新西兰英语 771 Budget money for water storage

 　　First, listen to March 4th 2013 to hear about drought¹ on farms this past summer.

　　The Minister for Primary Industries, Nathan Guy said that in the long term the government wants to invest² $400m in regional water irrigation. In the short term, the Budget gave $80m to farmers for irrigation and water storage. Mr Guy said that only 2% of water from rainfall is stored and farmers needed some way of storing rain water. He also said that New Zealand is not short of water – we have many rivers and lakes, and most areas have plenty of rain during the autumn, winter and spring. The problem is when we have a dry summer like this last summer. If there was more irrigation, more land could be used for farming.

　　One dairy³ cow can drink about 70 litres of water a day, depending on the daily temperature. The average dairy herd⁴ size in the year 2010/11 was 386 cows so dairy farmers need a lot of water. Water is also needed on the land to make the grass grow.

　　Fruit and vegetable growers need irrigation too if there is not enough rain. Some crops, though, have done well this year. It has been a good season for apples and grapes. Wineries are expecting very good wine this year after a long, hot summer.

　　Vocabulary

　　?Primary Industries – industries from the land e.g. meat, wool, milk; (secondary industries are from a factory)

　　?drought – no rain so nothing grows

　　?regional –some areas

　　?irrigation – putting water on the land

　　?herd – group of cows

　　?crops – plants which produce food

　　Questions

　　1.Many New Zealanders are worried about taking water from rivers and lakes for irrigation. Why?

　　2.Many New Zealanders are worried about taking water from aquifers⁵ (under the ground) for irrigation. Why?

1 drought   

n.旱灾，干旱，久旱

参考例句：

• The plants are growing in again,despite the drought.尽管干旱，植物又长出来了。
• The ground is as hard as stone after the drought.长期干旱后土地硬得就像石头一样。

2 invest   

v.投资；投入(时间等)；授予，赋予

参考例句：

• I have decided to invest in a new car.我已经决定买一辆新汽车。
• The best time to invest is now.现在是投资的最佳时机。

3 dairy   

n.牛奶场，乳品店；adj.乳制品的

参考例句：

• The yogurt sold by this dairy is delicious.这家乳品店出售的酸奶非常好喝。
• He kept a few dairy cows.他养了几头奶牛。

4 herd   

n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• He had no opinions of his own but simply follow the herd.他从无主见，只是人云亦云。

5 aquifers   

n.地下蓄水层，砂石含水层( aquifer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• And in Africa, the aquifers barely recharge at all. 非洲的地下水开采以后几乎得不到补充。 来自时文部分
• Aquifers have water contents over 30%. 含水层的水含过30％。 来自辞典例句