VOA标准英语2012--US Army Corps of Engineers Works to Avert Crisis on Mississippi River
时间：2019-01-14 作者：英语课 分类：VOA标准英语2012年(十二月)
US Army Corps 1 of Engineers Works to Avert 2 Crisis on Mississippi River
It is a familiar routine for the crew members of the Dredge Potter, making their way along the Mississippi River to the growing number of shallow trouble spots and digging in.
“The Potter has been working since July, and it’s now December,” said Lance Engle, from the Army Corps of Engineers.
That workload 3 is due to the continuing drought in the central United States that has dried up the Mississippi River basin.
Engle says the Potter's three crews are dredging around-the-clock to keep the river open, and they are not being helped by Mother Nature.
“We are dredging priority locations, and just keeping up with the falling river forecast to maintain navigation,” Engle said.
The Potter scoops 4 sediment 5 off the bottom of the river, and transports it through a pipeline 6 system out the other side at a rate of about 280,000 liters per minute.
“It is essentially 7 a suction dredge, where we suck up the sandy river bottom and deposit it outside the river channel,” Engle said.
Marty Hettel’s barges 8 at AEP River Operations use that river channel, which is 100 meters wide and less than three meters deep. But even that is forcing Hettel’s company to lighten its loads just to make it down the Mississippi.
“We are about 35 percent less efficient at this river stage than we are at normal river conditions,” Hettel said.
Hettel says the work done by dredges like the Potter is helping 9, but will not solve the problem. “To have any support for the river here, we need a good 10 days to two weeks of steady rainfall, and it’s not predicted. It’s just not there,” Hettel said.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers St. Louis District Commander Colonel Chris Hall agrees.
“It will take a significant amount of precipitation to bring those water tables, those aquifers 10, those systems back up to where we have typical river conditions,” Hall said.
“Droughts tend to continue for several years, so I don’t see this going away anytime soon,” Engle said.
Until it goes away, the work of the Potter is essential to the U.S. economy -- ensuring that the chief river of the nation's largest river system is wide and deep enough to handle the barges that carry hundreds of billions of dollars of goods each year.
- The medical corps were cited for bravery in combat.医疗队由于在战场上的英勇表现而受嘉奖。
- When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。
- He managed to avert suspicion.他设法避嫌。
- I would do what I could to avert it.我会尽力去避免发生这种情况。
- An assistant one day a week would ease my workload.每周有一天配一个助手就会减轻我的工作负担。
- He's always grousing about the workload.他总是抱怨工作量大。
- two scoops of mashed potato 两勺土豆泥
- I used three scoops of flour and one(scoop)of sugar. 我用了三杓面粉和一杓糖。 来自辞典例句
- The sediment settled and the water was clear.杂质沉淀后，水变清了。
- Sediment begins to choke the channel's opening.沉积物开始淤塞河道口。
- The pipeline supplies Jordan with 15 per cent of its crude oil.该管道供给约旦15%的原油。
- A single pipeline serves all the houses with water.一条单管路给所有的房子供水。
- Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
- She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。
- The tug is towing three barges. 那只拖船正拖着三只驳船。
- There were plenty of barges dropping down with the tide. 有不少驳船顺流而下。
- The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
- By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。