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。