时间:2019-01-14 作者:英语课 分类:VOA标准英语2013年(六月)


英语课

 


UN: Don’t Let Our Future Dry Up



June 17 is World Day to Combat Desertification. In 1992, the Rio Earth Summit described desertification as one of the greatest challenges to development. This year’s theme is drought and water scarcity 1.


Water covers most of our planet,  but only about two and a half percent of it is freshwater. And of that small amount, U.N. experts say, “The total useable supply for ecosystems 2 and humans is less than one percent.” This year’s World Day to Combat Desertification slogan is: Don’t Let Our Future Dry Up.


“Desertification, and particularly drought, is one of the major natural disasters. The death toll 3 out of drought exceeds any other natural disasters, like tornado 4 or tsunami,” said Dr. Yukie Hori, Coordinator 5 of Awareness 6 Raising, Communication and Education at the UNCCD, U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification.


It’s estimated that since 1979, drought has claimed over one-point-six-billion lives. The 2011 drought in Somalia and nearby regions resulted in thousands of deaths. In May, Namibia declared a national drought emergency. Officials there say 14 percent of the country’s population is now food insecure. Nearly 11-and-a-half million people remain food insecure in Africa’s Sahel region. U.N. officials say the wildfires in parts of the United States are directly linked to last year’s drought.


But why do so many people die in droughts when they are not sudden disasters like earthquakes?


“Because it is a creeping nature of disaster not many people pay enough attention for the importance of land recovery, which prevents and manages drought, as well as to secure water resources,” she said.


Hori said that freshwater is renewable, but it depends on the health of ecosystems, including land and soil.


“Some 70 percent of the freshwater available globally is held in the soil, which is accessible to plants. And only 11 percent is accessible as stream flow and groundwater. But when the soil is degraded, it loses the capacity to hold water. So that will lead to drought and water scarcity. So it’s quite [a] serious issue in the world now.”


She said that raising awareness about the issue can be difficult because of the misunderstanding of the word “desertification.”


“Desertification is not about desert. But when people hear that word, desertification, they think about desert. You picture in your mind a vast sand dune 7, and this is not what we’re talking about. We’re talking about land degradation 8 in drylands, which affect many people, almost everyone, directly or indirectly 9, around the world,” she said.


“Forty percent of the world’s meat production,” she said,  “occurs on drylands. If the land is degraded by over-cultivation and over-grazing, then production may move to other locations. As a result, many trees may be felled to clear land leading to deforestation.”


For example, do not just exist in Africa. The U.S. has large areas of drylands.


“Seventeen states of [the] United States are characterized as drylands. And land degradation – that means desertification – is taking place in the states. But not many people understand that and know about it,” said Hori.


In the 1930s, giant dust storms ravaged 10 the Great Plains of the U.S. The so-called black blizzards 11 sometimes reached New York City. Those ecological 12 disasters have been blamed on humans. Poor farming techniques eliminated grasses acclimated 13 to wind and drought. When the winds came, some of the world’s best topsoil blew away destroying communities and lives.


U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon said the time has come to go beyond treating drought as an emergency situation. He says while droughts are hard to avoid, their effects can be lessened 14. Mr. Ban said, “The price of preparedness is minimal 15 compared to the cost of disaster relief.” He’s called for a shift from crisis management to building resilience.


In March, the High-Level Meeting on National Drought Policy was held in Geneva. It recommended coordination 16 of drought programs and response; proactive measures to protect the land; a safety net of emergency relief; and government and private insurance plans, among other things.


“Droughts happen as natural phenomena 17, but the [severity] of drought can be predicted and managed. In that case, [an] early warning system makes a lot of difference in peoples’ lives and also crop production. And there’s only one national drought policy [existing] today and which is [in] Australia. But the rest of the countries who are prone 18 to drought do not have consolidated 19 means to mitigate 20 the effect of drought,” she said.


The UNCCD has given its Land for Life Award this year to organizations in India, Mexico and Australia for their efforts to protect ecosystems. It also says countries such as Eritrea, Kenya, Hungary, Portugal and Thailand are honoring those who’ve worked to protect drylands.




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.生态系统( ecosystem的名词复数 )
  • 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
n.过路(桥)费;损失,伤亡人数;v.敲(钟)
  • The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
  • The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。
n.飓风,龙卷风
  • A tornado whirled into the town last week.龙卷风上周袭击了这座城市。
  • The approaching tornado struck awe in our hearts.正在逼近的龙卷风使我们惊恐万分。
n.协调人
  • The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下,负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
  • How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室?
n.意识,觉悟,懂事,明智
  • There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
  • Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。
n.(由风吹积而成的)沙丘
  • The sand massed to form a dune.沙积集起来成了沙丘。
  • Cute Jim sat on the dune eating a prune in June.可爱的吉姆在六月天坐在沙丘上吃着话梅。
n.降级;低落;退化;陵削;降解;衰变
  • 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。
  • Gambling is always coupled with degradation.赌博总是与堕落相联系。
adv.间接地,不直接了当地
  • I heard the news indirectly.这消息我是间接听来的。
  • They were approached indirectly through an intermediary.通过一位中间人,他们进行了间接接触。
毁坏( ravage的过去式和过去分词 ); 蹂躏; 劫掠; 抢劫
  • a country ravaged by civil war 遭受内战重创的国家
  • The whole area was ravaged by forest fires. 森林火灾使整个地区荒废了。
暴风雪( blizzard的名词复数 ); 暴风雪似的一阵,大量(或大批)
  • Even in the summertime we might be struck by blizzards. 甚至在夏天,我们也可能受到暴风雪的袭击。
  • Blizzards battered Britain for the third day. 大风雪袭击英国已进入第三天。
adj.生态的,生态学的
  • The region has been declared an ecological disaster zone.这个地区已经宣布为生态灾难区。
  • Each animal has its ecological niche.每种动物都有自己的生态位.
v.使适应新环境,使服水土服水土,适应( acclimate的过去式和过去分词 )
  • The rice has been acclimated in this area. 水稻已能适应这一地区的环境。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
  • Have you become acclimated to Taiwan yet? 你已适应台湾的环境了吗? 来自辞典例句
减少的,减弱的
  • Listening to the speech through an interpreter lessened its impact somewhat. 演讲辞通过翻译的嘴说出来,多少削弱了演讲的力量。
  • The flight to suburbia lessened the number of middle-class families living within the city. 随着迁往郊外的风行,住在城内的中产家庭减少了。
adj.尽可能少的,最小的
  • They referred to this kind of art as minimal art.他们把这种艺术叫微型艺术。
  • I stayed with friends, so my expenses were minimal.我住在朋友家,所以我的花费很小。
n.协调,协作
  • Gymnastics is a sport that requires a considerable level of coordination.体操是一项需要高协调性的运动。
  • The perfect coordination of the dancers and singers added a rhythmic charm to the performance.舞蹈演员和歌手们配合得很好,使演出更具魅力。
n.现象
  • Ade couldn't relate the phenomena with any theory he knew.艾德无法用他所知道的任何理论来解释这种现象。
  • The object of these experiments was to find the connection,if any,between the two phenomena.这些实验的目的就是探索这两种现象之间的联系,如果存在着任何联系的话。
adj.(to)易于…的,很可能…的;俯卧的
  • Some people are prone to jump to hasty conclusions.有些人往往作出轻率的结论。
  • He is prone to lose his temper when people disagree with him.人家一不同意他的意见,他就发脾气。
a.联合的
  • With this new movie he has consolidated his position as the country's leading director. 他新执导的影片巩固了他作为全国最佳导演的地位。
  • Those two banks have consolidated and formed a single large bank. 那两家银行已合并成一家大银行。
vt.(使)减轻,(使)缓和
  • The government is trying to mitigate the effects of inflation.政府正试图缓和通货膨胀的影响。
  • Governments should endeavour to mitigate distress.政府应努力缓解贫困问题。
学英语单词
-teenth
angular motion
appointment-only
ash-greys
autocratic leader
automatic data processing systems
Ban Nong Yang
Bandwidth-on-demand
bare the metal
basilar membranae
bonnett
catalogable permanent file
cheek retractor
chloroethylaminoanthraquinones
classical-styles
closure of simplex
collective body
community residents
copius
coraebus aesopus
crummy
cystomyxoma
dispension
disproportionateness
distrbuted processing
electro-gas arc welding
excitaton source
exhibition expenditures
false myxoma
fear-stricken
fibre grease
firiming agent
fix things up
fluidized layer
forage for
fund levy
go on an outing
graphic kernel system
gravity spectrum
gravity tectonics
green cormorant
guilt-trip
heliocentric declination
heterodyne interference
high speed steel end mill
Igo
in one piece nozzle
income-expenditures
interpretation of dreams
island-dwellers
Knelston
laid lower
lead crown glass
Leo III
linen fiber
load up on sth
lyme-hound
make gains
manufacturer's rep
mechano-chemical system
medical diagnostic radiation
metallographs
Middleton Stoney
missel-bird
Mogogelo
noas
note to the accounts
number identification
off-colo(u)r product
oystered
pal(a)eohydrology
Palespotted
pasta rocket
pasteur pipet
permineralised
planetary landing
plant room
plumbaginaceous
pulsed lasers
re-taining part of the extra profit
reed sweep
Resia
ring-a-ring
screen scarifier
sewerage of separate system
site autonomy
taint-hook
take springs out from
testing of soil
tetrazoles
think no small bear of
Tolbukhinski Okrǔg
toona sureni(bl.)merr.
total color blindness
Tristars
wages fund
wooden bridge
written calculation
yeast-liked
zero-zero gel
zhishi xiebai guizhi decoction