听播客学英语 283 干旱

 　　Have you visited England? What do you remember about your visit? How about our English weather? It always rains in England, doesn’t it?

　　Well, actually, no – often it does not rain. In fact, for the past 14 months rainfall in many parts of England has been a lot less than normal. Last year, in the town of Tonbridge in Kent there was only 406mm of rain. That is less than the average rainfall in, for example, Jerusalem, or parts of Somalia and Namibia. The amount of water stored in reservoirs and aquifers¹ in South Eastern England is now very low. Normally, rain during the winter refills the reservoirs and aquifers. But this winter has so far been exceptionally² dry. The English word for a long period with little or no rain is a “drought”. Many experts say that unless the drought in South Eastern England ends and it rains heavily over the next two months, they expect severe problems with water supplies in the summer in that part of the country.

　　The weather forecast today is for a mixture of sunshine and showers. But there is still no sign of the heavy rain that South Eastern England needs.

　　Note: “reservoir” – an artificial lake for storing water

　　“aquifer” – underground rock which stores water naturally. Water companies drill wells into the aquifers and pump water out of them.

1 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

2 exceptionally   

ad.异常地

参考例句：

• The weather, even for January, was exceptionally cold. 这种天气即使在一月份也算得上非常寒冷。
• An exceptionally violent cyclone hit the town last night. 昨晚异常猛烈的旋风吹袭了那个小镇。