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經濟學人》近日刊出文章，指出對人類生存最重要的水短缺問題并沒有得到足夠的重視，相反，人類卻把錢財和精力浪費在其他地方。尤其是農業的發展，是人類進一步陷入糧食生長和水流失的兩難境地中。但是，方法并不是沒有，最重要的是我們是否已經開始重視、開始應對。
The world's most valuable stuff Mostly because of farming, water is increasingly scarce. Managing it better could help May 20th 2010
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. unpriced: 未標價的 個人覺得文章開頭寫得極好，人們為了鉆石互相殘殺，國家為了石油大開戰火。但如果這些所謂的昂貴之物和地球上幾乎沒有標價的水相比，究竟是哪個更有價值？沒有了水，就沒有生命，沒有生命，所謂財富又有何用？ 句子的結構非常簡單，為了…殺人，因為…發生戰爭，僅用一介詞over就涵蓋了。
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. inexorable：這里指不可阻擋，無法改變的 劃線句指人口增長，同時人們的生活變得富足
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. aquifer：含水土層。這里這句話是指水分從原本地下的含水土層流失。 gravitational field：引力場 water table：地下水位。這句話是說地下水位也在不斷降低。 世界上，整整一年間僅幾條流經谷物生長區的大河能最終匯入海洋，即便如此，這些最終流入大海的部分也不過是涓涓細流。 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 acute water shortages were to become widespread in just one country—India, say, or China—they could lead to mass migration and fighting. belligerency：交戰狀態 river basin：江河流域 squabble：口角，爭論 scope for squabbles：發生爭論的機會 拿印度和中國來舉例應該有多種原因，比如龐大的人口和相對不夠發達的國情。
Although the supply of water cannot be increased, mankind can use what there is better—in four ways. One is through the improvement of storage and delivery, by creating underground reservoirs, replacing leaking pipes, lining earth-bottomed canals, irrigating plants at their roots with just the right amount of water, and so on. A second route focuses on making farming less thirsty—for instance by growing newly bred, perhaps genetically modified, crops that are drought-resistant or higher-yielding. A third way is to invest in technologies to take the salt out of sea water and thus increase supply of the fresh stuff. The fourth is of a different kind: unleash the market on water-users and let the price mechanism bring supply and demand into balance. And once water is properly priced, trade will encourage well-watered countries to make water-intensive goods, and arid ones to make those that are water-light. irrigate：灌溉 unleash：解開束縛 這里文章給出了四種緩解缺水危機的可行方法。個人覺得如果第三種方法能夠實現的話，那么供人類使用的水源將成百倍的增加，應當會成為最快速的方法。但問題是，即便世界上所有的海水區也變成了淡水，如果人們沒有節水意識，也總有枯竭的一天。所以重要的還是地球上的“人”怎么看待這個問題，怎樣合理使用水。因此下文也提到了這一點，繼續實行的其實是第一個方法。 下文是對以上四種方法的分析： Solutions on tap（現成的，馬上可以用的） All four approaches have a part to play in the solution, but none is likely to end the over-drawing of water at all quickly. For instance, although crop yields may be improved by new technologies and even new breeds (especially following this week’s genome advance), no one has yet managed to produce plants that offer dramatically more crop per drop. Without such a breakthrough, growing more crops inevitably means losing more water, since each extra plant transpires water vapour into the atmosphere during photosynthesis. Desalination looks more hopeful, since new technologies are being developed and prices are falling. But it is still expensive, especially in terms of energy use, which is why at present it provides only 0.4% of the world’s fresh water. It will undoubtedly add to the supply of drinking water, of the ultra-pure water required for some industrial processes, even of irrigation for high-value crops, especially if grown for export. But it won’t solve most farmers’ water problems.
transpire：蒸發 photosynthesis：光合作用 desalination：脫鹽 Liquid assets As for the market, when it approaches water it meets all sorts of obstacles: water is difficult to move, difficult to measure, difficult to price and often difficult to charge for, since many people think it should be free. Even in arid market economies where every drop is precious, the price of water seldom reflects scarcity. Trading in water rights may one day bring order to the 20m well-users in India, but not in time to feed the 1.4 billion Indian mouths expected by 2025. arid：貧瘠的，干旱的
If that is to be done, it will be done largely by managing demand. （從本文看來，似乎第一種方式權衡下來最可行，或者利最大）This is already beginning to happen in parts of both India and China, where farmers are learning how to measure the water they pump, how to use it to greatest effect and thus how to sustain aquifer levels. The urgent need now is to spread their principles and practices at home and to other countries.
Even if the world manages to limit depletion, many water-related problems will persist. About 1 billion people are still without access to a decent water supply, while others suffer from flooding, pollution and poor sanitation. Yet if man wants to solve these problems, he can. He has applied far more money and know-how to issues far less important than the shortage of water. And if he does tackle them successfully, the big causes of human suffering—disease and poverty—will be automatically alleviated. Investing more thought and cash in the better use of the world’s most valuable commodity is surely worthwhile. depletion：耗盡，枯竭 sanitation：公共衛生（設施） alleviate：緩解 正如上文所說，如果人類真的想要解決這些問題，他們就一定可以。他們已經在其他問題上花費了比解決缺水問題多得多的錢財和腦力，而這些問題其實遠遠沒有缺水那么重要。言下之意：人們應該更多關注與我們生命息息相關的“水”，并且，只要我們重視了，我們也終將能找到解決方法。
閱讀原文，請點擊：http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=16163366
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