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The Iceman Cometh,The Economist, July 13th, 2013
自制冰山，經濟學人，2013年7月13日
As the climate warms, glaciers shrink.
隨著氣候變暖，冰川也開始萎縮。
That is a problem for those who rely on meltwater from them to irrigate their crops: farmers living in the valleys in Jammu and Kashmir, for example.
對于那些依靠冰雪融水來灌溉莊稼的農民來說，這是一個問題。生活在查謨和克什米爾山谷里的農民就是個例子。
Most of the lower-lying glaciers in the area they inhabit have disappeared.
在這一地區，大多數低洼地區的冰川已經消失。
The meltwater that farmers need to irrigate their newly sown crops used to arrive in March or April. Now it does not come until June.
過去農民用于灌溉新播種作物的融水在3月或4月就能到達，現在直到6月也未出現融水。
Chewang Norphel, a retired civil engineer who lives in the area, thinks he has the answer: if the natural glaciers have gone, why not build artificial ones?
當地一位名叫程旺·諾培的退休工程師認為他可以解決這一問題：如果天然冰川消失了，為什么不修建人工冰川呢？
That is what, for the past decade or so, he has been doing.
這就是他在過去10年里一直做的事情。
He noticed that a stream in his garden had frozen under the shade of a poplar grove, though elsewhere it flowed freely,
他注意到，在他的花園里，盡管其他地方的水流仍在自由流淌著，但有一條已經凍結的水流，該水流處于楊樹林的樹蔭下，
he realized that the way to build a glacier to slow water's flow and shield it from the sun, and that is what he and his team of engineers are now doing.
他意識到建立一個冰川的方式就是減緩水的流量，同時避免陽光的照射，這正是他和他的工程師團隊正在做的事。
They have diverted several streams in the worst-affected areas into canals. As the spring thaw sets in and the canals fill up, this overspill freezes into a layer of ice.
他們在受災最嚴重的地區把幾條河流的流向轉移并流向運河。當春季解凍開始，運河會溢滿水，這些溢出來的水會結成一層冰。
And as the process repeats itself over the ensuing months, these ice sheets stack up and get thicker.
當這個過程在隨后幾個月不斷重復時，這些冰層會堆積起來，變得越來越厚。
So far, Mr. Norphel and his team have built a dozen artificial glaciers in this way.
到目前為止，諾培和他的團隊已經使用這種方式建立了十幾個人工冰川。
The largest of them is a kilometer and a half long and two meters thick.
其中最大的一個有1500米長，2米厚。
Meltwater from these glaciers helps sustain the livelihood of thousands of farmers.Thank you.
這些冰川的融水幫助當地成千上萬的農民維持了生計。謝謝。
