PBS高端访谈:西雅图的新海堤让鱼类生活更轻松

 　　And now to our NewsHour Shares. Seawalls help to protect developed shorelines, but they can also destroy crucial habitat.

　　One project in Washington state aims to fix that. Ken¹ Christensen of KCTS' EarthFix explains.

　　The Seattle waterfront is changing right beneath your feet.

　　When you walk along Seattle's sidewalk, you will be walking on glass panels.

　　But look deeper, and you will see that the changes aren't for tourists. They're for natives.

　　Their function is to provide light to help thousands and thousands of little baby salmon².

　　It's one feature of Seattle's new seawall, a $400 million infrastructure³ project that's doubling as a really big science experiment, the biggest of Jeff Cordell's career.

　　Nothing has ever been tried on this scale. You're walking on foot after foot after foot of new habitat.

　　Cordell wants to see if coastal⁴ cities can better coexist with fish.

　　For 80 years, Seattle's seawall was like most, a flat, concrete slab⁵ that held back the sea, but destroyed shallow water habitat that many species thrive on.

　　Every spring, young salmon would migrate from Seattle's Duwamish River to the ocean, and they're hard-wired to stay close to shore, which means they run right into this.

　　In the inky darkness under the pier⁶, life can get confusing for a fish.

　　There's a good example of a shadow line from a pier. And they don't want to cross the shadow line, so they just mill about here.

　　The new seawall is supposed to make life easier, not only by providing a naturally lit corridor for fish to pass through on their way to the ocean,

　　but also by featuring overhangs and rocky surfaces along the way for fish food to grow on.

　　Look at the brown scum here. We love to see that, because that's where the little crustaceans⁷ grow that the juvenile⁸ salmon feed on. You can't count out brown scum.

　　Most seawalls are still get built like Seattle's was back in the 1930s. And construction is expected to increase.

　　There's going to be much more need for coastal infrastructure and a lot more thinking about how we can best create habitat for the organisms that we're removing it from.

　　Once the seawall is complete, Cordell plans to begin a decade-long monitoring project to figure out if it does what it's supposed to.

　　Even that brown stuff needs a good amount of sunlight to grow.

　　If the experiment succeeds, the Seattle waterfront's biggest change could be the change it inspires in seawalls around the world.

　　For the PBS NewsHour, I'm Ken Christensen in Seattle, Washington. undefined

1 ken   

n.视野，知识领域

参考例句：

• Such things are beyond my ken.我可不懂这些事。
• Abstract words are beyond the ken of children.抽象的言辞超出小孩所理解的范围.

2 salmon   

n.鲑，大马哈鱼，橙红色的

参考例句：

• We saw a salmon jumping in the waterfall there.我们看见一条大马哈鱼在那边瀑布中跳跃。
• Do you have any fresh salmon in at the moment?现在有新鲜大马哈鱼卖吗？

3 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。

4 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。

5 slab   

n.平板，厚的切片；v.切成厚板，以平板盖上

参考例句：

• This heavy slab of oak now stood between the bomb and Hitler.这时笨重的橡木厚板就横在炸弹和希特勒之间了。
• The monument consists of two vertical pillars supporting a horizontal slab.这座纪念碑由两根垂直的柱体构成，它们共同支撑着一块平板。

6 pier   

n.码头；桥墩，桥柱；[建]窗间壁，支柱

参考例句：

• The pier of the bridge has been so badly damaged that experts worry it is unable to bear weight.这座桥的桥桩破损厉害，专家担心它已不能负重。
• The ship was making towards the pier.船正驶向码头。

7 crustaceans   

n.甲壳纲动物（如蟹、龙虾）( crustacean的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• These crustaceans provide a valuable food source for some fish. 这些甲壳纲动物是某些鱼类重要的食物来源。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• When the tide ebbs it's a rock pool inhabited by crustaceans. 退潮时，它便成为甲壳动物居住的岩石区潮水潭。 来自辞典例句

8 juvenile   

n.青少年，少年读物；adj.青少年的，幼稚的

参考例句：

• For a grown man he acted in a very juvenile manner.身为成年人，他的行为举止显得十分幼稚。
• Juvenile crime is increasing at a terrifying rate.青少年犯罪正在以惊人的速度增长。