世界上最珍贵的东西 建议精读.docVIP

世界上最珍贵的东西 建议精读 PEOPLE kill each other over diamonds; countries go to war over oil. But the world’s most expensive commodities are worth nothing in the absence of water. Fresh water is essential for life, with no substitute. Although mostly unpriced, it is the most valuable stuff in the world. 为了钻石，人类相互残杀；为了石油，国家之间开战。但是假如没有水，这两样世界上最贵重的商品将会变得一钱不值。淡水是生命的必需品，而且无可替代。尽管水大都无法估价，但却是世界上最珍贵的东西。 Nature has decreed that the supply of water is fixed. Meanwhile demand rises inexorably as the world’s population increases and enriches itself. Homes, factories and offices are sucking up ever more. But it is the planet’s growing need for food (and the water involved in producing crops and meat) that matters most. Farming accounts for 70% of withdrawals. 自然规定了水的供给量是固定的。与此同时，需求量会随着世界人口的增加和生活水准的提升而无情地增加。家庭、工厂和办公场所正在吸噬越来越多的水。但是，这个星球对于食物（和在生产庄稼和肉类过程中涉及到的水）日益增长的需求才是最值得担心的。农业耕作要占到耗水量的70%。 Our special report this week looks at the increasingly visible consequences of the rising demand for water. Few of the world’s great rivers that run through grain-growing areas now reach the sea all the year round or, if they do, they do so as a trickle. Less obvious, though even more serious, are the withdrawals from underground aquifers, which are hidden from sight but big enough to produce changes in the Earth’s gravitational field that can be monitored by NASA’s satellites in space. Water tables are now falling in many parts of the world, including America, India and China.更多信息请访问：/ 本周的《特别报道》关注的是需水量的增加所会导致的日益显见的后果。世界上流经产粮区的大河现在很少有全年都入海的，假如入海了，也是细流。不如这个明显，却要更为严重的现象是，从地下的蓄水层取水。蓄水层虽然隐蔽在视线之外，却大得足够带来地球引力场的改变（NASA在太空中的卫星就可以观察到这种改变）。目前，在世界上的很多地方——包括美国、印度和中国，地下水位正在下降。 So far the world has been spared a true water war, though the belligerency in Darfur comes close to being one, and competition for water can sometimes bring rivals together as well as drive them apart. But since over 60% of the world’s population lives in a river basin shared by two or more countries, the scope for squabbles is plain. Even if acu