2017考研英語(yǔ)閱讀材料：日本種島的戰(zhàn)略意圖

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關(guān)于世界的政治戰(zhàn)略和軍事戰(zhàn)略的事情也是很重要的，尤其是關(guān)系到中國(guó)的邊境問(wèn)題的，考生們也應(yīng)該注意多學(xué)習(xí)一些。下面一起來(lái)看一下跨考網(wǎng)的專家精心的為大家準(zhǔn)備的關(guān)于2017考研英語(yǔ)閱讀材料：日本種島的戰(zhàn)略意圖的一些資料，幫助同學(xué)們更好的做好考研英語(yǔ)的復(fù)習(xí)備考工作。

China’s artificial islands are fuelling a new strugglefor control of Asia’s oceans, but while the regionalsuperpower dredges military bases out of the ocean, Japan is growing an island in a bathtub.

中國(guó)的人工島正引燃一場(chǎng)爭(zhēng)奪亞洲海洋控制權(quán)的新斗爭(zhēng)。然而，在這個(gè)地區(qū)超級(jí)大國(guó)在海上吹填出軍事基地的同時(shí)，日本正在水槽中“種植”一個(gè)島。

The island is called Okinotorishima, or “distant bird island”; a remote, storm-wracked coral atollin the Philippine Sea, where two small outcrops protrude at high tide. Japan regards the atoll asits southernmost point; China says it is no island, merely a rock.

日本稱這個(gè)島為“沖之鳥(niǎo)島”(Okinotorishima，意為遙遠(yuǎn)的鳥(niǎo)島，中國(guó)稱為“沖之鳥(niǎo)礁”——譯者注)，位于菲律賓海(Philippine Sea)，是一個(gè)遙遠(yuǎn)的、風(fēng)暴肆虐的珊瑚環(huán)礁，在漲潮后只有兩塊巖石露出水面。日本將這個(gè)環(huán)礁視為日本的最南端;中國(guó)則稱它并不是島，只是礁石。

For millennia, as the land beneath it sunk, layers of coral grew on top and kept the atoll’s headabove water. But now Okinotorishima is dying. Climate change is raising the sea level and killingthe coral. Typhoons bite at what remains.

幾千年來(lái)，隨著環(huán)礁下方的土地下沉，層層珊瑚在頂上生長(zhǎng)，使環(huán)礁的頂端一直保持在水面之上。但現(xiàn)在沖之鳥(niǎo)正在走向死亡。氣候變化正在抬高海平面，并殺死珊瑚。臺(tái)風(fēng)則侵蝕著剩下的部分。

Japan is therefore on a desperate quest to regrow the reef. The results will decide the fate of astrategic redoubt, with legal repercussions in the South China Sea, and could offer hope toother atolls threatened by climate change.

因此，日本竭力尋求讓珊瑚礁重新生長(zhǎng)。其結(jié)果將決定一個(gè)戰(zhàn)略性據(jù)點(diǎn)的命運(yùn)，給南中國(guó)海(South ChinaSea)帶來(lái)法律上的影響，還可能會(huì)給其他受氣候變化威脅的環(huán)礁帶來(lái)希望。

The bathtub, full of baby coral growing on iron plates, sits in a greenhouse at the DeepSeawater Research Institute on the island of Kumejima. Workers explain how they broughtcoral from Okinotorishima and harvested eggs. They will grow the baby corals in this laboratoryfor a year then transplant them back to the atoll.

上文所提的水槽位于久米島(Kumejima)上的沖繩縣海洋深層水研究所(Deep Seawater ResearchInstitute)的一間溫室里，水槽中全都是在鐵片上生長(zhǎng)的珊瑚幼蟲(chóng)。工作人員解釋了他們?nèi)绾螐臎_之鳥(niǎo)帶回珊瑚并收集珊瑚蟲(chóng)卵。他們將在這間實(shí)驗(yàn)室里培育珊瑚幼蟲(chóng)一年，然后將它們移植回該環(huán)礁上。

For the scientists working on the project it is a battle with the ocean. They have successfullycultivated coral from the reef and transplanted it back to the island, but it is not enough. “Thenext technology … is keeping up with the rising sea by coral growth and accumulation of coralgravels and sand,” says Hajime Kayanne, a professor at the University of Tokyo.

對(duì)于參與該項(xiàng)目的科學(xué)家而言，這是一場(chǎng)與大海的戰(zhàn)斗。他們已經(jīng)成功從珊瑚礁上培育珊瑚并移植回該島礁上，但這還不夠。“下一項(xiàng)技術(shù)……是使珊瑚的生長(zhǎng)以及珊瑚骨和砂礫的累積趕上海平面的上升，”東京大學(xué)(University of Tokyo)教授茅根創(chuàng)(Hajime Kayanne)表示。

“Our experiments with planting coral on Okinotorishima are ongoing,” says Makoto Omori,emeritus professor at the Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology. “We’ve madeprogress in expanding the area of coral planted, but the death rate of the transplanted coral ishigh, so we can’t yet say the amount of coral on the island is increasing.”

“我們?cè)跊_之鳥(niǎo)上種植珊瑚的實(shí)驗(yàn)正在進(jìn)行當(dāng)中，”東京海洋大學(xué)(Tokyo University of Marine Science andTechnology)名譽(yù)教授大森信(Makoto Omori)表示，“我們?cè)跀U(kuò)展珊瑚種植面積方面取得了進(jìn)展，但移植的珊瑚死亡率很高，因此我們還不能說(shuō)島上的珊瑚數(shù)量正在增加。”

No amount of transplantation can revive a reef by itself, says Mr Omori. Rather, the goal isfor the transplants to spread across the atoll. Working in such a remote place is challengingbecause it is hard to monitor the coral.

大森表示，移植再多也無(wú)法使珊瑚礁自行恢復(fù)生長(zhǎng)。實(shí)際上，這項(xiàng)工作的目標(biāo)是讓移植的珊瑚分布在整個(gè)環(huán)礁上。在如此遙遠(yuǎn)的地方從事這樣的工作具有挑戰(zhàn)性，因?yàn)殡y以對(duì)珊瑚進(jìn)行監(jiān)測(cè)。

For the scientists, rescuing Okinotorishima means saving the world’s coral, and the manyislands that exist because of it. In the past four decades, 40 per cent of the world’s reefs havedied.

對(duì)這些科學(xué)家而言，拯救沖之鳥(niǎo)意味著拯救全世界的珊瑚，以及許多因珊瑚而存在的島嶼。過(guò)去40年，全世界有40%的珊瑚礁已經(jīng)死亡。

“The ecotechnology established in Okinotorishima can be applied to all the small atoll islands inthe Pacific and Indian Ocean,” says Mr Kayanne. “We have almost 500 atolls in the world, andsome island countries such as the Marshalls, Tuvalu, Kiribati and the Maldives are completelyformed of atolls.”

“在沖之鳥(niǎo)開(kāi)創(chuàng)的生態(tài)技術(shù)可以用于太平洋和印度洋上的所有小型環(huán)礁島，”茅根表示，“世界上有近500個(gè)珊瑚環(huán)礁，馬紹爾群島，圖瓦盧，基里巴斯和馬爾代夫等島國(guó)完全是由環(huán)礁形成的。”

Japan’s generous funding has baser motives, however — the tiny reef looms large in the mindsof military planners. Strategists talk of the two island chains separating China from the Pacific:the first running through the main Japanese islands, to Okinawa and Taiwan; the secondthrough Japan’s Ogasawara Islands to the Marianas and the US submarine base at Guam.

不過(guò)，日本慷慨的資金支持具有更根本的動(dòng)機(jī)——在軍事規(guī)劃人員心中，這個(gè)彈丸大小的珊瑚礁意義重大。戰(zhàn)略家提到了將中國(guó)與太平洋分隔開(kāi)來(lái)的兩個(gè)島鏈：第一島鏈穿過(guò)日本本土的主要島嶼，連至沖繩和臺(tái)灣;第二島鏈則穿過(guò)日本的小笠原群島(Ogasawara Islands)，一直到馬里亞納群島和美國(guó)在關(guān)島的潛艇基地。

In a hypothetical future conflict between the US and China, their navies would collide in theocean between the two chains — and Okinotorishima is the only speck of land in those waters.

在假想的美中未來(lái)沖突情景中，兩國(guó)海軍將在這兩個(gè)島鏈之間的海域發(fā)生沖突，而沖之鳥(niǎo)是該海域內(nèi)僅有的一小塊陸地。

Hideaki Kaneda, a retired vice-admiral now at the Okazaki Institute, points out three ways inwhich the location matters to Japan’s security. First, he says, it would be a crucial theatre “forthe Chinese military to deny access to reinforcements coming from the east”.

目前在岡崎研究所(Okazaki Institute)任職的退役海軍中將金田秀昭(Hideaki Kaneda)指出，從三個(gè)方面來(lái)說(shuō)，沖之鳥(niǎo)的位置對(duì)日本安全十分重要。他說(shuō)，首先，沖之鳥(niǎo)將是“中國(guó)軍隊(duì)拒止來(lái)自東面的增援部隊(duì)”的關(guān)鍵戰(zhàn)場(chǎng)。

Second, Okinotorishima sits on the route Chinese nuclear submarines would take out into thePacific, towards patrolling positions against the US. Third, it lies close to the sea lanes on whichraw materials flow to Japan from northern and western Australian ports.

其次，沖之鳥(niǎo)坐落在中國(guó)核潛艇進(jìn)入太平洋前往防美巡邏崗位的航道上。第三，它的位置靠近原材料從澳大利亞北部和西部港口流入日本的海上通道。

That makes a 200-mile exclusive economic zone around Okinotorishima, and thus greatercontrol of those waters, a strategic asset beyond even the natural resources that might liebeneath the surface.

因此，假如沖之鳥(niǎo)擁有200海里專屬經(jīng)濟(jì)區(qū)、并由此獲得對(duì)該水域的更大控制權(quán)，它將成為一項(xiàng)戰(zhàn)略資產(chǎn)，其價(jià)值甚至比該區(qū)域海平面下可能蘊(yùn)含的自然資源還要寶貴。

Only an island can generate an exclusive economic zone, however, not a rock — which is theother reason why Japan is trying to regrow the coral, rather than mirroring China by layingdown a few thousand tonnes of sand and concrete.

不過(guò)，只有島嶼才擁有專屬經(jīng)濟(jì)區(qū)，礁石則不能。這也是日本試圖讓珊瑚在沖之鳥(niǎo)恢復(fù)生長(zhǎng)、而不是照搬中國(guó)的辦法、在這里傾卸成千上萬(wàn)噸沙子和混凝土的另一個(gè)原因。

Article 121 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea defines an island as a “naturally formedarea of land” which is “above water at high tide”. It excludes “rocks which cannot sustainhuman habitation or economic life of their own”.

按照《聯(lián)合國(guó)海洋法公約》(UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, UNCLOS)第121條的定義，島嶼是“在高潮時(shí)高于水面的自然形成的陸地區(qū)域”。這一定義排除了“不能維持人類居住或者本身的經(jīng)濟(jì)生活的礁石”。

China’s new islands in the South China Sea are artificial. If Japan revives the coral onOkinotorishima, however, it can argue the feature is “naturally formed”. At the same time, thevery activity of farming coral is part of Japan’s effort to show the atoll has an economic life, andsupport its more dubious contention that Okinotorishima is not a “rock”.

中國(guó)在南中國(guó)海的新島嶼是人造的。然而，如果日本令沖之鳥(niǎo)的珊瑚得以恢復(fù)生長(zhǎng)，它可以辯稱這一地貌是“自然形成的”。與此同時(shí)，種植珊瑚的活動(dòng)本身，也是日本想要證明該珊瑚礁有經(jīng)濟(jì)生活的努力的一部分，從而支持其不太站得住腳的沖之鳥(niǎo)不是“礁石”的論點(diǎn)。

“There is no clear definition of rocks in UNCLOS — this is the government of Japan’s stance,”says Mr Kaneda. “Historically, Japan has sustained the ‘economic life’ of the island.”

金田表示：“日本政府的立場(chǎng)是，《聯(lián)合國(guó)海洋法公約》中沒(méi)有對(duì)礁石的明確定義。從歷史的角度來(lái)說(shuō)，日本一直維持著該島的‘經(jīng)濟(jì)生活’。”

By taking this position, Japan hopes to claim Okinotorishima as an island with its own EEZ,while still opposing China’s reclamation in the South China Sea. Some scholars argue it wouldbe wiser to give up the claim — the better to assert China’s island-building is illegitimate —but the military value of Okinotorishima makes that unlikely.

通過(guò)采取這種立場(chǎng)，日本政府希望能在繼續(xù)反對(duì)中國(guó)在南中國(guó)海填海造島行為的同時(shí)，主張沖之鳥(niǎo)是一個(gè)擁有專屬經(jīng)濟(jì)區(qū)的島嶼。部分學(xué)者辯稱，更明智的做法是放棄這一主張(這么做更有利于聲稱中國(guó)的造島行為非法)，但沖之鳥(niǎo)的軍事價(jià)值使得日本政府不太可能這么做。

Legal wrangles will not matter if the atoll erodes away, however. “We’ve had various problemsand failures along the way, but next year we expect to plant three hectares of coral,” says MrOmori. “A three hectare plantation will be a world first.”

不過(guò)，如果該環(huán)礁被一點(diǎn)點(diǎn)侵蝕殆盡，法律上的爭(zhēng)執(zhí)將變得毫無(wú)意義。“我們?cè)庥隽烁鞣N各樣的問(wèn)題和失敗，但明年我們預(yù)計(jì)會(huì)種植3公頃珊瑚。”大森表示，“3公頃的珊瑚種植將是世界上的首例。”

通過(guò)上面的跨考網(wǎng)的專家精心的為大家準(zhǔn)備的關(guān)于2017考研英語(yǔ)閱讀材料：日本種島的戰(zhàn)略意圖的一些資料，備考2017考研英語(yǔ)的考生注意多積累一些英語(yǔ)詞匯。