英語聽力文摘 玻璃海灘

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在佛羅里達州的羅德岱堡，當你欣賞美麗的海岸景色時，試想一下，你腳底下踩著的沙子在陽光下閃閃發(fā)光會是什么景象。如今，面對佛羅里達海岸遭到持續(xù)侵蝕的情況，布勞沃德縣官員正在開發(fā)一種新方法，那就是利用玻璃來幫助彌補沙灘的缺口。 如果該項目得到實施，布勞沃德縣將成為美國第一個擁有玻璃海灘的地方。在佛羅里達州，沙子是一種很值錢的東西，和海灘有關的經(jīng)濟活動每年為佛羅里達創(chuàng)造10億美元以上的價值。傳統(tǒng)上，補充沙灘侵蝕的方式是從海床挖沙。自從1970年以來，僅在布勞沃德縣,就已經(jīng)挖掉1300萬噸的海沙，這些海沙可以將美國紐約的帝國大廈塞滿整整12次?，F(xiàn)在布勞沃德縣每年只能造出1.56萬噸玻璃，還不足以解決沙灘的侵蝕問題，但卻能夠減少沙灘流失的速度。

All over the country, beach managers have tried to make beaches safer by discouraging the use of glass bottles on the sand.

Florida, however, has actually begun using glass as sand at the beach as a way to keep its shores friendly to both tourists and wildlife.

A stable beach is important for human use and for many wildlife populations. Each year, the ocean surf causes substantial erosion of these beaches as it carries tons of sand with it back into the ocean. The most common way to restore the sand lost to erosion is to pipe it from the ocean floor back up to the beach. This method, though, is expensive and does damage to the fragile ecosystems on the ocean floor.

In the search for an alternative to this costly and destructive piping method, scientists turned to crushed glass. The glass was made into pieces roughly two-hundredth-of-an-inch (.02) in size that were similar in shape and texture to ordinary sand. The glass sand was then tested to make sure that it would not only look like sand, but would also behave like sand in the natural environment.

Researchers found that the glass sand was very similar to ordinary sand in terms of heat, moisture and oxygen levels. They also determined that the glass sand was suitable for those who inhabit the beach, from microorganisms to crabs and turtles. Thanks to these scientists, today you can visit one of these lovely, sparkling beaches and even build a glass castle in the sand.

譯文：

在全國范圍內(nèi)，為了安全起見，主管沙灘的經(jīng)理們都不鼓勵把玻璃灑用于沙灘。

然而佛羅里達州，開始用玻璃來代替沙撒在海灘上，以此來保護游客和野生動植物。

一個穩(wěn)定的沙灘對于人們的使用和許多野生動物種群來說是非常重要的。每年，海洋沖浪都會引起海灘的嚴重侵蝕，因為它會帶著好幾噸的沙重回大海。儲存沙最常見的方法就是用管子把它從海底重新運回海岸。這種方法不僅花費昂貴，而且也容易破壞海底脆弱的生態(tài)系統(tǒng)。

在尋找可以代替這種昂貴的和破壞性的管道方法的過程中，科學家們轉向了粗碎玻璃。這種玻璃被做成0.0127厘米大小的類似于普通沙子的質地和形狀的樣子。他們對玻璃沙子進行測試，確保它不僅看起來像沙子，而且在自然環(huán)境中也能像自然沙子那樣發(fā)揮作用。

研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，玻璃沙子在熱量，濕度和含氧量方面都非常類似于普通的沙子。他們還發(fā)現(xiàn)玻璃沙子對于在海邊居住的生物也同樣適合，從微生物到螃蟹，再到海龜。多虧了這些科學家，今天你可以參觀到這些可愛的，閃閃發(fā)亮的海灘，甚至于矗立于海灘中一座玻璃城堡。