The devastating floods and droughts that imposed a recurrent tax of suffering on the fellahin no longer occur.

过去给农民带来灾难的水旱灾害，现在不再发生了。

Egyptian agriculture has been transformed, and industry is benefiting from power generated by the dam.

埃及的农业得到了改造，工业也用上了水坝发出的电力。

But there have been negative effects also.

但是也有不良的后果。

Standing on a sandy beach at the mouth of the Rosetta branch of the Nile, I was puzzled by what seemed a ghost town-a sad vista of crumbling buildings, smashed windows, and broken wires dangling from utility poles.

洛塞塔河是尼罗河入海处的一个支流，我站在河口的沙滩上看到一个小镇，感到迷惑不解。这仿佛是一个被人遗弃了的小镇，一片萧索景象，房子濒于倒塌，窗户破碎，断了的电线挂在电线杆子上。

One house teetered drunkenly, half in, half out of the sea.

有一所房子好像喝醉了的人一样摇摇晃晃，一半泡在海里，一半在陆地上。

"Last summer, people stayed in those rooms-this was a summer resort," said a voice behind me.

“去年夏天，那所房子还有人住过一-这是一个避暑胜地。”在我身后有人这样说道。

The speaker was a young Egyptian named Muhammad, member of a team from Alexandria that had come to this abandoned village to study coastal erosion.

说话的是一位名叫穆罕默德的埃及青年，他是一个考察队的队员，专门从亚历山大港到这个荒芜的村庄来考察沿海地区水土流失的情况。

"Now the sea is moving in," said Muhammad.

“海水越来越往里边来。”穆罕默德说道。

He pointed to a lighthouse perched on a tiny island a couple of miles offshore: "That lighthouse used to be on land.

他指着坐落在离海岸二三英里的小岛上的一座灯塔说:“那座灯塔本来是在陆地上的。

About six years ago it became an island.

大约六年前，那地方变成了一个小岛。

Day by day the sea is eating the land-the dam has stopped the sediment of the Nile from replenishing the shoreline.

海水一天天冲刷陆地一水坝已经让尼罗河的泥沙无法沉积下来加固海岸了。

As we chatted, a brightly painted sardine boat dropped anchor.

我们正在聊着，只见一条颜色鲜艳的捕捞沙丁鱼的船抛了锚。

The captain came ashore and joined our conversation.

船长上了岸，凑过来和我们说话。

"Before they started the High Dam 25 years ago," he said, "the Nile mud had a lot of food in it, and so the sardines gathered near the mouth of the river to feed.”

他说:“二十五年前，在修建高坝之前，尼罗河的泥沙里面有很多可吃的东西，所以沙丁鱼就聚集在河口找食吃。”

Now there is no mud, and no food for the fish-they've left us.

现在泥沙没有了，鱼没有可吃的了，也就不来了。

"If all this can happen in 25 years, what will happen after 50 years, or 100 or 200?" asked Muhammad.

“如果说二十五年就发生这么多变化，五十年、一百年、二百年之后又会怎么样呢?”穆罕默德问道。

责任编辑：admin