FLOODS IN SWITZERLAND.

Recently (see date of essay) we have witnessed a succession of remarkable¹ evidences of Nature’s destructive powers. The fires of Vesuvius, the earth-throes of the sub-equatorial Andes, and the submarine disturbance² which has shaken Hawaii, have presented to us the various forms of destructive action which the earth’s, subterranean³ forces can assume. In the disastrous⁴ floods which have recently visited the Alpine⁵ cantons of Switzerland, we have evidence of the fact that natural forces which we are in the habit of regarding as beneficent and restorative may exhibit themselves as agents of the most widespread destruction. I have pointed⁶ out elsewhere (see p. 226) how enormous is the amount of power of which the rain-cloud is the representative; and in doing so I have endeavoured to exhibit the contrast between the steady action of the falling shower and the energy of the processes of which rain is in reality the equivalent. But in the floods which have lately ravaged⁷ Switzerland we see the same facts illustrated⁸, not by numerical calculations or by the results134 of philosophical⁹ experiments, but in action, and that action taking place on the most widely extended scale. The whole of the south-eastern, or, as it may be termed, the Alpine half of Switzerland, has suffered from these floods. If a line be drawn¹⁰ from the Lake of Constance, in the north-east of Switzerland, to the Col de Balme, in the south-west, it will divide Switzerland into two nearly equal portions, and scarcely a canton within the eastern of these divisions has escaped without great damage.

The cantons which have suffered most terribly are those of Tessin, Grisons, and St. Gall¹¹. The St. Gothard, Splugen, and St. Bernhardin routes have been rendered impassable. Twenty-seven lives were lost in the St. Gothard Pass, besides horses and waggons¹² full of merchandise. It is stated that on the three routes upwards¹³ of eighty persons perished. In the village of Loderio alone, no less than fifty deaths occurred. So terrible a flood has not taken place since the year 1834. Nor have the cantons of Uri and Valais escaped. From Unterwalden we hear that the heavy rains which took place a fortnight ago have carried away several large bridges, and many of the rivers continue still very swollen¹⁴. I have already described how enormous the material losses are which have been caused by these floods. Many places are under water; others in ruins or absolutely destroyed. In Tessin alone the damage is estimated at forty thousand pounds sterling¹⁵.

A country like Switzerland must always be liable to the occurrence, from time to time, of catastrophes¹⁶ of135 this sort. Or rather, perhaps, we should draw a distinction between the two divisions of Switzerland referred to above. Of these the one may be termed the mountain half, and the other the lake half of the country. It is the former portion of the country which is principally subject to the dynamical action of water. A long-continued and heavy rainfall over the higher lands cannot fail to produce a variety of remarkable effects, where the arrangement of mountains and passes, hills, valleys, and ravines is so complicated. There are places where a large volume of water can accumulate until the barriers which have opposed its passage to the plains burst under its increasing weight; and then follow those destructive rushes of water which sweep away whole villages at once. It is, in fact, the capacity of the Swiss mountain region for damming up water, far more than any other circumstance, which renders the Swiss floods so destructive.

And then it must be remembered that there are at all times suspended over the plains and valleys which lie beneath the Alpine ranges enormous masses of water in the form of snow and ice. Although in general these suffer no changes but those due to the partial melting which takes place in summer, and the renewed accumulation which takes place in winter, yet when heavy rains fall upon the less elevated portions of the Alpine snow, they not only melt that snow much more rapidly than the summer sun would do, but they wash down large masses, which add largely to the destructive power of the descending¹⁷ waters.

136

The most destructive floods which have occurred in Switzerland have usually been those which take place in early summer. The floods which inundated¹⁸ the plains of Martigny in 1818 were a remarkable instance of the effects which result from the natural damming up of large volumes of water in the upper parts of the Alpine hill-country. The whole of the valley of Bagnes, one of the largest of the lateral¹⁹ branches of the main valley of the Rhone above Geneva, was converted into a lake, in the spring of 1818, by the damming up of a narrow pass into which avalanches²⁰ of snow and ice had been precipitated²¹ from a lofty glacier²² overhanging the bed of the river Dranse. The ice barrier enclosed a lake no less than half a league in length and an eighth of a mile wide, and in places two hundred feet deep. The inhabitants of the neighbouring villages were terrified by the danger which was to be apprehended²³ from the bursting of the barrier. They cut a gallery seven hundred feet long through the ice, while the waters had as yet risen to but a moderate height; and when the waters began to flow through this channel, its course was deepened by the melting of the ice, and at length nearly half the contents of the lake were safely carried off. It was hoped that the process would continue, and the country be saved from the danger which had been so long impending²⁴ over it. But as the heat of the weather increased, the central part of the barrier slowly melted away, until it became too weak to bear the enormous weight of water which was pressing against it. At length it gave way, so137 suddenly and completely that all the water which remained in the lake rushed out in half an hour. The downward passage of the water illustrated, in a very remarkable way, the fact that the chief mischief²⁵ of floods is occasioned where water is checked in its outflow. For it is related that, ‘in the course of their descent the waters encountered several narrow gorges²⁶, and at each of these they rose to a great height, and then burst with new violence into the next basin, sweeping²⁷ along forests, houses, bridges, and cultivated land.’ Along the greater part of its course the flood resembled rather a moving mass of rock and mud than a stream of water. Enormous masses of granite²⁸ were torn out of the sides of the valleys and whirled for hundreds of yards along the course of the flood. M. Escher relates that one of the fragments thus swept along was no less than sixty yards in circumference²⁹. At first the water rushed onwards at a rate of more than a mile in three minutes, and the whole distance (forty-five miles) which separates the valley of Bagnes from the Lake of Geneva was traversed in little more than six hours. The bodies of persons who had been drowned in Martigny were found floating on the farther side of the lake of Geneva, near Vevey. Thousands of trees were torn up by the roots, and the ruins of buildings which had been overthrown³⁰ by the flood were carried down beyond Martigny. In fact, the flood at this point was so high that some of the houses in Martigny were filled with mud up to the second storey138.‘ Beyond Martigny the flood did but little damage, as it here expanded over the plain, and was reduced both in depth and velocity³¹.

(From the Daily News for October 20, 1868.)

1 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

2 disturbance   

n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调

参考例句：

• He is suffering an emotional disturbance.他的情绪受到了困扰。
• You can work in here without any disturbance.在这儿你可不受任何干扰地工作。

3 subterranean   

adj.地下的，地表下的

参考例句：

• London has 9 miles of such subterranean passages.伦敦像这样的地下通道有9英里长。
• We wandered through subterranean passages.我们漫游地下通道。

4 disastrous   

adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的

参考例句：

• The heavy rainstorm caused a disastrous flood.暴雨成灾。
• Her investment had disastrous consequences.She lost everything she owned.她的投资结果很惨，血本无归。

5 alpine   

adj.高山的；n.高山植物

参考例句：

• Alpine flowers are abundant there.那里有很多高山地带的花。
• Its main attractions are alpine lakes and waterfalls .它以高山湖泊和瀑布群为主要特色。

6 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

7 ravaged   

毁坏( ravage的过去式和过去分词 )； 蹂躏； 劫掠； 抢劫

参考例句：

• a country ravaged by civil war 遭受内战重创的国家
• The whole area was ravaged by forest fires. 森林火灾使整个地区荒废了。

8 illustrated   

adj. 有插图的，列举的 动词illustrate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• His lecture was illustrated with slides taken during the expedition. 他在讲演中使用了探险时拍摄到的幻灯片。
• The manufacturing Methods: Will be illustrated in the next chapter. 制作方法将在下一章说明。

9 philosophical   

adj.哲学家的，哲学上的，达观的

参考例句：

• The teacher couldn't answer the philosophical problem.老师不能解答这个哲学问题。
• She is very philosophical about her bad luck.她对自己的不幸看得很开。

10 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

11 gall   

v.使烦恼，使焦躁，难堪；n.磨难

参考例句：

• It galled him to have to ask for a loan.必须向人借钱使他感到难堪。
• No gall,no glory.没有磨难，何来荣耀。

12 waggons   

四轮的运货马车( waggon的名词复数 )； 铁路货车； 小手推车

参考例句：

• Most transport is done by electrified waggons. 大部分货物都用电瓶车运送。

13 upwards   

adv.向上，在更高处...以上

参考例句：

• The trend of prices is still upwards.物价的趋向是仍在上涨。
• The smoke rose straight upwards.烟一直向上升。

14 swollen   

adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀

参考例句：

• Her legs had got swollen from standing up all day.因为整天站着，她的双腿已经肿了。
• A mosquito had bitten her and her arm had swollen up.蚊子叮了她，她的手臂肿起来了。

15 sterling   

adj.英币的(纯粹的，货真价实的)；n.英国货币(英镑)

参考例句：

• Could you tell me the current rate for sterling, please?能否请您告诉我现行英国货币的兑换率？
• Sterling has recently been strong,which will help to abate inflationary pressures.英国货币最近非常坚挺，这有助于减轻通胀压力。

16 catastrophes   

n.灾祸( catastrophe的名词复数 )；灾难；不幸事件；困难

参考例句：

• Two of history's worst natural catastrophes occurred in 1970. 1970年发生了历史上最严重两次自然灾害。 来自辞典例句
• The Swiss deposits contain evidence of such catastrophes. 瑞士的遗址里还有这种灾难的证据。 来自辞典例句

17 descending   

n. 下行 adj. 下降的

参考例句：

• The results are expressed in descending numerical order . 结果按数字降序列出。
• The climbers stopped to orient themselves before descending the mountain. 登山者先停下来确定所在的位置，然后再下山。

18 inundated   

v.淹没( inundate的过去式和过去分词 )；（洪水般地）涌来；充满；给予或交予（太多事物）使难以应付

参考例句：

• We have been inundated with offers of help. 主动援助多得使我们应接不暇。
• We have been inundated with every bit of information imaginable. 凡是想得到的各种各样的信息潮水般地向我们涌来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 lateral   

adj.侧面的，旁边的

参考例句：

• An airfoil that controls lateral motion.能够控制横向飞行的机翼。
• Mr.Dawson walked into the court from a lateral door.道森先生从一个侧面的门走进法庭。

20 avalanches   

n.雪崩( avalanche的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The greatest dangers of pyroclastic avalanches are probably heat and suffocation. 火成碎屑崩落的最大危害可能是炽热和窒息作用。 来自辞典例句
• Avalanches poured down on the tracks and rails were spread. 雪崩压满了轨道，铁轨被弄得四分五裂。 来自辞典例句

21 precipitated   

v.（突如其来地）使发生( precipitate的过去式和过去分词 )；促成；猛然摔下；使沉淀

参考例句：

• His resignation precipitated a leadership crisis. 他的辞职立即引发了领导层的危机。
• He lost his footing and was precipitated to the ground. 他失足摔倒在地上。 来自《简明英汉词典》

22 glacier   

n.冰川，冰河

参考例句：

• The glacier calved a large iceberg.冰河崩解而形成一个大冰山。
• The upper surface of glacier is riven by crevasses.冰川的上表面已裂成冰隙。

23 apprehended   

逮捕，拘押( apprehend的过去式和过去分词 )； 理解

参考例句：

• She apprehended the complicated law very quickly. 她很快理解了复杂的法律。
• The police apprehended the criminal. 警察逮捕了罪犯。

24 impending   

a.imminent, about to come or happen

参考例句：

• Against a background of impending famine, heavy fighting took place. 即将发生饥荒之时，严重的战乱爆发了。
• The king convoke parliament to cope with the impending danger. 国王召开国会以应付迫近眉睫的危险。

25 mischief   

n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹

参考例句：

• Nobody took notice of the mischief of the matter. 没有人注意到这件事情所带来的危害。
• He seems to intend mischief.看来他想捣蛋。

26 gorges   

n.山峡，峡谷( gorge的名词复数 )；咽喉v.（用食物把自己）塞饱，填饱( gorge的第三人称单数 )；作呕

参考例句：

• The explorers were confronted with gorges(that were)almost impassable and rivers(that were)often unfordable. 探险人员面临着几乎是无路可通的峡谷和常常是无法渡过的河流。 来自辞典例句
• We visited the Yangtse Gorges last summer. 去年夏天我们游历了长江三峡。 来自辞典例句

27 sweeping   

adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的

参考例句：

• The citizens voted for sweeping reforms.公民投票支持全面的改革。
• Can you hear the wind sweeping through the branches?你能听到风掠过树枝的声音吗？

28 granite   

adj.花岗岩，花岗石

参考例句：

• They squared a block of granite.他们把一块花岗岩加工成四方形。
• The granite overlies the older rocks.花岗岩躺在磨损的岩石上面。

29 circumference   

n.圆周，周长，圆周线

参考例句：

• It's a mile round the circumference of the field.运动场周长一英里。
• The diameter and the circumference of a circle correlate.圆的直径与圆周有相互关系。

30 overthrown   

adj. 打翻的，推倒的，倾覆的 动词overthrow的过去分词

参考例句：

• The president was overthrown in a military coup. 总统在军事政变中被赶下台。
• He has overthrown the basic standards of morality. 他已摒弃了基本的道德标准。

31 velocity   

n.速度，速率

参考例句：

• Einstein's theory links energy with mass and velocity of light.爱因斯坦的理论把能量同质量和光速联系起来。
• The velocity of light is about 300000 kilometres per second.光速约为每秒300000公里。