The Floating City has been living up to its nickname after high tides and heavy rain flooded the streets of Venice.
在经历了涨潮高峰和暴雨侵袭后，意大利著名旅游城市威尼斯不负“水中之城”的别名。

Seventy per cent of central Venice was under water yesterday after rainfall and seas whipped up by strong winds brought the Italian city's high tide mark to its sixth-highest level since records began in 1872.
经过昨天的降雨和被狂风掀起的海水涨潮后，威尼斯市中心七成地方都浸没在水下。这是意大利自1872以来第六高的涨潮记录。

But tourists refused to let the weather dampen their spirits and many donned wellington boots and swimming costumes to make the most of the city's historic waterlogged squares.
但旅游者拒绝让天气影响他们的兴致，许多人穿上惠灵顿长筒橡胶靴和泳衣，充分利用城中具有历史意义的圣马可广场。暴雨后广场积水严重。

One group soaked up their surroundings as they sat submerged up to their waists at a café in St Mark’s Square while another daring couple decided to go for a quick swim.
一群人坐在圣马克广场的一家咖啡馆里，他们完全是泡在水里，水漫到腰部；而另一对大胆的夫妇决定快快游个泳。

But the flooding caused misery for other visitors to the city who had to wade through the water with plastic bags on their legs, carrying their suitcases on their shoulders.
但洪水也对城市里的其他游客造成了痛苦，他们把塑料袋绑在腿上，行李扛在肩上，趟水而过。

Makeshift wooden walkways were erected in St Mark's square and alongside the famous Rialto bridge to help people navigate their way around the city.
人们在圣马克广场以及沿着著名的里亚尔托桥建造了临时的木制走道，帮助人们在城市里穿行。

Italian news reports said the same weather system causing chaos in Venice was wreaking havoc elsewhere in north and central Italy, with some 200 people evacuated from their homes in hard-hit Tuscany.
意大利新闻报道说，让威尼斯城一团混乱的气象系统同样在意大利北部和中部肆虐，在受灾严重的托斯卡纳区，已有大约200人撤离家园。

Flooding is common in Venice at this time of year. Moveable barriers that would protect Venice from high tides have been in the works for years but will not be operational before 2014.
每年的这个时候，威尼斯人对洪水的如期而至已经不觉得稀奇。可以保护威尼斯免受上涨潮水侵袭的可移动屏障已施工多年，但是要等到2014年才能运行。

Research carried out by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego earlier this year revealed that the city is sinking at a rate of 2mm a year.
加州大学圣地亚哥分校的斯克里普斯海洋研究院今年早些时候做的一项调查透露，威尼斯这座城市正在以每年2毫米的速度下沉。

Scientists said the city was tilting to the east and heading out to the Adriatic Sea, as it was hit by more floods than ever before.
科学家说，由于城市遭受了更多的洪水侵袭，这座城市正朝着亚得里亚海的方向向东倾斜。

Earlier studies suggest it was submerging at just 0.04mm per year. The patches of land in Venice's 117 island lagoon are also sinking.
早期的研究表明它每年下沉0.04毫米。威尼斯的117个岛中湖土地也在下沉。

Northern sections are dropping between 2 to 3mm per year, while the southern lagoon is subsiding by 3 to 4mm over the same period.
北部地区每年下降2至3毫米，而南部湖区在同一时期下沉3至4毫米。