[自贸港英语]NASA：海花岛6年变化已显现

In 2001, Dubai started construction on three large artificial islands in the Persian Gulf shaped like palm trees. A few years later, Doha began dredging for an island that resembled a string of pearls, and the United Arab Emirates went to work building an archipelago of 300 small islands strategically placed to look like a map of Earth.

2001年，迪拜开始在波斯湾中形状像棕榈树的三个大型人工岛上建设。几年后，多哈开始动工修建一个像珍珠一样的小岛，阿拉伯联合酋长国开始工作，建立一个由300个小岛组成的群岛，这些小岛战略地看来就像地球的地图。

dredge：挖掘

archipelago：/ɑrkəˈpεləˌgo/群岛

strategical：战略的

Now another island with an unusual shape has been growing in shallow coastal waters near Hainan, China’s southernmost province. Ocean Flower Island, built in Yangpu Bay, spans roughly 8 square kilometers (3 square miles), putting it among the world’s largest artificial islands.

现在，在中国最南端的海南附近的浅海沿岸，正在生长着另一个形状异常的岛屿。在洋浦湾建造的海花岛大约占地8平方公里（3平方英里），是世界上最大的人工岛之一。

The Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 captured this natural-color image of the new island on May 6, 2020, as construction was wrapping up and the island neared its full opening in late 2020. Early signs of construction of the main island became visible to Landsat in 2012; by 2014, the main flower-shaped island had started to take shape. By 2020, it was flanked by two connected islands shaped like leaves. A mixture of parks, residential towers, museums, and other infrastructure had sprung up on the new land.

NASA的美国陆地卫星Landsat 8上的陆地成像仪Operational Land Imager（OLI）在2020年5月6日拍摄了这个新岛的自然色图像，当时建设工作正在收尾，该岛在2020年末接近全面开放。主岛建设的早期迹象在2012年被Landsat 看到; 到2014年，主要的花形岛已开始成型。到2020年，它的两侧是两个相连的岛屿，形状像树叶。公园，住宅楼，博物馆和其他基础设施的混合物在新土地上如雨后春笋般涌现。

wrap up：收尾

flanke：侧翼

residential tower：住宅楼

spring up：涌现

While planners expect the project will attract millions of tourists and boost Hainan’s economy, the project’s environmental impacts have attracted scrutiny. In 2018, China’s central government temporarily suspended construction at Ocean Flower Island—and several others—due to concerns about damage to coral reefs, oysters, and marine ecosystems. The same year, one of China’s regulatory agencies announced a temporary hold on approvals for many commercial land reclamation projects managed by local authorities.

尽管规划者预计该项目将吸引数百万游客并促进海南的经济发展，但该项目对环境的影响引起了人们的关注。2018年，中国中央政府暂时中止了在海花岛以及其他几个地方的建设，由于担心珊瑚礁，牡蛎和海洋生态系统受到破坏。同年，中国的一家监管机构宣布暂时搁置由地方政府管理的许多商业土地开垦项目的批准。

scrutiny：审查

commercial land reclamation project：商业地产开发项目

ref：