VOA标准英语2009年-Maldives Cabinet Meets Below Waves to High
时间：2019-02-12 作者：英语课 分类：VOA标准英语2009年(十月)
By Steve Herman
New Delhi
17 October 2009
Maldivian President Mohammed Nasheed signs a document calling on all countries to cut down their carbon dioxide emissions 1, in Girifushi, Maldives, 17 Oct 2009
In an effort to highlight climate change, the Cabinet of the government of the Maldives, an Indian island nation, has held a meeting under water.
Meetings of government ministers can sometimes be a dry affair. That certainly was not the case during the latest gathering 2 of the Cabinet of the Maldives.
President Mohamed Nasheed and 11 of his government ministers, plus the vice 3 president and Cabinet secretary, donned scuba 4 gear and plunged 5 six meters below the shimmering 6 turquoise 7 surface of an Indian Ocean lagoon 8.
The Cabinet seated behind tables, amid a coral backdrop, used hand gestures to communicate.
The president is a certified 9 diver but other Cabinet members had to take lessons in recent weeks to prepare for the unprecedented 10 meeting.
One resolution was approved - a declaration calling for concerted global action on climate change ahead of a major United Nations conference on the subject scheduled for December in Copenhagen.
The ministers used waterproof 11 markers to sign the document, printed on a white board.
President Nasheed, surfacing to speak with reporters, said he hopes his unusual Cabinet meeting will prompt global action.
"We want to see that everyone else is also occupied as much as we are [with climate change] and would like to see that people actually do something about it," he said. "If Maldives cannot be saved today we do not feel that there is not much of a chance for the rest of the world."
The Maldives
The Maldives consists of nearly 1,200 coral islands. The land surface pokes 12 just a couple of meters on average above sea level, making it the lowest-lying nation in the world.
It is feared that rising sea levels could submerge the country this century.
President Nasheed has previously 13 announced plans to buy a new homeland for his country's 350,000 citizens if the Maldives does eventually disappear below the waves.
- Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
- Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。
- He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
- He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。
- He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
- They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。
- I first got hooked on scuba diving when I was twelve.12岁时我开始迷上了带水中呼吸器潜水。
- While on honeymoon in Bali,she learned to scuba dive.她在巴厘岛度蜜月时学会了带水肺潜水。
- The train derailed and plunged into the river. 火车脱轨栽进了河里。
- She lost her balance and plunged 100 feet to her death. 她没有站稳，从100英尺的高处跌下摔死了。
- The sea was shimmering in the sunlight. 阳光下海水波光闪烁。
- The colours are delicate and shimmering. 这些颜色柔和且闪烁微光。 来自辞典例句
- She wore a string of turquoise round her neck.她脖子上戴着一串绿宝石。
- The women have elaborate necklaces of turquoise.那些女人戴着由绿松石制成的精美项链。
- The lagoon was pullulated with tropical fish.那个咸水湖聚满了热带鱼。
- This area isolates a restricted lagoon environment.将这一地区隔离起来使形成一个封闭的泻湖环境。
- Doctors certified him as insane. 医生证明他精神失常。
- The planes were certified airworthy. 飞机被证明适于航行。
- The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
- A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。
- My mother bought me a waterproof watch.我妈妈给我买了一块防水手表。
- All the electronics are housed in a waterproof box.所有电子设备都储放在一个防水盒中。
- He pokes his nose into everything. 他这人好管闲事。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
- Only the tip of an iceberg pokes up above water. 只有冰山的尖端突出于水面。 来自辞典例句
- The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
- Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。