Navneet: 高港记事...9

Stories From Gaogang......9

高港记事...9 （标题如此，似乎跟高港无关）

There’s continuous unending industry lining both banks of the river. Thousands of small boats, barges and ships are ever busy carrying their precious cargo up and down the river. The ships transiting in the river do not have very stringent controls on certification which are put in place to ensure safety of life of people on board and that of the cargo. So many dilapidated ships in delicate state of health continue to carry cargo and earn freight. The tragedies in the rivers are less common and accidents too are rare but they do happen and many times the consequences can be serious.

这条河两岸沿途的商业活动热闹非凡。成千上万艘小船、驳船和船舶载着宝贵的货物在亚马逊河上下忙碌穿行。在此中转的船只没有严格的执照管控，没法确保船上人员和货物的生命安全。因此有许多破旧不堪的船只继续运输货物，赚取运费。河流中的悲剧不常见，事故也很少发生，但它们确实发生过，大多数时候后果还很严重。

译文来源：三泰虎 http://www.santaihu.com/44443.html

Though tornadoes in this part of the world are rare but they do occur sometime. Rain, especially during the rainy season comes suddenly. With lot of thunder and accompanied squall it can catch one unawares. The ships have pretty sophisticated equipment on board but there is no warning for sudden gusts and cloud bursts. This dance of rain, wind and thunder is nothing in comparison with the majestic display of lightening and thunder, torrential rain and high velocity winds that occur in the Amazon.

虽然在这个地区，龙卷风实属罕见，但有时也会发生。下雨的时候，尤其是在雨季来临的时候。雷声隆隆，伴着狂风暴雨，让人措手不及。船上有相当精密的设备，但无法预告急风骤雨。这种雨、风、雷狂野交织的舞蹈，与亚马逊河中出现的电闪雷鸣、倾盆大雨和高速气流的壮观景象相比简直是天壤之别。

Last year a newly furnished passenger boat got caught in a furious whirlwind and torrential rain that came so suddenly that the Captain couldn’t take action in time and the boat overturned killing all of some four hundred passengers on board.

去年，一艘装备一新的客轮突然被猛烈的旋风和暴雨所困，速度之快以至于船长无法及时采取行动，船翻了，船上的400名乘客全部遇难。

The passenger vessels that operate in the river have an open space in the centre where the vehicles are parked. There are huge doors at each end which when laid down act as bridges between the jetty and the ferry.

穿行于此河中的客船有一块开阔之地，中央可供车辆停泊。每一头都有巨大的门，当门被放下时，就像桥梁一样将码头和渡船之间连接起来。

But things can be dangerous if the vessel has to cross even a small stretch of an open sea. There are many ferries and freighters that transport men and cargo around Europe and in many cases they have to cross short stretches of open seas. That’s where the tragedies occur. The open sea passage between Africa and Europe is less than 10 Nautical Miles but every day we hear of boat tragedies resulting in death of people trying to migrate to the greener pastures. Some years ago a Dutch ferry had sunk, just when it came out of the dock out in the open and was caught in heavy rolling because the swell in the sea was heavy. Unfortunately, the doors of the drive-in hatch hadn’t been sealed properly when the ferry and water started gushing in. The force of the water gushing in tremendous. Some of you may have seen its images in the films but all those are computer generated, the real life situation is far more intimidating.

但是，如果船只要穿过就算是很小一片的开阔海域，都可能会有危险。有许多环欧洲经营的运送人员和货物的渡船和货船，很多时候他们不得不穿越短距离的开阔海域。悲剧就发生在这种地方。非洲和欧洲之间的海上通道不到10海里，但我们每天都能听到造成偷渡客死亡的海上惨剧。几年前，一艘荷兰渡船在从船坞出来后，遭遇了汹涌的巨浪，渡船被海浪挟裹着上下翻滚，开始下沉。不幸的是，当水开始涌进来时，自动舱门的门并没有完全密封。水的力量十分巨大的。你们中的一些人可能已经见识过电影里的场景，但是所有这些场景都是电脑合成的，真实的场景要可怕得多。