时间:2019-01-22 作者:英语课 分类:自然百科2010年


英语课
 Today we take our control of water for granted. Modern civilization couldn't exist without it. But there is still only a finite amount of water to go around. In many parts of the world, scarcity 1 has led to a bitter struggle for control over the available supply.
 
And that's true, in even the wealthiest countries. Today Los Angeles is a city with every luxury and convenience. Yet not so long ago at the turn of the last century, Los Angeles was struggling. LA's problem was its location, hemmed 2 there on three sides by desert and on the fourth by ocean. So it led to the most basic requirement for city life - a reliable water supply. So it came up with a plan to get the water it so needed.
 
250 miles to the north of the growing city, nestled next to the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range was a place called Owens Valley. It was a fertile place where people were settling and building farms. At the heart of it was plentiful 3 water, a wide river feeding a huge lake.
 
This valley must have seemed as the answer to Los Angeles' prayers. There was enough water here to easily supply over one million people. There was only one problem. It didn't belong to them. It belonged to the farmers of Owens Valley. We'd have to be taking by stealth.
 
It wasn't long before men appeared in the valley, masquerading as investors 4. They offered to buy off farmland at seeming irresistible 5 prices, just to get the water rights that went with it. It wasn't technically 6 illegal but it was certainly shady. And it worked. In 1913 after 6 years of construction, an aqueduct was opened, and that is it.
 
In a way this aqueduct was a triumph, certainly, as far as Los Angeles was concerned. It allowed millions of people, 200 miles there now, to live in a growing and vibrant 7 city. But that's not how people here thought. The Owens Valley farmers didn't give up without a struggle.

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。
缝…的褶边( hem的过去式和过去分词 ); 包围
  • He hemmed and hawed but wouldn't say anything definite. 他总是哼儿哈儿的,就是不说句痛快话。
  • The soldiers were hemmed in on all sides. 士兵们被四面包围了。
adj.富裕的,丰富的
  • Their family has a plentiful harvest this year.他们家今年又丰收了。
  • Rainfall is plentiful in the area.这个地区雨量充足。
n.投资者,出资者( investor的名词复数 )
  • a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
  • a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会
adj.非常诱人的,无法拒绝的,无法抗拒的
  • The wheel of history rolls forward with an irresistible force.历史车轮滚滚向前,势不可挡。
  • She saw an irresistible skirt in the store window.她看见商店的橱窗里有一条叫人着迷的裙子。
adv.专门地,技术上地
  • Technically it is the most advanced equipment ever.从技术上说,这是最先进的设备。
  • The tomato is technically a fruit,although it is eaten as a vegetable.严格地说,西红柿是一种水果,尽管它是当作蔬菜吃的。
adj.震颤的,响亮的,充满活力的,精力充沛的,(色彩)鲜明的
  • He always uses vibrant colours in his paintings. 他在画中总是使用鲜明的色彩。
  • She gave a vibrant performance in the leading role in the school play.她在学校表演中生气盎然地扮演了主角。
学英语单词
Ac flo
al ula
allotriomorphic
angleton
antenna array factor
apartheidized
articular sclerite
assisted take-off rocket
autolatinas
autoloaded
babbitted
ball diffuser
bediademed
Berlepsch's tinamou
bet one's bottom dollar
Bogoslovskite
Bond and Wang theory
cell attribute
chatou
circuit loading
co-pay
come to someone's ear
concessionaries
contract of marine insurance
Cowan screen
culicoides (culicoides) sumatrae
cuprometry
current information
daylight visibility
demilitarisations
draught indicating system
dromaeosaurine
earun
euxiphydria pseudoruficeps
evozine
fabric-reinforced seal
family Hexanchidae
farandine
fingerbreadth(s)
fixed review cycle
floor covers
forming-tool
fulling
gave the glad hand
gives in to
gravity dumper
hypothesize and test
ICI154129
interex
jading
Keep Britain Tidy
kernel of a morphism
Leptomyxida
light globe
long branch routine
Luanda
manahan
Merlucciinae
mucro sterni
musculus peroneus longus
Myosotis sparsiflora
navigation mesh
needle force
nitrogen 14 beam
observation and recording device
patellar dislocation
paucispiral
penetrant material
people-on-street
perithallia
phosphoenoloxaloacetic acid
placement treatment
plouviez
presbytiss
Project OXYGEN
propheticality
protective import duty
psammosarcoma
pseudolikelihoods
punch function
reorganization
roundnose tool
safety of civil aviation
sandries
Sasanguasaponin
saums
scamming
Septoria dianthi
simple effect
stasis-field
stimulus isolator
subordinate unit
suggestion-box
sweet bells
Taysider
traffic recorder machine
transient condition
travel ring
try engine
under ground economic
variabilis
vegetable wharf