每日跟讀#696: About Philippines - Sinking feeling: Philippine cities facing ’slow-motion disaster’
When Mary Ann San Jose moved to Sitio Pariahan more than two decades ago, she could walk to the local chapel. Today, reaching it requires a swim.
當瑪莉．安．聖荷西20多年前搬到西堤歐帕里翰時，她還能走路到當地的禮拜堂，如今卻得游泳才能到達。
The main culprit is catastrophic subsidence caused by groundwater being pumped out from below, often via unregulated wells for homes, factories, and farms catering to a booming population and growing economy.
主因是抽取地下水造成的災難性地層下陷，通常是經由未受管制的家庭、工廠和農田水井抽取，目的是應付人口暴增及經濟成長所需。
The steady sinking of coastal towns in the northern Philippines has caused Manila Bay’s water to pour inland and displace thousands, posing a greater threat than rising sea levels due to climate change.
菲國北部沿海城鎮持續下陷，讓馬尼拉灣的海水湧向內陸，造成數千人無家可歸，威脅更甚於氣候變遷所引發的海平面上升。
The provinces of Pampanga and Bulacan have sunk between four and six centimeters annually since 2003, according to satellite monitoring. By comparison, the UN estimates average sea level rise globally is about three millimeters per year.
衛星觀測顯示，從2003年起，班巴加省和布拉坎省每年地層下陷達4到6公分。相較之下，聯合國估測，全球海平面平均每年上升約3公釐。
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Philippines’ Duterte pestered again as gecko stalls speech 菲律賓杜特蒂又被糾纏 因壁虎打斷演說
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte just keeps getting bugged during his public speeches.
菲律賓總統羅德里戈．杜特蒂公開演講時，一直被打擾。
A noisy gecko was the latest wildlife contributor to an address by Duterte, interrupting the leader on Thursday evening just as he launched another tirade at human rights groups critical of his bloody war on drugs.
一隻喋喋不休的壁虎，是供稿給杜特蒂演講的最新野生生物，週四晚間就在他發表另一段長篇大論斥責批評他嗜血反毒戰的人權團體時，打斷這名領袖。
The reptile’s persistence caused laughter in the crowd of mostly soldiers, causing Duterte stop mid-sentence, turn to his left and pause for a while to see what the off-camera commotion was.
這隻爬行動物的堅持不懈，引發以軍人為主的群眾大笑，導致杜特蒂話說一半停了下來，向左轉暫停片刻，看看是什麼造成鏡頭外騷動。
"You brought a gecko here?" he asked an official sitting behind him, drawing laughs.
他問一名坐在他後面的官員，「你把一隻壁虎帶來這邊？」引來笑聲。
While activists accuse Duterte of cowing his opponents into silence, reptiles and insects have no qualms about pestering him during his often hours-long, televised addresses.
雖然社會運動人士指控杜特蒂恐嚇反對者噤聲，但爬行動物和昆蟲對在他往往長達數小時的電視演說加以糾纏一事，毫無不安之意。
A big cockroach crawled up his shoulder and down his shirt during a speech in May when he was lambasting an opposition party ahead of a national election. He joked the cockroach was its supporter.
在5月一場全國大選前的演說上，當他正在痛批一個反對黨時，一隻大蟑螂爬上他的肩膀再爬下襯衫。他打趣說，這隻蟑螂是對方的支持者。
Source article: https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1321064 ; https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1313926