跟读练习: The scary reality for these Aussie islands | Back Roads | ABC Australia - 通过视频学习英语口语

On a clear day, this place is paradise. Cocos might just be the best part of Australia you've never heard of. But the future of the Cocos Malay culture is threatened by mighty forces.

A plan to relocate the residents of Australia's most remote territory because of rising sea levels is causing outrage there. Damaging wind gusts of more than 100 km an hour were felt in the remote Indian Ocean territories. A new report from the Commonwealth and West Australian governments has concluded the risk of inundation is growing each year.

I was shocked actually seeing all the sandbags here. It really hit home for me that you are an island under threat. Yes, every day is a threat. Like last week um it was like 1.6 m tide.

Um, and you know it came above the jetty on Home Island. So you know the threat is is there an imminent um but you know what do we do? The government's answer to that has been to propose moving the home islanders to the Australian mainland sometime in the next 10 to 50 years.

What do you think the mood of the community is towards this plan to move people off the islands?

I think for some of the, you know, younger generation, we want to, you know, retain that um that lifestyle, that culture, that history, and you know, stay within our roots on the islands.

Once we leave the islands, then that's it. the fabric of our culture, our history, the whole Cocos Island community aspect of it will be lost. So, you wouldn't leave Cocos? No, it's not an option for me. Um, and I'd love to stay for as long as I can and even for my kids as well and my grandkids. So, yeah, the islands is home for forever for us.

Those outfits were spectacular. Yeah. You don't actually see that anywhere else.

So, it's traditionally Cocos Malay. You don't see that in Malaysia or Indonesia or anywhere else.

Wow. So, there's special cultural things that are specific here. Yes, definitely.

You know how to throw a wedding? Yes, I think we do.

To me, Sharul and Shania's wedding feels especially poignant, knowing that rising sea levels could put an end to celebrations like this.

But it's not only humans that are feeling the threat of global warming. Man-made changes are also having a devastating effect on marine life surrounding the islands.

Okay, so another species that can turn up on the hotels is marine biologist JP Hobbs has been studying sea life here for more than 20 years and it will feed on algae as well from underneath here. It's a herbivore. He first visited the islands in 2001 and has been back every couple of years. So what we're going to be doing is building the fish hotels. He and his family moved here permanently in 2023. The reason we're doing this is because there's been a whole lot of habitat loss through the lagoon and a lot of the baby fish need this habitat to hide in.

JP's seen rising sea temperatures and other factors wipe out coral colonies and 80% of the local seaggrass meadows. In turn, species that depend on them, like sea turtles and many of the fish that locals rely on for food, are diminishing.

Living in a place as remote as this, disposing of rubbish is also a big issue.

So JP has come up with a clever idea. Yeah, it looks good. We get the old bricks from the road that are broken and we bring them from the tip and we make these little houses for the fish to live in. And by providing these bricks, they have a place to shelter from the predators. And then once they get big enough, they're then safe from the predators and they can leave the hotels and wander around the reef. I'm keen to see if it's actually going to work.

So JP is taking me to see some of the fish hotels he made 6 months ago.

Ready? Let's go.

Below the surface, it's like Finding Nemo. Oh, wow. These hotels are already near full occupancy with fishy clientele. Like, that must thrill you that it's working. Yes, absolutely.

They're just covered with uh with life and they got fish all over them, particularly the little baby ones. And they're the ones we're after.

And in the end, you won't even see the bricks 'cause all the bricks will be covered up by algae and coral and all the fish will be coming in and hiding amongst the coral and everything. So, it's just it's the foundations of something that's going to be much bigger.

JP, that was awesome. Yeah, it's fantastic down there.