特别广播英语第 115 课：Life on the Tundra 接近北冰洋的冻土带上的生活情景-4

Now an 800-mile (about 1300 kilometers) pipeline has been built from Prudhoe Bay on the Arctic Ocean to Valdes, a port on the south coast of Alaska. 现在已经把一条800英里长的输油管从北冰洋上的普拉德霍贝架设到了阿拉斯加北边坡地的冻土下面发现了石油。现在的普拉德霍贝架设到了阿拉斯加南岸的港口城市瓦尔迪兹。

The pipeline carries the oil from the Northern Slope, across the tundra, to the port. From there, it is shipped to the rest of the United States. 这条输油管把石油从北部坡地，越过冻土带，输送到瓦尔迪兹港口，又从那里把石油装船运送到美国其他地方。

Thousands of men and women were needed to build and maintain the pipeline. 为了和维护保养这条输油管，需要有成千上万的男男女女参与工作。

For the first time, large numbers of people were brought into contract with the tundra. 这是破天荒第一次，把一大批又一大批的人送到这里来与冻土带打交道。

Their presence and the presence of the pipeline they built represented a major change in the environment. 这些人的到来以及他们所修建的输油管的出现标志着冻土带的环境的重大改变。

How will the life cycles of the tundra be affected? 那么，冻土带的生活周期会受到什么影响呢？

The survival of the United States depends on the ability to find new sources of energy. 美国能否继续生存下去，依赖于是否有能力找到新的能源。

Oil from beneath the tundra is very important to the nations' development. 来自冻土带下面的石油对美国的发展至关重要。

But the survival of the tundra depends on how carefully people maintain the delicate balance of nature in this environment. 但是，这块冻土带上的一切是否能继续维持下去，这依赖于人们是否能细心地维护在这种环境下大自然里各个物种之间的平衡。