VOA新闻杂志--南苏丹计划重新启动水道项目面临阻力

South Sudan Plan to Re-Start Waterway Project Faces Resistance¹

The people of South Sudan are debating whether to restart² a project first considered over 100 years ago to change the way water moves through the country.

The Jonglei Canal project was first studied in 1904. It would move water from the Sudd wetlands in South Sudan and send it down the Nile River to Sudan and Egypt. The project started in the 1950s. Work went on for 30 years, but it was never finished. By then about 270 of a total 340 kilometers had been dug.

John Akec is a leader at the University of Juba. He started a campaign called "Save the Sudd" because he believes the canal will cause a serious problem for South Sudan.

If the wetlands dry, he said, "all the livelihoods⁴" connected to that area will be lost. He started collecting signatures on a document called a petition⁵ that he will send to the nation's president. It calls for an end to the canal plan. If he gets 100,000 signatures, he will send it in. So far he has many thousands.

"Water is more valuable than oil, diamonds, gold," he said.

While some, like Akec, say the project would hurt the wetlands, others say the flooding is causing a greater problem.

Earlier this year, one of South Sudan's vice⁶ presidents – Taban Deng Gai – called to restart the canal project because of increased flooding. People who live in Jonglei and Unity⁷ states say they have not been able to raise animals and maintain⁸ their farmland.

Martha Achol is a farmer and mother of six. She said, "there is water everywhere" and the floods "have destroyed our farms." She said she never used to worry about food, but she does now. Mayak Deng is another farmer. He said the same thing. "Today, we don't have enough," he said.

Manawa Peter Gatkuoth is South Sudan's water minister. He added that the canal would permit more visitors and new transport opportunities in the area.

But environmentalists like Deng Majok Chol worry that the project will hurt the ecosystem⁹ of the wetlands. Majok Chol, who is working on an advanced environmental degree at Oxford¹⁰ University, said the current flooding is only a small change within the long history of the area.

He fears that removing water from the wetlands will reduce the amount of rainfall and affect people in South Sudan as well as people downstream in Sudan and Egypt.

Nhial Tiitmamer is the director of an environmental program at the Sudd Institute. Tiitmamer said the wetlands are worth $1 billion to South Sudan each year.

"This will be lost if the wetlands are drained," he said.

Words in This Story

canal– n. a long, narrow waterway created by people so boats can pass or water can move to supply fields

livelihood³ – n. a way of earning money in order to live

petition- n. a written document that people sign so they can show they want a person or organization to change something

ecosystem– n. everything that exists in an environment

drain- v. to remove water from something or a place

1 resistance   

n.抵抗力，反抗，反抗行动；阻力，电阻；反对；adj.抵抗的

参考例句：

• Very little resistance was put up by the enemy.敌人没怎么进行抵抗。
• An aircraft has to overcome the resistance of the air.飞机须克服空气的阻力。

2 restart   

vt.重新开始，重新启动；vi.重新开始，重新启动

参考例句：

• Restart the computer in Safe mode or VGA mode.重新启动计算机在安全模式或VGA模式。
• After the restart the program continues to run automatically.重启后，程序仍然自动运行。

3 livelihood   

n.生计，谋生之道

参考例句：

• Appropriate arrangements will be made for their work and livelihood.他们的工作和生活会得到妥善安排。
• My father gained a bare livelihood of family by his own hands.父亲靠自己的双手勉强维持家计。

4 livelihoods   

生计，谋生之道( livelihood的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• First came the earliest individualistic pioneers who depended on hunting and fishing for their livelihoods. 走在最前面的是早期的个人主义先驱者，他们靠狩猎捕鱼为生。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• With little influence over policies, their traditional livelihoods are threatened. 因为马赛族人对政策的影响力太小，他们的传统生计受到了威胁。

5 petition   

n.请愿书，申请书，诉状；v.请愿，正式请求

参考例句：

• Thousands of citizens subscribed the petition.几千名公民在请愿书上签名。
• The number of signers of the petition for a new school snowballed.要求增设新学校而签名的人像滚雪球似的越来越多。

6 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

7 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。

8 maintain   

vt.支撑；赡养，抚养；维持，保有

参考例句：

• He has to maintain a large family on a small salary.他不得不依靠很少的工资养活一家人。
• We must do our best to maintain sales at their usual rate.我们要尽力使销售额保持在平日的水平上。

9 ecosystem   

n.生态系统

参考例句：

• This destroyed the ecosystem of the island.这样破坏了岛上的生态系统。
• We all have an interest in maintaining the integrity of the ecosystem.维持生态系统的完整是我们共同的利益。

10 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。