新奇事件簿 世界水战一触即发

Fighting wars over water is usually just for fantasy writers and Hollywood epics¹. No more. The scary reality is that water is becoming so scarce in many parts of the world that people may be close to conflict. The possibility that the poor and waterless might go to war to quench² their thirst is, in fact, quite real. At the opening of the fourth World Water Forum³ in Mexico City yesterday, people fought with police. They were angry at rich countries taking their water. Peaceful protestors carried fake wooden rifles a warning sign of what the future might hold.

世界水战往往会出现在幻想小说家笔下和好莱坞大片中。其它地方与它绝对无关。但现实问题是，全球多地现水荒，世界水战一触即发。为满足人类基本需求，贫穷和缺水或将最终导致战争，这是一个非常现实的问题。第四届世界水论坛于昨天在墨西哥城开幕，抗议人士与警方发生冲突。表达对富裕国家窃取水资源的愤慨。和平示威人士手举仿真木质步枪，警告未来发展趋势。

The World Water Forum has highlighted many issues concerning water that divide the world into haves and have-nots. Representatives of 130 nations are meeting to discuss water management. Poor countries have accused rich countries of adding to the water crisis. Multinational⁴ corporations make more and more money from selling water to the poor. Mexico is the world’s second largest consumer of bottled water. Poor nations use just one-thirtieth of the water of many developed countries.

此次论坛重点讨论了关于水资源造成贫富差距问题。130个国家代表就水资源管理进行讨论。落后国家指责发达国家助涨水危机。跨国企业通过向落后国家卖水获利。墨西哥是世界第二大瓶装水大国。落后国家水资源使用量仅为许多发达国家的十三分之一。

1 epics   

n.叙事诗( epic的名词复数 )；壮举；惊人之举；史诗般的电影（或书籍）

参考例句：

• one of the great Hindu epics 伟大的印度教史诗之一
• Homer Iliad and Milton's Paradise Lost are epics. 荷马的《伊利亚特》和弥尔顿的《失乐园》是史诗。 来自互联网

2 quench   

vt.熄灭，扑灭；压制

参考例句：

• The firemen were unable to quench the fire.消防人员无法扑灭这场大火。
• Having a bottle of soft drink is not enough to quench my thirst.喝一瓶汽水不够解渴。

3 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。

4 multinational   

adj.多国的，多种国籍的；n.多国籍公司，跨国公司

参考例句：

• The firm was taken over by a multinational consulting firm.这家公司被一个跨国咨询公司收购。
• He analyzed the relationship between multinational corporations and under-developed countries.他分析了跨国公司和不发达国家之间的关系。