Smith Island is a lonely outpost, 12 miles out in the lower Chesapeake Bay. The shallow glassy waters around the cluster of islands that comprise Smith Island are some of the best blue crab habitat in the bay. For more than 300 years the people here have endured nature’s hardships. But increasingly, they sense that a more precarious future lies ahead. The watermen are bringing in smaller catches and profits falling down. The population has dropped from more than 800 to about 300 over the last 100 years and Smith Island is losing its land. Most of the island is only one foot above sea level. The higher areas where the people live are just 2 to 4 feet above the water. Coastal ecologists say the Chesapeake Bay has risen by more than a half foot over the past century and continues to swallow the land. Crumbling wooden crab shacks and battered bulwarks are testimony to the island’s vulnerability to the sea. To help the islanders beat back to bay, the Army Corps of Engineers launched a plan to install new bulkheads and stone breakwaters around Tylerton, part of a multimillion-dollar plan to slow erosion and persuade people to stay. Despite this project, Smith Island may be running out of time.
If a hurricane category four comes up and actually hits this island, I think it could be flooded. It probably is the case that over the next century that if we can’t get control of the greenhouse gases, that we probably will have a few high spots, but not much more.
Most people hope that the new efforts to stem erosion can at least delay the inevitable, so that one or two more generations can make a living here at the edge of the sea.
世界上的有些地方因为温室效应而正面临着被海水淹没的危险，位于美国北部马里兰州的史密斯岛就是其中一个。这座小岛在哪里呢？史密斯岛位于切萨皮克湾（Chesapeake Bay），这个湾是一条宽而长的大溺谷，由南向北伸入内陆，把马里兰州分为东西两部分。看下面的两幅图你就明白这座小岛大约在什么地方了。
有人把史密斯岛形容为一个即将退役的哨兵。这里没有政府办公部门，没有镇长，没有警察局，只有从17世纪延续下来的风俗和邻里之间的和睦情谊。上升的海平面在20世纪的100年里，吞噬了史密斯岛400多公顷土地。现在，岛上大部分地区仅高出海平面大约30厘米，最高的地方也只比海平面高1米左右。
生态学家推算，20世纪切萨皮克湾海平面上升了大约30厘米。 潮起潮落，岛上的居民都明白，总有一天他们的家园会消失在海浪之中；但是他们还是希望这一天能够晚一些到来。
New Words and Phrases
outpost n. 偏远的地方
precarious a.（情势)不稳的; 不确定的
blue crab habitat 蓝蟹栖居地
Crumbling wooden crab shacks 摇摇欲坠的螃蟹木棚
Army Corps of Engineers 陆军工程兵
launched a plan 开始了一项计划
erosion 侵蚀