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  3. Along a rugged, wide North Sea beach here on a recent day, children formed te

Along a rugged, wide North Sea beach here on a recent day, children formed te

游客2023-12-28  66
问题    Along a rugged, wide North Sea beach here on a recent day, children formed teams of eight to 10, taking their places beside mounds of sand carefully cordoned by tape. They had one hour for their sand castle competition. Some built fishlike structures, complete with scales. Others spent their time on elaborate ditch and dike labyrinths. Each castle was adorned on top with a white flag. Then they watched the sea invade and devour their work, seeing whose castle could withstand the tide longest. The last standing flag won.
   This was no ordinary day at the beach, but a newly minted, state-sanctioned competition for schoolchildren to raise awareness of the dangers of rising sea levels in a country of precarious geography that has provided lessons for the world about water management, but that fears that its next generation will grow complacent.
   Fifty-five percent of the Netherlands is either below sea level or heavily flood-prone. Yet thanks to its renowned expertise and large water management budget (about 1.25 percent of its GDP), the Netherlands has averted catastrophe since a flooding disaster in 1953.
   Experts here say that they now worry that the famed Dutch water management system actually works too well and that citizens will begin to take for granted the nation’s success in staying dry. As global climate change threatens to raise sea levels by as much as 4 feet by the end of the century, the authorities here are working to make real to children the forecasts that may seem far-off, but that will shape their lives in adulthood and old age.
   "Everything works so smoothly that people don’t realize anymore that they are taking a risk in developing urban areas in low-lying areas," said Raimond Hafkenscheid, the lead organizer of the competition and a water expert with the Foreign Ministry.
   Before the competition, the children, aged six to 11, were coached by experts in dike building and water management. Volunteers stood by, many of them freshly graduated civil engineers, giving last-minute advice on how best to battle the rising water.
   A recently released report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development on water management in the Netherlands pointed to an "awareness gap" among Dutch citizens. The finding did much to get the sand castle contest off the ground.
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答案    不久前的一天，在北海沿岸一段高低起伏的宽阔沙滩上，孩子们组成8至10人的小组，在用隔离带仔细隔开的沙丘旁各就各位。他们进行了1小时的沙筑城堡比赛。有些孩子堆出像鱼一样的造型，还带有鱼鳞；有些孩子堆出沟渠和堤坝组成的复杂迷宫。每座沙堡的顶端都插着一面白旗。然后，他们在一旁守望，等待潮水吞噬自己的作品，看谁的城堡经受潮水冲刷的时间最长。白旗最后倒下的小组是优胜者。
   这并不是海滩上寻常的活动，而是一项国家新近批准设立的竞赛，旨在提高中小学生危机认识，认识到海平面上升会给一个地理环境脆弱的国家带来怎样的危险。尽管荷兰在水利管理方面一直为世界效仿，但政府还是担心下一代会因此而麻痹大意。
   荷兰55％的国土或低于海平面，或极易遭受洪灾。然而，自1953年水灾以来，由于水利管理技术享誉全球，水利管理预算投入巨大(约占其国内生产总值的1．25％)，从未再发生过重大灾害。
   当地专家表示，正因为荷兰水利管理系统闻名世界，成效太过显著，他们担心民众会逐渐把国家免遭水患看作理所当然的事。随着全球气候变化，到本世纪末，海平面或将上升4英尺之多。当地政府正致力于让孩子们切身感受到这一看似遥远，但会影响到他们中老年生活的预警。
   “一切都一帆风顺，人们逐渐忘记在低洼地区开展城市建设有多大风险。”此次大赛的主要组织者、荷兰外交部水利专家雷蒙-哈肯希如是说。
   赛前，这些6至11岁的孩子曾得到筑坝专家和水利管理专家的指导。比赛时，还有志愿者从旁指导，告诉孩子们如何最有效地应对上涨的海水，不少志愿者都是刚毕业的土木工程师。
   经济合作与发展组织最近发布了一份关于荷兰水利管理情况的报告，指出荷兰公众存在“认识鸿沟”。这份报告促成了此次沙堡比赛的落地。
解析    如前所述，新闻特写旨在以今日之事态，核对昨日之背景，揭示明日之意义，较之一般新闻更有深度和广度。本文由一场中小学生沙堡比赛引出荷兰政府全方位治水的国策，回顾治水的历史成就，指出面向未来，居安思危提升民众防洪意识的重要意义，可谓以小见大。就结构而言，文章以儿童沙堡比赛场景描写开头。第二段直入主题，指出该比赛是荷兰政府提升青少年防洪意识的具体举措。从三个层次深入剖析政府治水从娃娃抓起的深层原因，具体包括荷兰地理特征和历史上的治水成就，水利专家观点，经济合作与发展组织的荷兰治水报告等有关结论，据此强调应采取有效措施，弥合当地民众治水认知鸿沟的必要性。
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