Acity is rising from the waters of the Indian Ocean. In a lagoon (泄湖),just 10 mi-组卷网

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A city is rising from the waters of the Indian Ocean. In a lagoon (泄湖),just 10 minutes by boat from Malé, the Maldivian capital, a floating (漂浮) city, big enough to house 20,000 people, is being constructed (建造)。

Designed in a pattern (模式) similar to brain coral (脑珊瑚),the city will consist of 5.000 floating units including houses, restaurants, shops and schools, with rivers running in between. Residents start to move in by early 2024, and the whole city is due to be completed by 2027. The project is not meant as a wild experiment: it’s being built as a practical solution to the reality of sea level rise.

Containing 1.190 low-lying islands, the Maldives is one of the world’s weakest nations to climate change. Eighty percent of its land area is less than one metre above sea level, and with sea level projected to rise up to a metre by the end of the century, almost the entire country would go under the water.

The units are constructed in a local shipyard, then pulled to the floating city. Once in position, they are joined to a large underwater concrete frame which is fixed to the seabed on telescopic (可伸缩的) steel poles that let it gently flow with the waves.

Koen Olthuis, founder of Waterstudio, the company that designed the city, said that the possible environmental effect of the structure was assessed by local coral experts and permitted by government authorities before construction began. The aim is for the city to be self-sufficient and have all the functions as one on land. There will be electricity powered mainly by solar energy. As an alternative to air conditioning, the city will use deep sea water cooling, which involves pumping cold water from the deep sea into the lagoon, helping to save energy.

【小题1】What is the purpose of building the floating city?