翻閱passage41原文

    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.

    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.

    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 (引力場) 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.

    So far the world has been spared a true water war, though the belligerency(敵對狀態) 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.

    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.

    翻閱passage41長難句分析：

[FS:PAGE]    為了鉆石，人類相互殘殺;為了石油，國家之間開戰。但是假如沒有水，這兩樣世界上最貴重的商品將會變得一錢不值。淡水是生命的必需品，而且無可替代。盡管水大都無法估價，但卻是世界上最珍貴的東西。

    自然規定了水的供給量是固定的。與此同時，需求量會隨著世界人口的增加和生活水準的提升而無情地增加。家庭、工廠和辦公場所正在吸噬越來越多的水。但是，這個星球對于食物(和在生產莊稼和肉類過程中涉及到的水)日益增長的需求才是最值得擔心的。農業耕作要占到耗水量的70%。

    本周的《特別報道》關注的是需水量的增加所會導致的日益顯見的后果。世界上流經產糧區的大河現在很少有全年都入海的，假如入海了，也是細流。不如這個明顯，卻要更為嚴重的現象是，從地下的蓄水層取水。蓄水層雖然隱蔽在視線之外，卻大得足夠帶來地球引力場的改變(NASA在太空中的衛星就可以觀察到這種改變)。目前，在世界上的很多地方——包括美國、印度和中國，地下水位正在下降。

    到目前為止，世界尚未遭遇過一次真正由水引起的戰爭(盡管達爾富爾的沖突幾乎就成了一場戰爭)，而且競爭水資源除了會讓對手間紅臉之外，有時也能帶來團結。但是因為世界上超過60%的人口生活的江河流域都是由兩個或者更多國家共享的，發生爭執的范圍就顯見了。即使水資源嚴重短缺只在一個國家內蔓延——比如印度，或者中國——也會引起大規模移民和爭斗。

    雖然不能增加水源總量，人類卻能夠更好地使用目前現有的水資源——有四種方法。第一種是改進貯存和運輸，可以通過建造地下水庫，替換泄漏的管線，連接土質河床的運河，用適量的水在植物根部進行灌溉等方法來達成。第二條途徑是讓農業少些口渴——比如種植新品種(也可能是轉基因品種)，使作物具有抗旱性或是產量更高。第三種辦法是投資將鹽從海水中剝離的技術，從而增加淡水的供給。第四種和前面三種不太一樣：放開市場，讓價格機制帶來供需平衡。而且一旦水價合理，貿易就會促使富水的國家制造富水的商品，促使缺水的國家制造用水少的商品。

    雖然四種辦法都算得是解決之道，但是沒有一種能夠迅速徹底地將過度抽水的問題解決。比如，雖然新科技甚至新品種可能會增加糧食產量(尤其要關注本周基因組研究的新進展)，但是還沒有人能夠大幅度地提升單位水的作物產量。沒有這個突破，種更多的糧食便不可避免地意味著失去更多的水，因為每一棵額外的作物在光合作用過程中都會將水蒸氣帶入空氣當中。

    脫鹽看起來更有希望，因為技術在進步，價格在下降。但是脫鹽仍然很貴，尤其是從能源消耗方面來看，這也是為什么脫鹽在目前只提供世界0.4%的淡水。毫無疑問，脫鹽會增加可飲用水的量，可以增加有些工業過程所必需的高純水的供給，甚至還能增加高等作物(尤其是為出口而種植的作物)灌溉水的供給。但是，脫鹽不會解決多數農民面臨的水問題。

    至于市場——當市場遇見水，就遇見了各式的障礙：水很難移動，很難測量，很難定價，很難要價(因為很多人認為水應該免費)。甚至在一滴水值千金的缺水市場，水價也很少會反映水的緊缺。買賣用水權某天可能會為印度兩千萬的用井人帶來一套秩序，但是不會在2025年喂飽到時將預計達到的14億張嘴。

    如果真的要做，也主要是進行需求管理。這個辦法已經在印度和中國開始了，那里的農民正在學習怎樣測量抽出的水，學習怎樣最大效率地使用水，從而學習怎樣保持蓄水層的水位。現在最迫切的是在國內和其它國家傳播他們的理念和作法。

[FS:PAGE]    即使各國能夠限制水的損耗，很多和水相關的問題依然會存在。大約有10億人仍然無法得到像樣的供水，而另外一部分人卻要忍受洪水、污染和衛生狀況惡劣的問題。但是如果人們想要解決這些問題，他是能的。人們把更多的金錢和技術都用在比缺水次要的問題上了。而且如果人們確實成功解決了這些問題，造成人類苦難的根源——疾病和貧窮——會自動得到緩解。為更好地利用這個世界上最珍貴的天然商品而投入更多的智力和金錢，這當然是值得做的事。

    翻閱passage41長難句分析

    1) 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 (引力場) that can be monitored by NASA’s satellites in space.

    【解析】是一個倒裝結構，正常結構應是：the withdrawals are less obvious，though even more serious...。因為名詞withdrawals后面的修飾成分太長，句子的平衡不好，所以出現了這種非法語規定的倒裝。

    【參考譯文】不太顯眼卻更為嚴重的現象是，從地下的蓄水層去睡的現象。蓄水層雖然音標在實現之外，其大容量足以帶來地球引力場的改變，NASA的太空衛星就可以觀察到這種改變。

    2)So far the world has been spared a true water war, though the belligerency(敵對狀態) in Darfur comes close to being one, and competition for water can sometimes bring rivals together as well as drive them apart.

    【解析】注意結尾處as well as的用法：它可以引出并列結構，相當于and，也可以成為比較結構，此處是并列結構，并列bring together和drive apart 兩個動詞成分。

    【參考譯文】盡管在達爾富爾地區，沖突差點兒就升級為一場戰爭，到目前為止，世界尚未真正遭遇過一次由水引起的戰爭，而且競爭水資源除了會讓對手漸行漸遠之外，有時也能帶來團結。