x Few creations of big technology capturethe imaginationlike giant dams. Perhaps it is humankind’s long suffering at the mercy of flood and droughtthat makes the ideal of forcing the waters to do our biddingso fascination. But to be fascinated is also, sometimes, to be blind. Several giant damprojects threaten to do more harm than good.
The lesson from dams is that big is not always beautiful. It doesn′t help that building a big, powerful dam has become a symbolof achievement for nations and people striving to assertthemselves. Egypt′s leadership in the Arab world was cemented by the Aswan High Dam. Turkey′s bid for First World statusincludes the giant Ataturk Dam.
But big dams tend not to work as intended. The Aswan Dam, for example stopped the Nile flooding but deprivedEgypt of the fertile silt that floods left - all in return for a giant reservoir of disease which is now so full of siltthat it barelygenerates electricity.
And yet, the mythof controlling the waters persists. This week, in the heart of civilizedEurope, Slovaks and Hungarians stopped just short of sending in the troopsin their contention over a dam on the Danube. The huge complex will probably have all the usual problems of big dams. But Slovakia is bidding for independence from the Czechs, and now needs a dam to prove itself.
Meanwhile, in India, the World Bank has given the go ahead to the even more wrong headed Narmada Dam. And the bank has done this even though its advisorssay the dam will cause hardship for the powerless and environmentaldestruction. The benefits are for the powerful, but they are far from guaranteed
Proper, scientific study of the impacts of dams and of the cost and benefits of controlling water can help to resolve these conflicts. Hydroelectricpower and flood control and irrigationare possible without building monster dams. But when you are dealing with myths, it is hard to be either proper, or scientific. It is time that the world learned the lessons of Aswan. You don’t need a dam to be saved.
译文
在重大技术所创造的东西中，很少有能像大型水坝这样能体现人的想象力的。或许是因为人类长期遭受洪涝和干旱的袭击，使得人类制服洪水的愿望更加令人兴奋不已。但是令人着迷，有时也会使人盲目。有些巨型大坝的项目就有着弊大于利的危险。
建造大坝的教训是：大的并不一定总是美的。但是这无法阻止想要修建高大雄伟的大坝来显示那些力争得到自我肯定的国家和人民当作伟大成就的象征。埃及在阿拉伯世界的领导地位由建造阿斯旺大坝而巩固。土耳其为了力争成为世界一流的国家，也包括修建了巨大的阿塔特克大坝。
但是大坝并没有如预期的那样发挥作用。例如阿斯旺大坝，它阻止了尼罗河洪水的泛滥，但也使得埃及失去了洪水离去后所留下的肥沃土壤——换回来的是一个疾病滋生的大水库。现在整个水库填满了淤泥，几乎不能发电。
然而控制水的不切实际的想法仍在继续。本周，在文明的欧洲中心，斯洛伐克人和匈牙利人为了多瑙河上的一处水坝引发争端，几乎差点动用了军队。这个大型的工程可能会出现所有大坝上的常见问题。但斯洛伐克正在力图从捷克脱离而独立，现在它需要建一个大坝来证明自己的实力。
与此同时，在印度，世界银行已经贷款来建造问题繁多的纳尔黙达大坝。尽管世界银行的顾问指出，该大坝将给百姓带来苦难，并且也会破坏周边的环境，但银行已经这样实行了。这些利益归有权势者所有，但是这种利益也是没有保障的。
对于水坝的影响以及水坝治水的成本和收益进行正确而科学的研究，能够有效地解决这些冲突。即使不兴建大型水坝，水利发电、治理洪水以及灌溉也是可能的，不一定非得建大坝。但是当你面对那些不切实际的神话时，你就很难做到合理和科学了。现在该是世界吸取阿斯旺大坝教训的时候了。我们未必非要通过大坝来拯救自己。
词汇
assert vt. 主张, 坚称, 断言
例句：You must assert yourself or they will continue to bully you. 你必须维护自己的权利，否则他们还会欺负你。
词组：assert oneself坚持自己的权利; 表现自己的权威
同义词：affirm declare insist on pronounce state
Advisor n. 顾问, 劝告者, 指导教师
例句：His amiability condemns him to being a constant advisor to other people's troubles.他那和蔼可亲的性格使他成为经常为他人排忧解难的开导者。
bidding n. 命令, 邀请, 出价
例句：He was bidding for popular support. 他在设法争取大众的支持。
词组：at one's bidding/at sb.'s bidding 依嘱,遵命do one's bidding/do sb.'s bidding照……的命令做, 照……的话办
barely ad. 几乎不
例句：He has barely enough money to live on. 他的钱仅够勉强维持生计。
词组：barely enough勉强够be barely of age刚成年a barely furnished room陈设简陋的房间
同义词：hardly just scarcely
capture n. 抓取, 战利品, 捕获之物vt. 抓取, 获得, 迷住
例句：They would offer a bounty of $100,000 for the capture of the murderer. 他们愿出十万元赏金捉拿凶手。
同义词：apprehend arrest imprison seize
反义词：release
civilized a. 文明的, 有礼的
例句：His new theory has caused a sensation throughout the civilized world. 他的新理论轰动了整个文明世界。
反义词：barbarous; uncivilized; wild
dam n. 水坝, 障碍vt. 控制, 筑坝vi. 控制, 筑坝
例句：The mouth of the river is dammed and a freshwater lake created behind the dam.河口筑起了拦河坝，坝后便形成了淡水湖。
词组：devil's dam鬼婆娘(骂妇女的话)
deprived a. 穷困的, 丧失了受良好教育权利的, 贫穷的
例句：These misfortunes almost deprived him of his reason. 这些不幸的事情几乎使他失去理智。
词组：deprived children失学的孩子们
drought n. 干旱, 缺乏
例句：Soon afterward drought set in. 不久之后又发生了干早。
反义词：wet
environmental a. 周围的, 环境的
派生：environment n. 周围环境. environmentalist n. 环境保护者
例句：Living creatures must be adaptable to environmental change. 生物必须能适应环境的变化。
词组：an environmental factor环境的因素
fascination n. 令人着迷的事物, 入迷, 魅力
例句：Old churches have a certain strange fascination for me. 旧教堂对我具有某种奇特的魅力。
guarantee n. 担保, 抵押品, 保证书vt. 保证, 担保
例句：Blue skies are not always a guarantee of fine weather. 蔚兰的天空并不永远保证晴朗的天气。
词组：stand guarantee for ... 替……担任保证人
同义词：assure back certify endorse pledge promise secure sponsor stand for swear underwrite warrant
反义词：guarantor
hydroelectric a. 水力电气的
词组：a hydroelectric power station水力发电站
Imagination n. 想像, 听觉, 想像力
例句：Dragons are creatures of Chinese fancy. 龙是中国人幻想出来的动物。
词组：beyond(all) imagination(完全)出乎意料地draw on (one's) imagination杜撰, 编造
irrigation n. 灌溉, 冲洗
例句：Public irrigation is the heart of cotton farming. 公共水利设施是棉花生产的命脉。
词组：an irrigation channel (canal) 灌溉渠bring the farmland under irrigation使农田水利化
myth n. 神话, 虚构的事, 虚构的人
例句：He was a myth that had been created out of desperation and poverty and despair. 他是从绝境、贫困和失望中创造出来的一个神话般的人物。
meanwhile n. 其时, 其间ad. 同时, 于此时
例句：Meanwhile, two other actors had carried two large food baskets to a shady spot under some trees. 与此同时,另外两位演员把两个盛着食物的大篮子拿到树下荫凉的地方。
symbol n. 符号, 象征, 代号, 信条
例句：The private car was still a cherished status symbol. 私人小汽车仍然是一种地位高贵的标志。
词组：a chemical symbol化学符号
status n. 状态, 情形, 地位, 要人身份
例子：We celebrate our regained status as a sovereign and independent nation. 我们为重新取得了主权和独立国家的地位而欢欣鼓舞。
词组：the status of affairs事态, 形势status nascendi (nascens) 初生态class status阶级成分a status seeker想往上爬的人
同义词：class condition division grade position rank standing state station
silt n. 淤泥vt. 使淤塞vi. 淤塞
例句：The cadres were digging up river silt with the commune members. 干部同社员们一起在挖河泥。
词组：silt content/ the total volume of silt淤泥含量
scientific a. 科学的, 系统的, 符合科学规律的
例句：Scientific statistical figures are from Beijing scientific resources check 2000. 科学技术统计数字为2000年北京市科技资源清查数字。
词组：scientific experiment科学实验scientific point of view科学观点
反义词：unscientific
troop n. 军队, 装甲部队, 骑兵队, 部队vi. 群集, 结队, 成群而行
例句：There were troops of friends to see him off. 有很多友人为他送行。
词组：get one's troop升任骑兵连长household troops王室禁卫军
同义词：band body bunch company crew crowd gang group mob party unit
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