VOA标准英语2008年-Is This Water or Ambrosia?

At the U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting last month, the mayor of Albuquerque, N.M., asked a provocative¹ question: How would his citizens feel if the city bought thousands of ordinary writing pens – the kind that cost about $1 each in most stores – and paid $1,000 apiece for them? Or $10,000?

Chances are, Martin Chávez told his fellow mayors, he'd be thrown out of office or put in jail for misusing² public funds.

Yet, he pointed³ out, cities think nothing of paying similar markups on bottles of drinking water to give to staff and to pass out at events like running marathons. In his view, good-old cheap city tap water is perfectly⁴ tasty and safe. Not only are plastic bottles of treated or spring water exorbitantly⁵ priced, in Mayor Chávez's view, but piles of empties end up in city landfills, where they take who-knows how many years to degrade.

Naturally, those in the multi-billion-dollar bottled water business dissent⁶, vigorously. Not all tap water is pure or tastes good, they say. And it's certainly not always cold and convenient when one works up a thirst.

Millions of Americans have come to prefer bottled water for drinking, and are perfectly willing to pay plenty for it. A bottle of fancy water does indeed cost 1,000 or more times what it costs to pour a tall glass of tap water.

As the Washington Post noted⁷, the bottlers of water have even started to borrow some of the terminology⁸ used for fine wine. The president of Fiji-brand water told the newspaper that his product has a "smooth, silky mouthfeel."

That's a bit too pretentious⁹ to suit Mayor Chávez. If little kids can happily drink out of a garden hose, he says, his workers and those marathon runners will get along just fine drinking clean, filtered Albuquerque city water.

 

1 provocative   

adj.挑衅的，煽动的，刺激的，挑逗的

参考例句：

• She wore a very provocative dress.她穿了一件非常性感的裙子。
• His provocative words only fueled the argument further.他的挑衅性讲话只能使争论进一步激化。

2 misusing   

v.使用…不当( misuse的现在分词 )；把…派作不正当的用途；虐待；滥用

参考例句：

• This means we must stop misusing them. 也就是说，我们已必须停止滥用抗菌素不可了。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 预防生物武器
• Misusing organic fertilizer may cause a decrease in the soil's quality. 滥用有机肥料可能会导致土地的土质下降。 来自互联网

3 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

4 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

5 exorbitantly   

参考例句：

• Prices are exorbitantly high in the capital. 首都的物价高得不可思议。 来自互联网
• In some countries, prices are exorbitantly high which are ten as much as that in China. 一些国家的物价水平高，大概是中国国内的十倍。 来自互联网

6 dissent   

n./v.不同意，持异议

参考例句：

• It is too late now to make any dissent.现在提出异议太晚了。
• He felt her shoulders gave a wriggle of dissent.他感到她的肩膀因为不同意而动了一下。

7 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

8 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。

9 pretentious   

adj.自命不凡的，自负的，炫耀的

参考例句：

• He is a talented but pretentious writer.他是一个有才华但自命不凡的作家。
• Speaking well of yourself would only make you appear conceited and pretentious.自夸只会使你显得自负和虚伪。