时间:2018-12-16 作者:英语课 分类:VOA标准英语2012年(七月)


英语课

 


US Army Corps 1 of Engineers Fights Receding 2 Mississippi Waters



It's another day of intense heat in the midwest United States, and another day without rain on the Mississippi river. On board the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers survey ship, the MV Pathfinder, Captain Terry Bequette is watching the river level drop.


"You see probably 15 or 20 foot [five or seven meters] more bank [exposed] than we had at this time last year. The sand bars behind you were not exposed last year at this time," explained Bequette.


Last year, heavy rains flooded the banks along parts of the Mississippi. This year, the level is so low, shipwrecks 3 normally hidden under water are plainly in view.


"It's low and it's bad, but it's not the end-of-the-world bad," added Bequette. "The industry just lightens their load and hopes for the best."


That industry ships corn, soybeans, and wheat from farms in the Midwest to destinations around the globe. Roughly 60 percent of all grain exported from the United States travels on barges 4 along this waterway. Any disruption has a ripple 5 effect.


"There's a lot of money at stake for these farmers, and there's other commodities that are coming down the river as well, so it's not just grain but it's also chemicals are coming down the river, coal is coming down the river, various things like that," noted 6 Jasen Brown, a Hydraulic 7 Engineer with the Army Corps. 


Brown notes that ships need a channel nearly three meters deep and 91 meters wide to safely navigate 8


"We are at a low enough stage with the anticipated forecast going lower, that we're starting to initiate 9 some communication between the navigation industry, the Coast Guard, and the Corps, so that we are accounting 10 for all the things we need to account for as the water levels drop," he said.


Part of that accounting begins with Captain Bequette and his crew who locate the shallow spots that could endanger traffic. 


"We run a dredge survey, and then they decide whether it needs dredging or if we can buoy 11 [identify] it," Bequette explained. If we can buoy it, certainly that is the quickest solution. Obviously the further it drops the more dredging sites are going to pop up."


Companies that load their barges will have to lighten their loads as water levels drop. However, according to Russell Errett with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Mississippi River is still the most efficient way to ship commodities, as long as it stays open to traffic. 




1 corps
n.(通信等兵种的)部队;(同类作的)一组
  • 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。
2 receding
v.逐渐远离( recede的现在分词 );向后倾斜;自原处后退或避开别人的注视;尤指问题
  • Desperately he struck out after the receding lights of the yacht. 游艇的灯光渐去渐远,他拼命划水追赶。 来自辞典例句
  • Sounds produced by vehicles receding from us seem lower-pitched than usual. 渐渐远离我们的运载工具发出的声似乎比平常的音调低。 来自辞典例句
3 shipwrecks
海难,船只失事( shipwreck的名词复数 ); 沉船
  • Shipwrecks are apropos of nothing. 船只失事总是来得出人意料。
  • There are many shipwrecks in these waters. 在这些海域多海难事件。
4 barges
驳船( barge的名词复数 )
  • 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。
5 ripple
n.涟波,涟漪,波纹,粗钢梳;vt.使...起涟漪,使起波纹; vi.呈波浪状,起伏前进
  • The pebble made a ripple on the surface of the lake.石子在湖面上激起一个涟漪。
  • The small ripple split upon the beach.小小的涟漪卷来,碎在沙滩上。
6 noted
adj.著名的,知名的
  • The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
  • Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。
7 hydraulic
adj.水力的;水压的,液压的;水力学的
  • The boat has no fewer than five hydraulic pumps.这艘船配有不少于5个液压泵。
  • A group of apprentics were operating the hydraulic press.一群学徒正在开动水压机。
8 navigate
v.航行,飞行;导航,领航
  • He was the first man to navigate the Atlantic by air.他是第一个飞越大西洋的人。
  • Such boats can navigate on the Nile.这种船可以在尼罗河上航行。
9 initiate
vt.开始,创始,发动;启蒙,使入门;引入
  • A language teacher should initiate pupils into the elements of grammar.语言老师应该把基本语法教给学生。
  • They wanted to initiate a discussion on economics.他们想启动一次经济学讨论。
10 accounting
n.会计,会计学,借贷对照表
  • A job fell vacant in the accounting department.财会部出现了一个空缺。
  • There's an accounting error in this entry.这笔账目里有差错。
11 buoy
n.浮标;救生圈;v.支持,鼓励
  • The party did little to buoy up her spirits.这次聚会并没有让她振作多少。
  • The buoy floated back and forth in the shallow water.这个浮标在浅水里漂来漂去。
学英语单词
19-noretiocholanolone
aging resistant performance
airframe design
arch-gravity dam
barposts
birmingham wire gauge (bwg)
black mould of rice
boobfeed
bullation
Buttons and Bows
butyl carbamic acid
carried
cold work-hardening
construction operation
Couillard's sign
cry for help
cudding
cyanhemoglobin
cyclopentyl
Darmera
dawn on/upon
de Man
diagnostic equipment of vehicle
Dipelta
dombeys
dominant root
edge torn
eldest sister
Ephestia Cautella Walker
error in economic analysis
extreme-value distribution
fore-barrier
funnel temperature
gemcadiol
ginsing
Grande, Ar.
grey decision
handshake flag
heated
Heliophyllum
hyper-masculine
inner link
instruction-oriented algorithm
instrumentation tool
insured claim
internal ear fenestration knife
internalization theory
interruptible consumer
IPIX
Ironorm
Iscah
Jewish piano
job analysis
kalotermess
keenings
kitter
levcycloserine
level stability
Li Shangyin
lobbert lagging
Lysimachia terrestris
maclay
magnetic vibrationactuated feeder
Manganhydroxylapatite
maritime community
melampsora linis
monochorionic
nongeology
original error
place a call to
post-matches
radices myelencephalica
self-tuning controller
severe architecture
ships inertial navigation system
side walk for the blind
Silene cashmeriana
singl-and-multi-start worm
Sir Graham Moore Is
sitting-up
socialist economics
sokotoes
starter mounting
Streptomyces rubrireticuli
sub control account
Sulcus posterolateralis
surface conditioning
system high security mode
that is why
three orders
tidal current cycle
to throw it down
transconjunctivally
Uggerslev
Universal Telecommunication Radio Access Network
vapour refrigeration cycle
ventriculographic
waiving
wakefuls
wet clutch
wild bird
willert