2007年VOA标准英语-World Water Day: Coping With Water Scarcity

By Paul Sisco
Washington, D.C.
21 March 2007
 
watch World Water Day report

Coping with water scarcity¹ is the theme of this year's World Water Day (March 22nd). World Water Day is an annual day of observance and action coordinated² by the United Nations with many non-governmental organizations, to draw attention to the more than one billion people worldwide lacking access to clean, safe potable water.  VOA's Paul Sisco has more.

 
The world's great religions consider water to be sacred, linked to rebirth, cleansing³ and purification.  And rightly so.  All life as we know it requires water.  It covers three quarters of the planet, but of that, barely a quarter of one percent is salt free, renewable, and available for use on a sustainable basis.

Many people have enough, but millions on the planet do not.  Forty percent of the world's population has no access to sanitation⁴ facilities.

Joakim Harlin of the United Nations Development Program says, “Already it is a crisis. Today we have about two million children annually⁵ dying due to the water and sanitation crisis.  This is a large number.  It corresponds to about 5,000 deaths every day."

The United Nations looks to World Water Day to make people more aware of global water shortages -- a problem that is getting worse.

"It's growing also because of climate change,” says Harlin, “and adding to this problem, it's also growing because of lack of governance, and inequality between rich and poor."

 
In India's capital, New Delhi, millions do not have any running water.  Even in more affluent⁶ neighborhoods, young and old wait hours then scramble⁷ for trucked-in supplies that are not reliably sanitary⁸.

"The water is not fit for drinking but we have no choice,” says one resident. “Fifty pipes go into the tanker⁹. Some of those pipes have been used in toilets, the same pipe is used to drain water which we then use to bath in and drink."

One young woman in Ghana, like many in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and elsewhere walk kilometers for water.  "I have to collect for my family five times a day."

Afghan villagers are luckier that most.  International aid has restored some supply pipelines¹⁰ to their once-dry village. "Previously¹¹, the people were carrying water from remote areas. This project, with the help of the people, having the new pipes solved a lot of problems."

In 2000, the United Nations set a millennium¹² goal of reducing by half those without access to clean water by the year 2015. This year, more than a billion more people now have clean water. But 1.1 billion are still without clean water, and more than two and a half billion people do not have basic hygiene¹³ facilities. Nevertheless, the U.N.'s Joakim Harlin says the goal can be met.

"It would require in the order of about 40 billion dollars to meet the water-related entities¹⁴, but it is doable. It is only about one month of spending on bottled water in the U.S. and Europe combined."

Harlin says the key is for everyone -- communities, organizations and governments on all levels -- to meet the global water challenge with cooperation, coordination¹⁵ and credible¹⁶ action.  He says the cost of doing nothing is that two million children will die this year for lack of it.

1 scarcity   

n.缺乏，不足，萧条

参考例句：

• The scarcity of skilled workers is worrying the government.熟练工人的缺乏困扰着政府。
• The scarcity of fruit was caused by the drought.水果供不应求是由于干旱造成的。

2 coordinated   

adj.协调的

参考例句：

• The sound has to be coordinated with the picture. 声音必须和画面协调一致。
• The numerous existing statutes are complicated and poorly coordinated. 目前繁多的法令既十分复杂又缺乏快调。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

3 cleansing   

n. 净化(垃圾) adj. 清洁用的 动词cleanse的现在分词

参考例句：

• medicated cleansing pads for sensitive skin 敏感皮肤药物清洗棉
• Soap is not the only cleansing agent. 肥皂并不是唯一的清洁剂。

4 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。

5 annually   

adv.一年一次，每年

参考例句：

• Many migratory birds visit this lake annually.许多候鸟每年到这个湖上作短期逗留。
• They celebrate their wedding anniversary annually.他们每年庆祝一番结婚纪念日。

6 affluent   

adj.富裕的，富有的，丰富的，富饶的

参考例句：

• He hails from an affluent background.他出身于一个富有的家庭。
• His parents were very affluent.他的父母很富裕。

7 scramble   

v.爬行，攀爬，杂乱蔓延，碎片，片段，废料

参考例句：

• He broke his leg in his scramble down the wall.他爬墙摔断了腿。
• It was a long scramble to the top of the hill.到山顶须要爬登一段长路。

8 sanitary   

adj.卫生方面的，卫生的，清洁的，卫生的

参考例句：

• It's not sanitary to let flies come near food.让苍蝇接近食物是不卫生的。
• The sanitary conditions in this restaurant are abominable.这家饭馆的卫生状况糟透了。

9 tanker   

n.油轮

参考例句：

• The tanker took on 200,000 barrels of crude oil.油轮装载了二十万桶原油。
• Heavy seas had pounded the tanker into three parts.汹涌的巨浪把油轮撞成三载。

10 pipelines   

管道( pipeline的名词复数 )； 输油管道； 在考虑（或规划、准备） 中； 在酿中

参考例句：

• The oil is carried to the oil refinery by pipelines. 石油通过输油管输送到炼油厂。
• The oil carried in pipelines. 石油用管道输送。

11 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

12 millennium   

n.一千年，千禧年；太平盛世

参考例句：

• The whole world was counting down to the new millennium.全世界都在倒计时迎接新千年的到来。
• We waited as the clock ticked away the last few seconds of the old millennium.我们静候着时钟滴答走过千年的最后几秒钟。

13 hygiene   

n.健康法，卫生学 （a.hygienic）

参考例句：

• Their course of study includes elementary hygiene and medical theory.他们的课程包括基础卫生学和医疗知识。
• He's going to give us a lecture on public hygiene.他要给我们作关于公共卫生方面的报告。

14 entities   

实体对像； 实体，独立存在体，实际存在物( entity的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Our newspaper and our printing business form separate corporate entities. 我们的报纸和印刷业形成相对独立的企业实体。
• The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities. 北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。

15 coordination   

n.协调，协作

参考例句：

• Gymnastics is a sport that requires a considerable level of coordination.体操是一项需要高协调性的运动。
• The perfect coordination of the dancers and singers added a rhythmic charm to the performance.舞蹈演员和歌手们配合得很好，使演出更具魅力。

16 credible   

adj.可信任的，可靠的

参考例句：

• The news report is hardly credible.这则新闻报道令人难以置信。
• Is there a credible alternative to the nuclear deterrent?是否有可以取代核威慑力量的可靠办法？