国家地理 下沉中的英格兰（在线收听）

All may seem calm along these beautiful stretches of British coastline. But there is a battle being fought on the beaches of Britain. It's a fight for survival against the mighty force of the North Sea. Erosion of this coastline has been going on for thousands of years. But things have gotten much worse.

沿着这些美丽的英国海岸线，一切似乎都很平静。而英国的海滩上却在上演一场斗争。这是一场对抗强大北海的生存之战。这条海岸线的侵蚀已经持续数千年了。而情况变得更加糟糕了。

Now, top decisions are being made. Spend millions on defending the battered coastline or abandon huge areas of Britain to the sea.

现在，正在做出最重要的决定。是斥资数百万美元来保护千疮百孔的海岸线，还是任由英国大片的土地葬身“海口”。

Here in North Yorkshire, the local and central government has spent a lot of money to defend this battered coastline. "If we didn't defend, while nature would take its course, and we would invariably lose significant amounts of land, Great Britain is a shrinking asset." Many seaside towns have to be protected.

在北约克郡，当地和中央政府花了大量资金来保护这条千疮百孔的海岸线。“如果我们不保护，那么大自然就会自行其道，我们总是会失去大量的土地，英国是一个不断缩小的国家。”许多海滨城镇必须得到保护。

Cliffs are held in place by rock bolts, and new sand added to receding beaches. But the majority of the money goes to building new seawalls and repairing the Victorian and even older ones.

悬崖由石栓固定，新沙加进了不断缩小的海滩。但是大部分资金都用于建造新的海堤并修复维多利亚时代甚至更古老的海堤。

The sea defences themselves are in a very sorry state. We simply can't continue to pay for all over the crack.

海防工事本身的状况就很糟糕。我们根本无法继续向破烂不堪的工事砸钱。

One reason Britain is in such a bad way is its geology. Due to the earth movements after the last Ice Age, the country is gradually tilting. So while Scotland rises, the south of England falls. On top of that, global warming is set to really stir things up. Sea levels in the Southern UK are expected to rise about 1-3 feet by the end of the century.

英国处境如此之糕的原因之一就是它的地质情况。上一次冰河时代过后，由于地层移动，英国逐渐倾斜起来。因此，当苏格兰向上升的时候，英格兰南部却在下降。除此之外，全球变暖将使情况变得更加严重。本世纪末，英国南部的海平面预计会上升约0.3-0.9米。

These are the salt marshes of Essex, just outside of London. Well, here at Essex, the problem simply couldn't be worse. Because we are in the frontline and that we know that we've lost more than 50% of our salt marsh in just 30 years. Salt marshes help to defend the coastline by absorbing the energy of the waves.

这里是伦敦城外的艾塞克斯盐沼。哎呀，在艾塞克斯，这一问题非常糟糕。因为我们处于前线，并且我们知道在短短的30年里我们就已经失去了一半以上的盐沼。通过吸收海浪的能量，盐沼能保护海岸线。

In addition to human development, another process is that have reduced the size of the salt marshes. Flood defenses are preventing them from spreading naturally inland. So instead of building more seawalls, in some places farmland is flooded, and salt marshes recreated, giving natural protection to the coast.

除了人类发展外，另一个进程就是盐沼规模的减小。防洪就是防止盐沼向内陆自然扩散。因此，在一些被淹的农田里，盐沼又重新造了出来，给海岸提供了天然的保护，而不是建造更多的海堤。

Whether the choice is to battle against nature or work with it, the long-term outcome remains unchanged, Britain is an ever shrinking island.

无论是选择与自然搏斗还是同它结盟，长期的结果依然如故，那就是英国是一个不断缩小的岛屿。