before climate change affects the price of their units. It's a case of the segment of the market most driving the market being divorced from reality.

FARZAD: Russian investors covet²⁰ high-rises in a stretch of North Miami Beach, so much so that the place has been nicknamed Little Moscow. That's where you'll find the Porsche Design tower, a swank high-rise that literally²¹ resembles a Porsche piston²² shooting up from the shoreline. Residents can drive their cars on wide elevators and right into their apartments, each of which has an adjacent garage. Broker²³ Peter Zalewski advises many foreign buyers in the area.

PETER ZALEWSKI: Many of the people at least I deal with - and I'm not dealing²⁴ with, like, the family of four and a dog. I'm dealing with, like, the investor². They're going to be in and out. And their horizon is typically three, five, seven years. So by the time the - you know, the big one comes or something like that, chances are they're going to be dead or they would have churned it out of their position multiple times over. So it's kind of an issue if you're worried about 10, 20 years from now. It's not an issue right now if you're looking to sort of capitalize on current market trends. It's a trader mentality²⁵.

FARZAD: Back to the perennial²⁶ threat of a cataclysmic storm. Last year, South Florida dodged²⁷ a bullet when Category 5 Hurricane Irma weakened substantially on landfall. Even so, the diminished storm transformed high-rise corridors into rivers and threw yachts up within a few yards of lobbies. High tide or low tide, hurricane season officially starts on June 1. For NPR News, I'm Roben Farzad.

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1 herald   

vt.预示...的来临，预告，宣布，欢迎

参考例句：

• In England, the cuckoo is the herald of spring.在英国杜鹃鸟是报春的使者。
• Dawn is the herald of day.曙光是白昼的先驱。

2 investor   

n.投资者，投资人

参考例句：

• My nephew is a cautious investor.我侄子是个小心谨慎的投资者。
• The investor believes that his investment will pay off handsomely soon.这个投资者相信他的投资不久会有相当大的收益。

3 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

4 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。

5 marred   

adj. 被损毁, 污损的

参考例句：

• The game was marred by the behaviour of drunken fans. 喝醉了的球迷行为不轨，把比赛给搅了。
• Bad diction marred the effectiveness of his speech. 措词不当影响了他演说的效果。

6 billboards   

n.广告牌( billboard的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Large billboards have disfigured the scenery. 大型告示板已破坏了景色。 来自辞典例句
• Then, put the logo in magazines and on billboards without telling anyone what it means. 接着我们把这个商标刊在杂志和广告看板上，却不跟任何人透漏它的涵意。 来自常春藤生活英语杂志-2006年4月号

7 outright   

adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的

参考例句：

• If you have a complaint you should tell me outright.如果你有不满意的事，你应该直率地对我说。
• You should persuade her to marry you outright.你应该彻底劝服她嫁给你。

8 frenzy   

n.疯狂，狂热，极度的激动

参考例句：

• He was able to work the young students up into a frenzy.他能激起青年学生的狂热。
• They were singing in a frenzy of joy.他们欣喜若狂地高声歌唱。

9 vertical   

adj.垂直的，顶点的，纵向的；n.垂直物，垂直的位置

参考例句：

• The northern side of the mountain is almost vertical.这座山的北坡几乎是垂直的。
• Vertical air motions are not measured by this system.垂直气流的运动不用这种系统来测量。

10 watery   

adj.有水的，水汪汪的；湿的，湿润的

参考例句：

• In his watery eyes there is an expression of distrust.他那含泪的眼睛流露出惊惶失措的神情。
• Her eyes became watery because of the smoke.因为烟熏，她的双眼变得泪汪汪的。

11 puddle   

n.(雨)水坑，泥潭

参考例句：

• The boy hopped the mud puddle and ran down the walk.这个男孩跳过泥坑，沿着人行道跑了。
• She tripped over and landed in a puddle.她绊了一下，跌在水坑里。

12 halfway   

adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途

参考例句：

• We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路，天就黑了。
• In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上，最忌讳的是有始无终。

13 constituent   

n.选民；成分，组分；adj.组成的，构成的

参考例句：

• Sugar is the main constituent of candy.食糖是糖果的主要成分。
• Fibre is a natural constituent of a healthy diet.纤维是健康饮食的天然组成部分。

14 infrastructure   

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。

15 octopus   

n.章鱼

参考例句：

• He experienced nausea after eating octopus.吃了章鱼后他感到恶心。
• One octopus has eight tentacles.一条章鱼有八根触角。

16 spotted   

adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的

参考例句：

• The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
• Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。

17 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。

18 fret   

v.(使)烦恼；(使)焦急；(使)腐蚀，(使)磨损

参考例句：

• Don't fret.We'll get there on time.别着急，我们能准时到那里。
• She'll fret herself to death one of these days.她总有一天会愁死的.

19 offshore   

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。

20 covet   

vt.垂涎；贪图(尤指属于他人的东西)

参考例句：

• We do not covet anything from any nation.我们不觊觎任何国家的任何东西。
• Many large companies covet these low-cost acquisition of troubled small companies.许多大公司都觊觎低价收购这些陷入困境的小公司。

21 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

22 piston   

n.活塞

参考例句：

• They use a piston engine instead.他们改用活塞发动机。
• The piston moves by steam pressure.活塞在蒸汽压力下运动。

23 broker   

n.中间人，经纪人；v.作为中间人来安排

参考例句：

• He baited the broker by promises of higher commissions.他答应给更高的佣金来引诱那位经纪人。
• I'm a real estate broker.我是不动产经纪人。

24 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

25 mentality   

n.心理，思想，脑力

参考例句：

• He has many years'experience of the criminal mentality.他研究犯罪心理有多年经验。
• Running a business requires a very different mentality from being a salaried employee.经营企业所要求具备的心态和上班族的心态截然不同。

26 perennial   

adj.终年的；长久的

参考例句：

• I wonder at her perennial youthfulness.我对她青春常驻感到惊讶。
• There's a perennial shortage of teachers with science qualifications.有理科教学资格的老师一直都很短缺。

27 dodged   

v.闪躲( dodge的过去式和过去分词 )；回避

参考例句：

• He dodged cleverly when she threw her sabot at him. 她用木底鞋砸向他时，他机敏地闪开了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He dodged the book that I threw at him. 他躲开了我扔向他的书。 来自《简明英汉词典》