2007年VOA标准英语-India Grapples with Severe Water Shortages

By Anjana Pasricha
New Delhi
21 March 2007

Water shortages are intensifying² across India as its economy booms and its population grows. From New Delhi, Anjana Pasricha reports, experts are calling for better water management practices in the country.

Mar1. 2007 " hspace="2" src="/upimg/allimg/070528/1424480.jpg" width="210" vspace="2" border="0" />

Indians stand in line as they wait to fill containers with drinking water in Hyderabad, 20 Mar. 2007

It is a typical morning in a slum adjoining Delhi's posh (wealthy) diplomatic area. Men, women and children have lined up for a truck to bring their daily supply of water.

As the truck rolls in, chaos³ ensues. People rush ahead - some even scramble⁴ onto the vehicle and push pipes into the tank in a desperate bid to ensure that they can fill their buckets and cans.

Resigned slum residents say the battle for water is now a part of their daily routine. But it is not an easy one.

A young woman says people jostle and push so much in the desperate struggle for water that she fears anything can happen - someone can be crushed or even die.

This is not an unusual story. The water crisis in this Delhi area is repeated across hundreds of urban slums across the country - taps have run dry, and hand pumps do not work. Trucks show up daily to provide water. But the timing⁵ is erratic⁶, sometimes forcing people to miss work or children to skip school as family members take turns to wait for the precious commodity.

Water shortages have intensified⁷ in recent decades in both rural and urban areas as water supplied by the government has failed to meet the surging demand. A growing population and expanding industries each day need more and more water.

And it is not only the poor who have been hit hard. Even in middle-class urban neighborhoods, water supplies can be erratic.

But experts say the lack of water in homes and farms cannot be blamed on just a shortfall of water.

The World Bank says the problem has intensified due to lack of infrastructure⁸ such as dams to store water. For example, it says India stores only one-fifth of the amount of water that is stored per capita in countries such as China and Mexico.

Others are calling for better water management practices. An urban planning consultant⁹, A.K. Menon, points out that unlike other places, India does not recycle sewage and waste water because it does not have enough treatment plants.

"The water in the river Rhine ([n Germany]is used six times, they throw it back into the river [fter treatment]and reuse it, here we use it once and waste it," Menon explained. "There is no concept of proper planning and reusing the water. Hence there is only a finite supply of water, as demand rises it gets short supplied."

Sunita Narain heads an environmental activist¹⁰ group, the Center for Science and Environment. She says crumbling¹¹ water infrastructure has exacerbated¹² the shortages.

"We have very high inefficiencies built in the system, so very high rates of water losses," she said. "Almost 50 percent of the water which is supplied disappears, most people assume it disappears in the leakages¹³ that exist in the piping system …. We have to rethink these systems."

Experts point out that the water table in the country has already fallen dramatically, and the shortages will likely worsen unless new strategies are adopted to address the problem.

1 mar   

vt.破坏，毁坏，弄糟

参考例句：

• It was not the custom for elderly people to mar the picnics with their presence.大人们照例不参加这样的野餐以免扫兴。
• Such a marriage might mar your career.这样的婚姻说不定会毁了你的一生。

2 intensifying   

v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的现在分词 )；增辉

参考例句：

• The allies are intensifying their air campaign. 联军部队正加大他们的空战强度。 来自辞典例句
• The rest of the European powers were in a state of intensifying congestion. 其余的欧洲强国则处于越来越拥挤的状态。 来自英汉非文学 - 历史

3 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

4 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。

5 timing   

n.时间安排，时间选择

参考例句：

• The timing of the meeting is not convenient.会议的时间安排不合适。
• The timing of our statement is very opportune.我们发表声明选择的时机很恰当。

6 erratic   

adj.古怪的，反复无常的，不稳定的

参考例句：

• The old man had always been cranky and erratic.那老头儿性情古怪,反复无常。
• The erratic fluctuation of market prices is in consequence of unstable economy.经济波动致使市场物价忽起忽落。

7 intensified   

v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Violence intensified during the night. 在夜间暴力活动加剧了。
• The drought has intensified. 旱情加剧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

9 consultant   

n.顾问；会诊医师，专科医生

参考例句：

• He is a consultant on law affairs to the mayor.他是市长的一个法律顾问。
• Originally,Gar had agreed to come up as a consultant.原来，加尔只答应来充当我们的顾问。

10 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

11 crumbling   

adj.摇摇欲坠的

参考例句：

• an old house with crumbling plaster and a leaking roof 一所灰泥剥落、屋顶漏水的老房子
• The boat was tied up alongside a crumbling limestone jetty. 这条船停泊在一个摇摇欲坠的石灰岩码头边。

12 exacerbated   

v.使恶化，使加重( exacerbate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The symptoms may be exacerbated by certain drugs. 这些症状可能会因为某些药物而加重。
• The drugs they gave her only exacerbated the pain. 他们给她吃的药只是加重了她的痛楚。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 leakages   

泄露； 漏( leakage的名词复数 )； 漏出； 漏出物； 渗漏物

参考例句：

• We can see that the flow has both leakages from it and injection into it. 我们就可以看到，这个流量既有漏出的又有注入的。
• We can see that the flow has both leakages from it and injections into it. 我们就可以看到，这个流量是既有漏出的又有注入的。