金德代克风车群，荷兰 Windmills, Kinderdijk, Netherlands (© Achim Thomae/Getty Images)

金德代克风车群，荷兰 Windmills, Kinderdijk, Netherlands (© Achim Thomae/Getty Images)

可靠的移水器 Trusty water-shifters

Windmills in Kinderdijk, the Netherlands

This stretch of windmills is one of the best-known Dutch tourist sites—you probably recognize them from postcards and calendars. Both iconic and historic, the windmills in the village of Kinderdijk have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997. The Netherlands has about 1,200 windmills, though only 300 or so are still operational. Over the years they've played a major role in pumping sea water away from the nation's reclaimed land. Keeping the water at bay is a perennial issue for the flat 'low countries,' where much of the ground is below sea level.

The second Saturday in May—today!—is National Windmill Day in the Netherlands, when windmills all over the country open their doors to visitors, letting locals and tourists alike marvel over the simple yet highly effective inner workings. And of course, though wind is a force of nature that's been harnessed for centuries, it's having a resurgence, albeit in a more high-tech form. It's a leading producer of 'green' energy and is expected to grow dramatically in the coming years. So, on National Windmill Day, let's tip our hats to these sturdy ancestors while also cheering the pioneering work of the sleek, graceful new generation.

荷兰金德迪克的风车

这段风车是荷兰最著名的旅游景点之一，你可能从明信片和日历上就能认出它们。Kinderdijk村的风车既是标志性的也是历史性的，自1997年以来一直是联合国教科文组织的世界遗产。荷兰约有1200座风车，但仍在运营的只有300座左右。多年来，他们在将海水从国家填海区抽走方面发挥了重要作用。对于地势平坦的“低海拔国家”，保持海水不受影响是一个长期存在的问题，那里的大部分土地低于海平面。

今天是五月的第二个星期六-是荷兰的国家风车日，全国各地的风车向游客敞开大门，让当地人和游客都惊叹于简单但高效的内部工作。当然，尽管风是一种自然力，已经被利用了几个世纪，但它正在复兴，尽管是以更高科技的形式。它是“绿色”能源的主要生产商，预计未来几年将大幅增长。因此，在全国风车日，让我们向这些强壮的祖先致敬，同时也为时尚优雅的新一代的开拓工作欢呼。