VOA常速英语:West African Coastal Towns Swallowed by Ocean(翻译)

The days of Grand-Lahou’s old town are numbered. The sea has been swallowing over one meter of the town’s coastline every year.
大拉乌老镇的日子屈指可数。海水每年会侵吞这一小镇海岸线一米。

Eugene Koffi has spent his entire life on this shrinking patch of land between sea and lagoon, called Lahou-Kpanda.
尤金·科菲至今为止一直生活在这个位于海洋和泻湖之间不断缩小的地方，这里名叫Lahou-Kpanda。

“The sea used to be back there, two kilometers away, two kilometers away. Today, you see that it’s right here. There used to be people living here. There used to be coconut trees.”
“这片海洋以前是在那里，距离岸边2千米，2千米啊。今天，你看就在这里。以前那里还有人居住，那里还有椰子树。”

Coastal erosion is a natural phenomenon, but experts say human activity has accelerated it. And with global warming, sea levels are rising around the world. Here in Grand-Lahou, nearby government dams, as well as the local practice of taking sand to build houses, have also hurt the coastline.
海岸侵蚀是一个自然现象，但是专家说人类活动可以加速其侵蚀。因为全球变暖，全世界的海平面都在上升。在大拉乌，附近的政府水坝，以及当地用沙修建房屋的做法同样也破坏了海岸线。

Many colonial buildings have already been washed away. The water now regularly reaches the church, the cemetery and the remaining houses.
许多殖民时期的建筑都已经被冲走。海水现在还匀速地淹没教堂，墓地，还有剩下的房屋。

“When the lagoon overflows, all this here is underwater, even that my house is flooded.”
“当泻湖溢出时，所有这些都被淹在水下，甚至我的房子也淹没。”

Many houses have been abandoned along the coast, and residents have moved inland to what it’s known as New Grand-Lahou.
许多的房子都被抛弃在海岸线边，居民都搬进了内陆地区，也就是新大拉乌。

A few thousand fishermen soldier on here, but making a living has become harder.
有几千名渔民在这里继续工作，但是谋生计变得更难了。

“The river mouth is stuck in the sand. We can’t cross with the boat.”
河口都被沙子堵塞。我们不能乘船通过。

The Biodiversity is also affected.
生物多样性也受到影响。

“In the lagoon, there were mangroves which grow in saline water. So when the river mouth is closed, the lagoon basically becomes fresh water and the mangroves die off. But mangroves are key for biodiversity. If they die, it’s basically the end of the fishery.”
“在泻湖，有生长在含盐水域的红树林。因此，当河口都堵塞，泻湖一般都变成为淡水，红树林相继死去。但是红树林是生物多样性的关键。如果它们死了，那基本就是渔业的末日。”

The fishermen say the government could help by removing the sand from the river mouth, but experts say the rising sea level is irreversible and the population ultimately will be pushed inland.
渔民说政府可以帮助清理河口的沙子，但是专家说上涨的海平面是不可逆的，而且这里的人口最终都将被迫搬到内陆。

It’s a problem along much of West Africa’s coast, and the consequences could be serious. One-third of the region’s people live by the sea, and coastal zones contribute to about half of the regional GDP.
这是西非海岸边大多城镇所面临的问题，而且其结果可能会很严重。该地区有三分之一的人居住在海边，海岸区贡献了近一半地区GDP。

Emilie Iob for VOA NEWS in Grand-Lahou.
VOA新闻，艾米丽·约布大拉乌报道。