SECTION 3

TUTOR: OK, so what I'd like you to do now is to talk to your partner about your presentations on urban planning.

导师：好的，我希望你们现在和自己的搭档谈谈关于城市规划的演讲。

You should have done most of the reading now, so I'd like you to share your ideas, and talk about the structure of your presentation and what you need to do next.

你们应该已经完成了大部分的阅读，所以我希望你们能分享自己的想法，并说说你们的演讲结构和下一步需要做什么。

CARLA: OK Rob. I'm glad we chose quite a specific topic - cities built next to the sea.

卡拉：好的，罗伯。我很高兴我们选择了一个非常具体的话题--海滨城市。

It made it much easier to find relevant information.

这使我们更容易找到相关的信息。

ROB: Yeah. And cities are growing so quickly - I mean, we know that more than half the world's population lives in cities now.

罗伯：是的。城市发展如此之快，我的意思是，我们都知道现在世界上有一半以上的人口居住在城市里。

CARLA: Yeah, though that's all cities, not just ones on the coast.

卡拉：是的，虽然那是所有的城市，不只是沿海的。

But most of the biggest cities are actually built by the sea. I'd not realised that before.

但大多数最大的城市实际上都是在海边建造的。我以前没有意识到这一点。

ROB: Nor me. And what's more, a lot of them are built at places where rivers come out into the sea.

罗伯：我也没有想到。更重要的是，它们很多都建在河流入海口的地方。

But apparently this can be a problem.

但显然这将是个问题。

CARLA: Why?

卡拉：为什么？

ROB: Well, as the city expands, agriculture and industry tend to spread further inland along the rivers, and so agriculture moves even further inland up the river.

罗伯：嗯，随着城市的扩张，农业和工业会逐渐沿着河流向内陆进一步扩展，因此农业将会向河流上游的内陆进一步延伸。

That's not necessarily a problem, except it means more and more pollutants are discharged into the rivers.

这不一定是一个问题，但它可能意味着越来越多的污染物会排放到河流。

CARLA: So these are brought downstream to the cities?

卡拉：所以这些东西被带到了下游城市？

ROB: Right.Hmm. Did you read that article about Miami, on the east coast of the USA?

罗伯：对。嗯。你读过那篇关于美国东海岸的迈阿密的文章吗？

CARLA: No.

卡拉：没有。

ROB: Well, apparently back in the 1950s they built channels to drain away the water in case of flooding.

罗伯：显然，早在20世纪50年代，他们就修建了排水管道，以防洪水泛滥。

CARLA: Sounds sensible.

卡拉：听起来很明智。

ROB: Yeah, they spent quite a lot of money on them.

罗伯：是啊，他们在这上面花了很多钱。

But what they didn't take into account was global warming.

但他们没有考虑到全球变暖。

So they built the drainage channels too close to sea level, and now sea levels are rising, they're more or less useless.

所以他们建的排水管道太接近海平面了，现在海平面在上升，这些管道或多或少是无用的。

If there's a lot of rain, the water can't run away, there's nowhere for it to go.

如果有大量的降雨，水不能流走，也无处可去。

The whole design was faulty.

整个设计都是有问题的。

CARLA: So what are the authorities doing about it now?

卡拉：那么有关部门现在在做什么呢？

ROB: I don't know.

罗伯：我不知道。

I did read that they're aiming to stop disposing of waste water into the ocean over the next ten years.

我之前确实读到他们打算在未来十年内停止向海洋排放废水。

CARLA: But that won't help with flood prevention now, will it?

卡拉：但这对现在的防洪没有帮助，不是吗？

ROB: No. Really they just need to find the money for something to replace the drainage channels in order to protect against flooding now.

罗伯：是的。事实上，他们只需要一笔钱来更换排水系统，抵抗当前的洪水侵袭。

But in the long term they need to consider the whole ecosystem.

但从长远来看，他们需要考虑整个生态系统。

CARLA: Right. Really, though, coastal cities can't deal with their problems on their own, can they?

卡拉：对的。不过，沿海城市真的无法只靠自己解决问题，不是吗？

I mean, they've got to start acting together at an international level instead of just doing their own thing.

我的意思是，他们必须开始在国际层面上一起合作而不仅仅是闭门造车。

ROB: Absolutely. The thing is, everyone knows what the problems are and environmentalists have a pretty good idea of what we should be doing about them, so they should be able to work together to some extent.

罗伯：当然。重要的是，每个人都知道问题是什么，环保人士对我们应该如何处理这些问题有很好的想法，所以他们应该能够在某种程度上合作。

But it's going to be a long time before countries come to a decision on what principles they're prepared to abide by.

但是，要各国决定准备遵守哪些原则，还需要很长时间。

CARLA: Yes, if they ever do.

卡拉：是的，如果他们真这么做的话。

CARLA: So I think we've probably got enough for our presentation.

卡拉：所以我想我们的演讲大概已经有了足够的内容。

It's only fifteen minutes.

只需要15分钟。

ROB: OK. So I suppose we'll begin with some general historical background about why coastal cities were established.

罗伯：好的。所以我想我们应该从一些关于为何建立沿海城市的历史背景开始。

But we don't want to spend too long on that.

但我们不想在这上面花太多时间。

The other students will already know a bit about it.

其他的学生估计已经了解了一些。

It's all to do with communications and so on.

这全要看沟通互动了。

CARLA: Yes. We should mention some geographical factors, things like wetlands and river estuaries and coastal erosion and so on.

卡拉：是的。我们应该提到一些地理因素，如湿地、河口、海岸侵蚀等。

We could have some maps of different cities with these features marked.

我们可以准备一些不同城市的地图，在上面标出这些特征。

ROB: On a handout you mean? Or some slides everyone can see?

罗伯：你是说讲义？或是一些大家都能看到的幻灯片？

CARLA: Yeah, that'd be better.

卡拉：是的，那会更好。

ROB: It'd be good to go into past mistakes in a bit more detail.

罗伯：把过去的错误讲得更详细一点会很好。

Did you read that case study of the problems there were in New Orleans with flooding a few years ago?

你读过几年前新奥尔良洪水问题的案例研究吗？

CARLA: Yes. We could use that as the basis for that part of the talk.

卡拉：读过。我们可以用它作为那部分演讲的基础。

I don't think the other students will have read it, but they'll remember hearing about the flooding at the time.

我觉得其他学生应该没有看过这个案例，但他们应该会听说过当时那件关于洪水的事。

ROB: OK. So that's probably enough background.

罗伯：好吧。所以背景大概就够了。

CARLA: So then we'll go on to talk about what action's being taken to deal with the problems of coastal cities.

卡拉：那么我们接着讨论，人们正在采取什么行动来处理沿海城市的问题。

ROB: OK. What else do we need to talk about?

罗伯：好的。我们还需要谈什么？

Maybe something on future risks, looking more at the long term, if populations continue to grow.

可以谈点未来的风险，更多地着眼于长期，如果人口继续增长的话。

CARLA: Yeah. We'll need to do a bit of work there, I haven't got much information, have you?

卡拉：是的。我们需要在那一点上做做准备，我没有太多的信息，你呢？

ROB: No. We'll need to look at some websites. Shouldn't take too long.

罗伯：我也没有。我们需要查询一些网站。这用不了多久。

CARLA: OK. And I think we should end by talking about international implications.

卡拉：好的。我认为我们应该在结束时谈谈国际影响。

Maybe we could ask people in the audience.

或许我们可以问问观众。

We've got people from quite a lot of different places.

我们有很多来自不同地方的人。

ROB: That'd be interesting, if we have time, yes. So now shall we…

罗伯：对，如果我们有时间的话，那会很有趣的。所以现在我们……