随着水位上涨，人口减少，威尼斯的未来会怎样?

随着水位上涨，人口减少，威尼斯的未来会怎样?

The lagoon city of Venice — a unique experiment nurtured by man and nature — suffered heavy damage in November as floodwaters reached their highest peaks in more than 50 years.

11月，威尼斯这座泻湖城市—一项由人类与自然共同培育的独特实验室，遭受了严重的破坏，洪水达到了50多年来的最高水位。

But rising sea levels are not the only threat. As Venetians continue to leave their city, Venice risks becoming an empty shell sinking under mass tourism.

但海平面上升并不是唯一的威胁。随着威尼斯人不断地离开他们的城市，在大规模的旅游业下，威尼斯面临着成为一个正在下沉的空壳的风险。

Two weeks after the floods, St. Mark's Square resonates with a cacophony of languages — Spanish, Chinese and Russian. Awestruck visitors shriek and marvel as they take selfies in what Napoleon described as Europe's drawing room.

洪水过后两周，圣马可广场上响起了西班牙语、汉语和俄语的嘈杂声。游客们在拿破仑所说的“欧洲客厅”里自拍时，惊惧交加，惊叫不已。

But across the lagoon, Venetians are taking stock of the damage caused by a wave of exceptionally high tides known as "acqua alta" — high water.

但在泻湖的另一边，威尼斯人正在评估一波异常高涨的潮汐所造成的破坏。

Pellestrina is home mostly to fishermen. For centuries, this 7 1/2-mile-long barrierisland protected the Venetian lagoon from the Adriatic Sea. But on Nov. 12, a near-record high tide of more than 6 feet, combined with strong winds, made for a perfect storm and washed over Pellestrina's high embankments, flooding the island for a full day. Nearly everything on ground floors was destroyed.

佩莱斯特里纳是渔民的家。几个世纪以来，这个7.5英里长的屏障岛保护着威尼斯泻湖免受亚得里亚海的侵袭。但在11月12日，接近历史最高纪录的6英尺多高的潮水，加上强风，形成了一场完美的风暴，冲过了佩莱斯特里纳的高堤，淹没了全岛一整天。地面上几乎所有的东西都被摧毁了。

Along the waterfront, trash collectors load now-useless refrigerators and washing machines onto trucks.

沿着滨水区，垃圾清运员把现在已经没用的冰箱和洗衣机装上卡车。

Fisherman Dino Vianello stares forlornly toward the lagoon, at what was once his shed on wooden pilings. For 40 years, he stored his nets there. Now his livelihood is gone.

渔夫迪诺·维亚内洛孤孤单单地望着泻湖，那里曾是他搭在木桩上的棚屋。40年来，他一直把渔网放在那里。现在他的生计全完了。

Nobody, he says, had ever seen waves nearly 7 feet high and the sea roiling inside homes.

他说，没有人曾见过近7英尺高的海浪和海浪在房子里翻腾。

"The lagoon's ecosystem is unique," says Vianello, "the ancient Venetians who built the Republic of Venice worked in harmony with nature, not against it."

“泻湖的生态系统是独一无二的，” 维亚内洛说，“建造威尼斯共和国的古代威尼斯人与自然和谐相处，而不是与之对抗。”

Many Venetians believe excavation of deep canals in the 1960s to accommodate oil tankers irreparably harmed the lagoon's delicate ecosystem. There's also widespread skepticism about a long-term project to build large, movable floodgates to hold back rising sea levels.

许多威尼斯人认为，上世纪60年代为了容纳油轮而开凿的深运河不可挽回地损害了泻湖脆弱的生态系统。此外，人们普遍对建造大型可移动水闸以阻止海平面上升的长期项目持怀疑态度。

The project is called Mose, an Italian acronym, suggesting a parting of the waters. Still unfinished after 16 years and $5.5 billion in public funds, it has been plagued by corruption and won't be in operation for two more years.

这个项目被称为摩西，这是一个意大利语的首字母缩写，意为“水的分界”。经过16年的建设和55亿美元的公共资金投入，该项目仍未完工，一直深受腐败困扰，未来两年都不会投入使用。

Meanwhile, many residents of Venice feel ignored by local authorities.

与此同时，许多威尼斯居民觉得自己被当地政府忽视了。

In the central Castello District, master artisan Paolo Brandolisio — one of only four remaining makers of oars and oar posts for the city's legendary gondolas — is trying to put his workshop back in order. Brandolisio is trying to salvage his waterlogged oak worktable.

在卡斯泰洛市中心，工匠大师保罗•布兰多里西奥正试图让自己的作坊恢复正常。布兰多里西奥是威尼斯传奇贡多拉上仅存的四名桨和桨杆制造商之一。布兰多里西奥正试图抢救他那张浸满水的橡木工作台。

"We've always managed on our own. In the last 40 or 50 years, city authorities didn't safeguard artisans' workshops," says Brandolisio. "If no one's left to make wooden boats, they'll disappear and be replaced by plastic ones."

“我们总是靠自己。在过去的四五十年里，城市当局没有保护工匠的作坊，” 布兰多里西奥说。“如果没有人留下来造木船，木船就会消失，取而代之的是塑料船。”

Brandolisio laments that most shops now sell Chinese-made souvenirs.

布兰多里西奥感叹道，现在大多数商店都在出售中国制造的纪念品。

"Shops for residents are vanishing because Venetians are vanishing," he says. "So those who are left are those making money selling the cheapest possible goods."

“面向居民的商店正在消失，因为威尼斯人正在消失，”他说。“所以剩下的就是那些靠卖最便宜的商品赚钱的人。”

Regardless of whether more people come, though, many Venetians fear there is a serious danger the prediction made by Lord Byron two centuries ago could come true:

然而，不管来的人是否更多，许多威尼斯人都担心，两个世纪前拜伦勋爵的预言有可能成真:

O Venice! Venice! when thy marble walls

威尼斯!威尼斯!当你的大理石墙壁

Are level with the waters, there shall be?

与水是平的，是真的吗?

A cry of nations o'er thy sunken halls,

在你沉没的大厅里，民族的呐喊，

A loud lament along the sweeping sea!

一声响亮的挽歌，沿着汹涌的大海!