【英譯漢】

　　Along a rugged, wideNorth 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 hadone hour for their sand castle competition. Some built fishlike structures,complete with scales. Others spent their time on elaborate ditch and dikelabyrinths. Each castle was adorned on top with a white flag.

　　Then they watched thesea invade and devour their work, seeing whose castle could with stand the tidelongest. The last standing flag won.

　　It was no ordinary dayat the beach, but a newly minted, state-sanctioned competition forschoolchildren to raise awareness of the dangers of rising sea levels in a countryof precarious geography that has provided lessons for the world about watermanagement, but that fears that its next generation will grow complacent.

　　Fifty-five percent ofthe Netherlands is either below sea level or heavily flood-prone. Yet thanks toits renowned expertise and large water management budget (about1.25 percent ofgross domestic product), the Netherlands has averted catastrophe since aflooding disaster in 1953.

　　Experts here say thatthey now worry that the famed Dutch water management system actually works toowell and that citizens will begin to take for granted the nation’s success instaying dry. As global climate change threatens to raise sea levels by as muchas four feet by the end of the century, the authorities here are working tomake real to children the forecasts that may seem far-off, but that will shapetheir lives in adulthood and old age.

　　“Everything works sosmoothly that people don’t realize anymore that they are taking a risk indeveloping urban areas in low-lying areas,” said Raimond Hafkenscheid, the leadorganizer of the competition and a water expert with the Foreign Ministry.

　　Before the competition,the children, ages 6 to 11, were coached by experts in dike building and watermanagement. Volunteers stood by, many of them freshly graduated civilengineers, giving last-minute advice on how best to battle the rising water.

　　A recently releasedreport by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development on watermanagement in the Netherlands pointed to an “awareness gap” among Dutchcitizens. The finding did much to get the sand castle contest off the ground.

　　【參考譯文】

　　近日，北海沿岸崎嶇而寬廣的海灘上，孩子們八人一組，十人一隊(duì)，在用隔離帶精心圍起來的沙堆旁各就各位。他們要在一個(gè)小時(shí)內(nèi)完成堆沙堡的比賽。有些人打造魚形的主體建筑，再配上鱗片。其余的人修建復(fù)雜的溝渠和迷宮式的堤壩。每個(gè)沙堡的頂部都插有一面白旗。

　　然后，孩子們等待著大海漲潮，吞沒沙堡，看誰的沙堡在潮水中持續(xù)的時(shí)間最久。白旗最后倒下的沙堡獲勝。

　　孩子們?cè)诤�灘上度過的這一天意義非凡。荷蘭地理環(huán)境不穩(wěn)定，海平面不斷上升，因此，當(dāng)?shù)卣�府決定，為小學(xué)生們舉辦一次別開生面的比賽，以此來提高孩子們的危險(xiǎn)意識(shí)。盡管荷蘭一直是世界各國(guó)仿效的水利大國(guó)，仍然擔(dān)心下一代會(huì)因此變得驕傲自大。

　　荷蘭境內(nèi)55%的土地，要么低于海平面，要么存在嚴(yán)重的水患。然而，由于水利專業(yè)技術(shù)久負(fù)盛名，水利專項(xiàng)撥款又十分龐大(約占國(guó)內(nèi)生產(chǎn)總值的1.25%)，所以1953年洪災(zāi)過后，荷蘭再也沒有遭受過嚴(yán)重的水災(zāi)。

　　專家稱，他們擔(dān)心，由于荷蘭現(xiàn)有的水利系統(tǒng)太完善了，國(guó)民開始想當(dāng)然地以為，荷蘭在水利方面已經(jīng)取得了成功。全球氣候變暖，預(yù)示著到本世紀(jì)末，荷蘭的海平面會(huì)上升四英尺。當(dāng)?shù)卣�府試圖通過本次比賽，讓孩子們明白，這些看似遙不可及的預(yù)示，將會(huì)決定孩子們的中老年生活。

　　本次競(jìng)賽的主要組織者雷蒙德·哈肯什德是外交部的水利專家，他說：“荷蘭的水利工程太安全了，人們意識(shí)不到，在低洼地區(qū)拓展城市面積是在冒天下之大不韙�！�

　　專家在賽前對(duì)6到11歲的兒童進(jìn)行了培訓(xùn)，傳授筑壩和治水知識(shí)。志愿者在現(xiàn)場(chǎng)觀戰(zhàn)，他們大都是剛剛畢業(yè)的土木工程師。比賽的最后一刻，他們會(huì)把抵抗水勢(shì)上漲的絕招告訴給孩子們。

　　最近，經(jīng)濟(jì)合作與發(fā)展組織發(fā)布了一份報(bào)告。報(bào)告指出，荷蘭民眾在水利方面存在著“意識(shí)缺陷”。這份報(bào)告對(duì)成功舉辦本次沙堡競(jìng)賽起到了很大的作用。