VOA常速英语2007-New Website Addresses Global Drinking Water Cris

By Melinda Smith
Washington
29 October 2007
 

The World Health Organization says two and a half billion people in developing countries do not have access to simple latrines, and for at least one billion of them, finding safe drinking water is a daily struggle.  VOA's Melinda Smith has more on what a group of international scientists is doing to tackle the issue.

Clean water is essential to survival.  Human beings need at least 20 to 50 liters of water a day for drinking, cooking and cleaning.  Without safe water and sanitation¹, deadly diseases can spread.

Peter Gleick is a scientist who has written about the link between safe water and human health. "...That failure in the 21st century leads to water related diseases -- cholera², dysentery, guinea worm, schistosomaisis -- there's a whole set of diseases associated with the failure to meet basic human needs for water."

Gleick is part of an international group of scientists, engineers and philanthropists who have launched an Internet website called Safe Drinking Water Is Essential. By going to the site, viewers can read about water resources and methods of treatment and distribution. 

The organization is also sending to developing countries 10,000 CD-ROM's -- produced in five languages -- with more text and images about the subject.  The producers of the CD say the terminology³ is simple enough to then be translated into a variety of indigenous⁴ languages.

Hame Watt⁵, a water resource expert originally from Senegal, says the website and CD should be easy to follow even at the local level. "Because it has a lot of interactive⁶ images and [is] easy to follow, easy to understand.  A manager or an agent who serves as a representative of the villages of the rural areas could explain easily the CD to some people in the villages."

The scientists at a recent Washington, DC news conference caution this is just one educational tool that people can use to learn about clean water.  But simple methods, they say, are sometimes the most effective and life-changing. 

For centuries, for example, women have spent hours in the daily task of gathering⁷ water, which is often contaminated.  But in some regions a simple net is now used to filter the water before drinking, cooking and cleaning.  And the rates of many diseases like typhoid and cholera have been cut dramatically.

In the year 2000, the United Nations set out a series of goals to improve the lives of the poor.  Among them is the right to safe drinking water and sanitation.  The target date for that ambitious goal is just eight years away.

1 sanitation   

n.公共卫生，环境卫生，卫生设备

参考例句：

• The location is exceptionally poor,viewed from the sanitation point.从卫生角度来看，这个地段非常糟糕。
• Many illnesses are the result,f inadequate sanitation.许多疾病都来源于不健全的卫生设施。

2 cholera   

n.霍乱

参考例句：

• The cholera outbreak has been contained.霍乱的发生已被控制住了。
• Cholera spread like wildfire through the camps.霍乱在营地里迅速传播。

3 terminology   

n.术语；专有名词

参考例句：

• He particularly criticized the terminology in the document.他特别批评了文件中使用的术语。
• The article uses rather specialized musical terminology.这篇文章用了相当专业的音乐术语。

4 indigenous   

adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的

参考例句：

• Each country has its own indigenous cultural tradition.每个国家都有自己本土的文化传统。
• Indians were the indigenous inhabitants of America.印第安人是美洲的土著居民。

5 watt   

n.瓦，瓦特

参考例句：

• The invention of the engine is creditable to Watt.发动机的发明归功于瓦特。
• The unit of power is watt.功率的单位是瓦特。

6 interactive   

adj.相互作用的，互相影响的，（电脑）交互的

参考例句：

• The psychotherapy is carried out in small interactive groups.这种心理治疗是在互动的小组之间进行的。
• This will make videogames more interactive than ever.这将使电子游戏的互动性更胜以往。

7 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。