Water Cities

Water Cities. Written by Kira Freed. Focus question. What are some features of water cities?

水上城市。 吉拉·弗里德 著 思考问题。 水上城市都有哪些特点呢？

Living near water Each year millions of people from around the world travel to Venice, Italy This famous city of canals and bridges was built on more than a hundred islands Venice is the world's best -known water city, but it is certainly not the only one Water cities are places that are built on or near a body of water. Some water cities are tiny, while others are huge. They are found near or in water on every continent, except Antarctica. They exist for many different reasons, and each one has an interesting story to tell.

傍水而居 每年都有数百万来自世界各地的游客前往意大利威尼斯游玩 这座布满运河与桥梁的名城修建在一百多个岛屿上。威尼斯是全球最知名的水上城市，但绝不是唯一的一座。水上城市就是修建在水域中或是毗邻水域的城市。 有些水上城市很小，有些则非常庞大。 除了南极洲之外，每个大洲的水域旁或是水域中都有水上城市的身影。 它们的诞生各有不同的原因，每一座都藏着有趣的故事。

Europe Amsterdam Netherlands Amsterdam is another European city that is famous for its canals It is the capital and largest city in the Netherlands about one -third of the Netherlands is below sea level and 1 -6 is built on reclaimed land land that was once underwater. The city of Amsterdam is about 2 meters, 6 .6 feet, below sea level. The water was pumped out so people could build there. Pumping stations keep the land dry. Amsterdam was surrounded by a moat in the 1500s. More People moved there in the 1600s as the city grew. Workers drained swamps and built three new canals around the downtown area.

欧洲 荷兰阿姆斯特丹 阿姆斯特丹是欧洲另一座因运河闻名的城市，它是荷兰的首都，也是荷兰最大的城市。荷兰大约三分之一的国土低于海平面，六分之一的国土都是填海造陆而来，也就是原本沉在水下的土地。 阿姆斯特丹全市平均比海平面低2米，也就是6.6英尺。 人们把积水抽干之后，就能在这里修建城市了。 抽水站一直维持着陆地的干燥。 16世纪时，阿姆斯特丹四周修建了护城河。 17世纪城市发展，越来越多人搬到这里定居。 工人们排干沼泽积水，在市中心外围修建了三条新运河。

Since that time, 161 other canals have been built. Amsterdam's canals total over 100 kilometers, 62 miles in length. They divide the city into almost 100 small islands joined by over 1 ,200 bridges. The canals were the city's main transportation routes for centuries. Now they are mainly used by smaller boats. However, they are still an important part of Amsterdam's character.

从那之后，人们又修建了161条运河。 阿姆斯特丹的运河总长度超过100公里，也就是62英里。 运河把城市分成了近100座小岛，由1200多座桥梁连接在一起。 几个世纪以来，运河都是这座城市最主要的交通通道。 现在它们主要供小型船只通行。 但它们至今仍是阿姆斯特丹城市特色的重要组成部分。

Asia. Singapore. Singapore is the world's only island city -state, an island that is both a city and an independent country. It is made up of about 63 islands. Singapore depends on goods from other places since it has few natural resources of its own. Singapore is much larger than it was before the 1960s. Like Amsterdam, it has grown by reclaiming land that was once underwater. However, instead of pumping out the water, Singapore has added land by dumping rocks and sand into the sea. A project begun in 2016 will use Amsterdam's methods to increase its land area.

亚洲。 新加坡。 新加坡是全球唯一的城邦岛国，它既是一座城市，也是一个独立的国家。 它由大约63个岛屿组成。 新加坡本土自然资源匮乏，物资依赖其他地区供给。 新加坡的面积比20世纪60年代之前大了很多。 和阿姆斯特丹一样，它也是通过填海造陆，把原本水下的土地变成陆地来扩张面积。 不过新加坡不是抽干海水，而是往海里倾倒岩石和沙子来造出新的陆地。 2016年启动的一个项目会采用阿姆斯特丹的方法来增加国土面积。

Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Dubai is a modern city in the United Arab Emirates, UAE. One of its largest building projects is Palm Islands, three human -made islands shaped like palm trees. The islands are being built along the coast by piling up huge amounts of sand and rock. They are adding hundreds of miles of coastline to the city as well as thousands of homes. Construction began in 2001. The first island was finished in late 2016.

阿拉伯联合酋长国 迪拜。 迪拜是阿联酋的一座现代化城市。 它最宏大的建筑项目之一就是棕榈岛，三座形状像棕榈树的人工岛。 这些岛屿靠着堆积大量沙石，沿海岸修建而成。 它们给迪拜增加了数百英里的海岸线，还新增了数千座住宅。 工程在2001年开工。 第一座岛在2016年底完工。