时间:2019-01-14 作者:英语课 分类:VOA标准英语2009年(八月)


英语课

Scientists meeting in Nairobi are urging Africa's leaders to develop more sustainable models for the continent's water use. Kenya is currently suffering under a serious drought that is leaving millions hungry and stifling 1 the country's economic recovery.
 
Low water levels seen at Masinga dam which produces much of Kenya's hydro electric power, 21 Aug 2009


The scientists gathered at the Sustainable Water Conference in Kenya say Africa is mismanaging its water resources. The conference is organized by the Pan Africa Chemistry Network, a joint 2 initiative of the Britain-based Royal Society of Chemistry and a leading crop protection company.


The group plans to submit its recommendations to the United Nations on World Water Day 2010.


A representative for U.N. environmental agency UNEP, David Osborne, told the conference delegates that Africa's water problems are unacceptable because they are avoidable.


"Too many of the adults and children who die from too little water in droughts, too much water in floods, or too polluted or disease-ridden water are in Africa," he said. "Yet the saddest fact is that most of their deaths are preventable."


The calls from the scientists for better water usage models is magnified by the alarming situation outside the conference's walls, where the city of Nairobi is reeling under the country's severe water shortage.


The U.N. World Food Program this week announced 3.8 million Kenyans were at risk of hunger because of an ongoing 3 food crisis. For much of the country's urban poor, the high prices for food are simply unaffordable.


Speaking to the group, Kenya's permanent secretary for the Ministry 4 of Higher Learning, Science and Technology, Crispus Kiamba, acknowledged the water problems were a result not just of global climate trends, but also of the deforestation destroying some of Kenya's most vital water catchment areas.


"The conference takes place at a time when Kenya is experiencing an acute shortage of water. We have had rain failures since 2007," said Kiamba. "Some of our rivers have dried up due to a combination of climate change effect and human destruction."


Kenya's political leaders are engaged in an intense political dispute calls for the eviction 5 of settlers who have taken over and destroyed huge portions of Kenya's main water source, the Mau Forest in the nation's Rift 6 Valley. The government Tuesday issued a two-week notice for the settlers to leave, but area politicians are resisting the mandate 7 and threatening violent clashes.


The scientists at the water conference warned Africa's leaders that water scarcity 8 is a cause of not just hunger and thirst but also the spread of disease, the death of wildlife, and shortages in power.


Kenya is heavily dependent on hydroelectricity for its power needs, and drying river beds have left the nation with a significant power shortfall.


The country has initiated 9 planned power outages to ration 10 its short supply, but this is crippling small businesses unable to afford generators 11. These small businesses drive much of Kenya's economy, but without power many can not operate.


Speakers at the conference stressed that worsening water quality is also a serious threat across the continent, and said forest destruction is also destroying a key natural water filter.


The conference was addressed by the former president of Mozambique, Joachim Chissano, who encouraged the scientists to help Africa improve its use of water resources.



a.令人窒息的
  • The weather is stifling. It looks like rain. 今天太闷热,光景是要下雨。
  • We were stifling in that hot room with all the windows closed. 我们在那间关着窗户的热屋子里,简直透不过气来。
adj.联合的,共同的;n.关节,接合处;v.连接,贴合
  • I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤,肩膀脫臼了。
  • We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。
adj.进行中的,前进的
  • The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
  • The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。
n.(政府的)部;牧师
  • They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
  • We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。
n.租地等的收回
  • The family have won a temporary reprieve from eviction.这个家庭暂时免于被逐出。
  • He claimed damages for unlawful eviction.他要求对非法驱逐作出赔偿。
n.裂口,隙缝,切口;v.裂开,割开,渗入
  • He was anxious to mend the rift between the two men.他急于弥合这两个人之间的裂痕。
  • The sun appeared through a rift in the clouds.太阳从云层间隙中冒出来。
n.托管地;命令,指示
  • The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
  • The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。
n.缺乏,不足,萧条
  • 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。
n.定量(pl.)给养,口粮;vt.定量供应
  • The country cut the bread ration last year.那个国家去年削减面包配给量。
  • We have to ration the water.我们必须限量用水。
n.发电机,发生器( generator的名词复数 );电力公司
  • The factory's emergency generators were used during the power cut. 工厂应急发电机在停电期间用上了。
  • Power can be fed from wind generators into the electricity grid system. 电力可以从风力发电机流入输电网。 来自《简明英汉词典》
学英语单词
3-carboxyantipyrine
accident costs
aetosaurs
analytically unramified semilocal ring
angstrom's scale
Ban Pa Daeng
batons sinister
beltway/ Beltway bandit
bilardoes
blind thrust fault
bloody vomit
Bolocephalus saussureoides
Bom Sucesso, Ribeirāo
boundary scan test
clastoderma debaryanum
claw foot
climbing maidenhair fern
color gradients
combat day of supply
consolidated income tax system
constructable
contrail formation
deseasonalizes
DIBOA
Didymocarpus stenocarpus
elephant-hide pahoehoe
emphasis
enterprise registration
entwicklung
epigrammatism
extraordinary disbursement
flopsand
franciso
Gamvik
gardyn
gas-solid reaction
generic flow control
guaiac
gut course
Habenaria humidicola
heavenware
hollow tube
hydrochemicogeography
ince burun
information bandwidth
injection-moulded
Innocent III
intercentral articulation
intermining
ion-exchange process
ionic valve
job classification analyst
Klamath R.
koseki
Kronotskiy Poluostrov
logicizes
lung tumor
machine reel
mathewsons
maximum-modulus theorem
misbefalls
montastrea curta
Naka-umi
on-line aerophotogrammetric triangulation
paraffin oils
phaeo-
plurivalent chromosome
porvoos
pregreasing pump
prewrap
pricing entire product package
pyrotechnic gas generator
radioisotope transmission gage
Rally for the Republic
rami utriculi
schlimazel
Selimiye
semi-strong linear element
sequelitis
sir john rosses
slag-hammer
sodium butylate
St-Jean-du-Gard
standing field
suiboku
temperature hyperbola
terminal switching
thawing water irrigation
theoretical geodesy
throws up
townleys
Tremelleae
trichloro-phenomalic acid
unexploded
United Nations Administrative Tribunal
upper breast
wheedles
with-it
wollard
yellow coneflower
zigzag chain
zoolater