这个是我考试的时候要用到的,请不要用软件翻译.

文章来源:http://edu.people.com.cn/GB/5152444.html

Will We Run Out of Water?
Picture a “ghost ship” sinking into the sand, left to rot on dry land by a receding sea. Then imagine dust storms sweeping up toxic pesticides and chemical fertilizers from the dry seabed and spewing them across towns and villages.
Seem like a scene from a movie about the end of the world? For people living near the Aral sea (咸海) in Central Asia, it’s all too real. Thirty years ago, government planners diverted the rivers that flow into the sea in order to irrigate (provide water for ) farmland. As a result, the sea has shrunk to half its original size, stranding (使搁浅) ships on dry land. The seawater has tripled in salt content and become polluted, killing all 24 native species of fish.
Similar large--scale efforts to redirect water in other parts of the world have also ended in ecological crisis, according to numerous environmental groups. But many countries continue to build massive dams and irrigation systems, even though such projects can create more problems than they fix. Why? People in many parts of the world are desperate for water, and more people will need more water in the next century.
“Growing populations will worsen problems with water,” says Peter H.Gleick, an environmental scientist at the Pacific Institute for studies in Development, Environment, and Security, a research organization in California. He fears that by the year 2025, as many as one--third of the world’s projected (预测的) 8.3 billion people will suffer from water shortages.
WHERE WATER GOES
Only 2.5 percent of all water on Earth is freshwater, water suitable for drinking and growing food, says Sandra Postel, director of the Global Water Policy Project in Amherst, Mass. Two--thirds of this freshwater is locked in glaciers (冰山) and ice caps （冰盖）. In fact, only a tiny percentage of freshwater is part of the water cycle, in which water evaporates and rises into the atmosphere, then condenses and falls back to Earth as precipitation (rain or snow).
Some precipitation runs off land to lakes and oceans, and some becomes groundwater, water that seeps into the earth. Much of this renewable freshwater ends up in remote places like the Amazon river basin in Brazil, where few people live. In fact, the world’s population has access to only 12,500 cubic kilometers of freshwater—about the amount of water in Lake Superior(苏必利尔湖). And people use half of this amount already. “If water demand continues to climb rapidly,” says Postel, “there will be severe shortages and damage to the aquatic (水的) environment.”

Will We Run Out of Water?
水会用完吗？
Picture a “ghost ship” sinking into the sand, left to rot on dry land by a receding sea. Then imagine dust storms sweeping up toxic pesticides and chemical fertilizers from the dry seabed and spewing them across towns and villages.
想象以下场景： 陷在沙中的一艘“幽灵船”废弃在海水下降后露出的陆地上。再想象一下：沙尘暴卷起海床上的有毒杀虫剂和化肥，并在它扫过城镇乡村时一路播撒。
Seem like a scene from a movie about the end of the world? For people living near the Aral sea (咸海) in Central Asia, it’s all too real. Thirty years ago, government planners diverted the rivers that flow into the sea in order to irrigate (provide water for ) farmland. As a result, the sea has shrunk to half its original size, stranding (使搁浅) ships on dry land. The seawater has tripled in salt content and become polluted, killing all 24 native species of fish.
是不是好像一部描写世界末日的影片？其实这对生活在中亚地区咸海附近的人来说再真实不过了。30年前，政府的规划者们把本来流入海洋的河流导去灌溉农田了。结果海洋缩小到原来的一半，船只都搁浅在陆地上。海水含盐量成了原来的三倍。因为污染，当地24种鱼类绝了迹。
Similar large--scale efforts to redirect water in other parts of the world have also ended in ecological crisis, according to numerous environmental groups. But many countries continue to build massive dams and irrigation systems, even though such projects can create more problems than they fix. Why? People in many parts of the world are desperate for water, and more people will need more water in the next century.
据大量环保团体称，世界其他地区类似的大规模再定向水的行为也导致了生态危机。然而尽管弊大于利，许多国家还是继续建造大型水坝和灌溉系统。为什么（还要这么做）呢？（要知道，）世界许多地方的人急需水，而下个世纪更多的人将需求更多的水。
“Growing populations will worsen problems with water,” says Peter H.Gleick, an environmental scientist at the Pacific Institute for studies in Development, Environment, and Security, a research organization in California. He fears that by the year 2025, as many as one--third of the world’s projected (预测的) 8.3 billion people will suffer from water shortages.
加州一研究组织---太平洋发展、环境、安全研究所的环境学家Peter H.Gleick说：“人口增长还将恶化用水问题”。他担心到2025年，有多达世界三分之一的可预测的8.3亿人（这里不确定怎么翻）将面临水资源短缺。
WHERE WATER GOES
水去哪里了？
Only 2.5 percent of all water on Earth is freshwater, water suitable for drinking and growing food, says Sandra Postel, director of the Global Water Policy Project in Amherst, Mass. Two--thirds of this freshwater is locked in glaciers (冰山) and ice caps （冰盖）. In fact, only a tiny percentage of freshwater is part of the water cycle, in which water evaporates and rises into the atmosphere, then condenses and falls back to Earth as precipitation (rain or snow).
位于马萨诸塞州阿默斯特的全球水利政策计划委的Sandra Postel主任说，地球仅有2.5%的淡水资源（适合饮用及种植的水资源）。其中三分之二被“锁”在冰山和冰盖里。事实上，只有占极小百分比的一部分淡水进入水循环---蒸发进入大气层，然后凝固成雨或雪落回地面。
Some precipitation runs off land to lakes and oceans, and some becomes groundwater, water that seeps into the earth. Much of this renewable freshwater ends up in remote places like the Amazon river basin in Brazil, where few people live. In fact, the world’s population has access to only 12,500 cubic kilometers of freshwater—about the amount of water in Lake Superior(苏必利尔湖). And people use half of this amount already. “If water demand continues to climb rapidly,” says Postel, “there will be severe shortages and damage to the aquatic (水的) environment.”
其中一些流入湖海，一些渗进地面成为地下水，还有许多降落到人迹罕至之地，例如巴西的亚马逊河流域。事实上，人们所能利用的淡水资源仅有大约一万两千五百立方公里---差不多是一个苏必利尔湖的水量，而人们已经用掉了这个总量的一半。Postel说：“如果对水的需求量持续攀升，会造成严重的水短缺，并造成水环境的破坏”。