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Did you ever hear the saying, “it’s easier to get the Mississippi to change its course than get a stubborn child to change his mind”? I guess whoever made this one up didn’t know that the Mississippi actually does change its course about every thousand years or so.
你是否聽說過這句諺語：“讓密西西比河改道比讓固執(zhí)的小孩改主意更容易。”我猜編出這句諺語的人不知道密西西比河的確每隔一千年左右就會改一次道。
How could a river change its course? Actually, the whole process is due to silt. Every year, erosion from farm fields and building projects washes millions of tons of soil into streams and rivers. When these tributary streams and rivers empty into the Mississippi, the floating soil particles are carried along in the fast-moving water from the heart of the continent towards the delta, where the river meets the sea.
河流怎么會改道呢?實(shí)際上，改道的全過程都是淤泥在起作用。每年，農(nóng)田和建筑工程由于侵蝕作用而將大量泥土沖入溪流和河水之中。當(dāng)這些支流的小溪和河流注 入密西西比河時(shí)，漂浮在其上的土壤顆粒也隨著快速流動的河水順流而下，從大陸中心流向三角洲地區(qū)——也就是河流匯入大海的地方。
At the delta, the main channel of the river forks into many smaller channels. The water in the main channel slows down, and the floating soil settles to the bottom. Over time, this sediment builds up, and the main channel becomes shallower and shallower until it finally overflows and forms a new river, leaving the old channel to become a swamp.
在三角洲地區(qū)，密西西比河的主河道分叉，分出許多小河道。主河道的河水流速變緩，懸浮的土壤顆粒沉入河底。久而久之，這些沉積物將河底抬高，主河道變得越來越淺，最終導(dǎo)致河水漫過河道形成一條新的河流，而舊河道則成為沼澤。
Over the past eight thousand years, the Mississippi’s main channel has become clogged up and changed course at least seven times. Under natural conditions the city of New Orleans should now be underwater, but this has been prevented by the Army Corps of Engineering’s spending millions of dollars to prevent the Mississippi from changing course.
在過去的八千年里，密西西比河的主河道至少阻塞并改道了七次。在自然狀態(tài)下，現(xiàn)在的新奧爾良市應(yīng)該已經(jīng)身居河底了，但是美國陸軍工程花費(fèi)了上百萬美元阻止了密西西比河再次改道。
So maybe the saying is wrong. Maybe stopping the Mississippi i from changing its course is the really hard thing to do.
所以，也許諺語是錯(cuò)誤的。阻止密西西比河改道才是件困難的事情。
Did you ever hear the saying, “it’s easier to get the Mississippi to change its course than get a stubborn child to change his mind”? I guess whoever made this one up didn’t know that the Mississippi actually does change its course about every thousand years or so.
你是否聽說過這句諺語：“讓密西西比河改道比讓固執(zhí)的小孩改主意更容易。”我猜編出這句諺語的人不知道密西西比河的確每隔一千年左右就會改一次道。
How could a river change its course? Actually, the whole process is due to silt. Every year, erosion from farm fields and building projects washes millions of tons of soil into streams and rivers. When these tributary streams and rivers empty into the Mississippi, the floating soil particles are carried along in the fast-moving water from the heart of the continent towards the delta, where the river meets the sea.
河流怎么會改道呢?實(shí)際上，改道的全過程都是淤泥在起作用。每年，農(nóng)田和建筑工程由于侵蝕作用而將大量泥土沖入溪流和河水之中。當(dāng)這些支流的小溪和河流注 入密西西比河時(shí)，漂浮在其上的土壤顆粒也隨著快速流動的河水順流而下，從大陸中心流向三角洲地區(qū)——也就是河流匯入大海的地方。
At the delta, the main channel of the river forks into many smaller channels. The water in the main channel slows down, and the floating soil settles to the bottom. Over time, this sediment builds up, and the main channel becomes shallower and shallower until it finally overflows and forms a new river, leaving the old channel to become a swamp.
在三角洲地區(qū)，密西西比河的主河道分叉，分出許多小河道。主河道的河水流速變緩，懸浮的土壤顆粒沉入河底。久而久之，這些沉積物將河底抬高，主河道變得越來越淺，最終導(dǎo)致河水漫過河道形成一條新的河流，而舊河道則成為沼澤。
Over the past eight thousand years, the Mississippi’s main channel has become clogged up and changed course at least seven times. Under natural conditions the city of New Orleans should now be underwater, but this has been prevented by the Army Corps of Engineering’s spending millions of dollars to prevent the Mississippi from changing course.
在過去的八千年里，密西西比河的主河道至少阻塞并改道了七次。在自然狀態(tài)下，現(xiàn)在的新奧爾良市應(yīng)該已經(jīng)身居河底了，但是美國陸軍工程花費(fèi)了上百萬美元阻止了密西西比河再次改道。
So maybe the saying is wrong. Maybe stopping the Mississippi i from changing its course is the really hard thing to do.
所以，也許諺語是錯(cuò)誤的。阻止密西西比河改道才是件困難的事情。