VOA标准英语2010年-Book Chronicles How Neverending Quest

Steven Solomon's new book, "Water: the Epic¹ Struggle for Wealth, Power and Civilization", is a comprehensive look at how societies through the ages have organized around this vital and often scarce resource.

Revolutionary advances

Solomon describes transformative inventions like the waterwheel, irrigation, the steam engine and hydro-electric power.

He says some of these innovations are actually at the root of today's worsening water scarcity² problems, starting with the Hoover Dam, which transformed America's arid³ west.

"There are 45,000 such multipurpose dams around the world, half of them, by the way, in China. They were one of the facilitators of the Green Revolution, because the Green Revolution was not just a matter of hybridization of cropping and fertilization, but needed massive amounts of water."

 Water use grew twice as fast as the world population in the 20th century, Solomon says, but today our ability to exploit water can no longer match the demand. "We simply don't have enough water to do the economic things that we need to do with it or want to do with it for 6.5 billion, much less the 9 billion [people] that we are becoming."

According to the United Nations, one billion people around the world lack access to safe drinking water and 2.5 billion people lack adequate sanitation⁴.

Water inequity

Poorer nations are the hardest hit, with an enormous gap between the haves and have-nots.

Solomon says he saw this inequity clearly during his 2004 visit to a rural village in southeastern Kenya, where he'd gone as a volunteer to help build a simple mud dam needed to trap monsoonal⁶ water for cattle.

"It's back-breaking laborious⁷ effort that takes a great amount of time and effort. These people are living at dirt poor subsistence level, largely because they have not had the means to be able to manage the water resources that they do have."

Another service project on that same trip, helped connect villagers in the region with a well that had been drilled thirty years earlier. Prior to its completion, people in the area had to carry water more than three kilometers for their daily needs.

"It takes up many hours, time that you can't use for education for education for the kids, for productive work. It's a form of enslavement really given the technologies that are available to us today to be able to deliver water."

Harper Collins
'Water' examines man's most critical resource in shaping human destinies, from ancient times to our dawning age of water scarcity.

Hot spots

Solomon's book also examines the world's water hot spots - countries such as India and China, where water scarcity could limit those nations' capacity to feed themselves.

Solomon examines the intense competition in East Africa over Nile River water and describes how essential underground aquifers⁸ in North Africa and the Middle East are drained faster than they are replenished⁹.

Fresh water, Solomon explains, is simply disappearing in many parts of the world. More and more rivers, slowed by dams and bled by irrigation canals, don't reach the sea anymore. Wetlands are disappearing. And clean drinking water, traditionally drawn¹⁰ from rivers or wells, is becoming increasingly scarce or unavailable.

Delicate balance

Solomon is guardedly hopeful that these trends can be reversed if societies learn to use water more efficiently¹¹ and if they adhere to three broad principles, the first and foremost being social equity⁵.

"Ecosystems¹² need to be managed in a sustainable manner and that water needs to be treated as an economic good."

Solomon believes ending fresh water scarcities¹³ will require nations to work together to devise new domestic and foreign policies that protect and share this critical resource.

"How each country acts in response to the freshwater crisis…is a judgment¹⁴ on our own humanity and the ultimate fate of human civilization," he says.

"Water: the Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power and Civilization," by Steven Solomon, is published by Harper Collins.
 

1 epic   

n.史诗，叙事诗；adj.史诗般的，壮丽的

参考例句：

• I gave up my epic and wrote this little tale instead.我放弃了写叙事诗，而写了这个小故事。
• They held a banquet of epic proportions.他们举行了盛大的宴会。

2 scarcity   

n.缺乏，不足，萧条

参考例句：

• The scarcity of skilled workers is worrying the government.熟练工人的缺乏困扰着政府。
• The scarcity of fruit was caused by the drought.水果供不应求是由于干旱造成的。

3 arid   

adj.干旱的；(土地)贫瘠的

参考例句：

• These trees will shield off arid winds and protect the fields.这些树能挡住旱风,保护农田。
• There are serious problems of land degradation in some arid zones.在一些干旱地带存在严重的土地退化问题。

4 sanitation   

n.公共卫生，环境卫生，卫生设备

参考例句：

• The location is exceptionally poor,viewed from the sanitation point.从卫生角度来看，这个地段非常糟糕。
• Many illnesses are the result,f inadequate sanitation.许多疾病都来源于不健全的卫生设施。

5 equity   

n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票

参考例句：

• They shared the work of the house with equity.他们公平地分担家务。
• To capture his equity,Murphy must either sell or refinance.要获得资产净值，墨菲必须出售或者重新融资。

6 monsoonal   

季风的

参考例句：

• In the east, the water is mainly oceanic with relatively minor dilution from direct monsoonal rainfall and runoff from small streams. 东部水域主要为海水，而直接的季候雨及小溪溢流，把海水稍为冲淡。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• China has a marked continental monsoonal climate characterized by great variety. 中国有明显的大陆性季风气候的特点是种类繁多。 来自互联网

7 laborious   

adj.吃力的，努力的，不流畅

参考例句：

• They had the laborious task of cutting down the huge tree.他们接受了伐大树的艰苦工作。
• Ants and bees are laborious insects.蚂蚁与蜜蜂是勤劳的昆虫。

8 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

9 replenished   

补充( replenish的过去式和过去分词 )； 重新装满

参考例句：

• She replenished her wardrobe. 她添置了衣服。
• She has replenished a leather [fur] coat recently. 她最近添置了一件皮袄。

10 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

11 efficiently   

adv.高效率地，有能力地

参考例句：

• The worker oils the machine to operate it more efficiently.工人给机器上油以使机器运转更有效。
• Local authorities have to learn to allocate resources efficiently.地方政府必须学会有效地分配资源。

12 ecosystems   

n.生态系统( ecosystem的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There are highly sensitive and delicately balanced ecosystems in the forest. 森林里有高度敏感、灵敏平衡的各种生态系统。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Madagascar's ecosystems range from rainforest to semi-desert. 马达加斯加生态系统类型多样，从雨林到半荒漠等不一而足。 来自辞典例句

13 scarcities   

不足，缺乏( scarcity的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Japan has scarcities in most natural resources. 日本缺乏大部分的天然资源。
• A novelty of the test is to link collective decision with relative factor scarcities. 这一检验的新颖之处在于，它将集体决策与要素的相对稀缺性相联系。

14 judgment   

n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见

参考例句：

• The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
• He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。