同等學力英語閱讀及翻譯專項練習 2

Desperately short of living space and dangerously prone to flooding, the Netherlands plans to start building homes, businesses and even roads on water.

With nearly a third of the country already covered by water and half of its land mass below sea level and constantly under threat from rising waters, the authorities believe that floating communities may well be the future.

Six prototype wooden and aluminum floating houses are already attached to something off Amsterdam , and at least a further 100 are planned on the same estate, called Ijburg.

“Everybody asks why didn't we do this kind of thing before,” said Gijsbert Van der Woerdt, director of the firm responsible for promoting the concept. “After Bangladesh we're the most densely populated country in the world. Building space is scarce and government studies show that we'll need to double the space available to us in the coming years to meet all our needs.”

Before being placed on the water and moved into position by tugboats ( 拖船 ), the houses are built on land atop concrete flat-bottomed boats, which encase giant lumps of polystyrene ( 聚笨乙烯 ) reinforced with steel. The flat-bottomed boats are said to be unsinkable and are anchored by underwater cables. The floating roads apply the same technology.

The concept is proving popular with the Dutch. The waiting list for such homes, which will cost between euros 200, 000—500, 000 to buy, runs to 5, 000 names, claims Van der Woerdt.

With much of the country given over to market gardening and the intensive cultivation of flowers, planners have also come up with designs for floating greenhouses so that the water beneath them irrigates the plants and controls the temperature inside.

A pilot project, covering 50 hectares of flooded land near Amsterdam 's Schiphol airport, is planned for 2005.

The opportunities for innovative developers look promising. “We have 10 projects in the pipeline—floating villages and cities complete with offices, shops and restaurants,” Van der Woerdt said.

1. The Netherlands plans to start building floating communities on water because ___B___.

A. most parts of the country are covered by water

B. the country is constantly threatened by floods

C. it will promote the cultivation of flowers

D. people think it better to live on water

2. By citing “Everyone asks why didn't we do this kind of thing before”, the author wants to tell us that __D____.

A. building floating communities is a very good idea

B. the director of the firm didn't want to answer the question

C. the Netherlands should follow the example of Bangladesh

D. people are not satisfied with the government's work

3. The floating houses will be _A_____.

A. reinforced with steel B. made of concrete

C. constructed in water D. built on boats

4. According to the author, the floating communities on water _D_____.

A. can promote market gardening B. are beyond the reach of most Dutch people

C. will increase the cost of gardening D. will be very popular by the year of 2005

5. “10 projects in the pipeline” in the last paragraph means __D____.

A. “10 pipelines to provide gas” B. “10 companies to lay the pipelines”

C. “10 floating houses to be built on water” D. “10 building projects planned and started”

由于極其缺乏生活空間，也由于容易遭受洪澇的威脅，荷蘭計劃開始在水上興建住房、商店甚至公路。

由于荷蘭三分之一的國土已經被水淹沒，一半的陸地位于海平面之下，并且經常處于上漲的海水的威脅之下，所以荷蘭政府認為，將來的社會很可能是浮動的社會。

六種木制和鋁制的浮動房已經被固定在阿姆斯特丹市外的某個物體上，并且計劃在同一區域至少再興建一百套住房——這個地方叫艾吉博格。

“每個人都問我們為什么以前沒有這么做，”葛吉斯博特·萬德沃爾特說，他是一家公司的老總，該公司負責推廣興建水上住房的觀念。“我們國家是繼孟加拉國之后世界上人口最稠密的國家。我們缺少建筑空間，政府的研究顯示：為了滿足我們的所有需求，未來幾年，我們需要使可用的空間增加一倍。”

在被放于水中并被拖船拖到指定地點之前，這些房子被建在陸地上的混凝土平底船上——這些平底船裝有大量用鋼鐵加固的聚苯乙烯。據說，這種平底船不會沉沒，它們被水下纜繩固定著。浮動的公路也采用同樣的技術。

據證實，這種觀念正在受到荷蘭人的歡迎。萬德沃爾特宣稱，等候這種房子的申請人數已達到五千——這種房子的售價為二十到五十萬歐元。

由于國家的大部分地方被用來發展商品蔬菜種植業和鮮花集約培育業，計劃者也為浮動溫室提供設計，以便溫室下面的水可以灌溉植物，控制溫室的溫度。

計劃于二○○五年實施一項引水工程——該工程涵蓋阿姆斯特丹市斯吉博爾機場附近被淹的五十公頃地區。

看來，革新的開發者們的機會可望獲得成功。“我們有十項工程正在計劃之中——配有辦公室、商店和餐館的浮動鄉村和城市，”萬德沃爾特說。

參考答案 ： 1 ． B 2 ． A 3 ． D 4 ． A 5 ． D