CNN新闻英语第 52 课：Precious Water Supply In Jordan 干旱的约旦

HATTORI 哈托利
In a lot of countries, people have water delivered to their homes as a luxury. In the Middle East country of Jordan, water delivery is a necessity. Richard Roth reports on a growing nation that has already outstripped its water supply. 在许多国家，人们把送水到家看作是奢华的事情。在中东国家约旦，送水则是一件必需的事情。理查德·罗斯就这个水供应已跟不上国家发展的地方进行报道。

RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT 理查德·罗斯, CNN特派记者
Delivery day. Not of a luxury item but a basic necessity of life - water. Tanker drivers rush through the city of Amman with precious cargo. Amman is under the most restricted water controls of any large city in the world. Residents receive water pumped only once a week by the city. If they want more, they have to buy it. Jordan's surgeon Saeb Hammoudi provides a nice home for his family of five, along with the maid. But he still must buy more water from the government. 送货的日子。但所送的不是奢侈品，而是生活必需品--水。运水车司机载着宝贵的货物在安曼市区穿行。安曼是世界上水控制最严格的大城市。居民们每个星期只有一次自来水供应。如果要更多的水，他们只有花钱买了。约旦外科医生萨意波·哈马舍尔德有一所漂亮的房子，一家五口，还有一个女佣。但是他还需要从政府那里买更多的水。

SAEB HAMMOUDI, AMMAN RESIDENT 萨意波·哈马舍尔德，安曼居民
It's not enough. Once weekly for a household, maybe it's not enough. We need more than that. But then the government has to find the water to pump daily. 水不够。每家每星期供给一次水也许不太够。我们家需要更多的水。但为了满足供水，政府必须找到更多的水源。

ROTH 罗斯
Many other families in Jordan can't afford to purchase extra quantities of water. "Everything involving water is a problem," Nasara (ph) says. She saves every drop for cooking and cleaning in an extended family household of 17 people. Even delivering extra water in Jordan is no easy task. Hauling water to a branch of the Bank of Jordan resembles a daring daylight robbery. Leaks in the holes, though, are an example of how water is lost due to poor infrastructure. 约旦许多家庭买不起定额以外的水。"只要是有关水的事情就有问题"，娜萨拉说。她生活在一个有着17口人的大家庭里，她省下的每一滴水都是为了家里做饭和搞卫生。在约旦即便是运送水都不是个轻松活。向约旦银行一个分支机构运输水就像是光天化日的抢劫。由于设备不佳，房间里管道漏水就是自来水流失的一个实例。

ROTH 罗斯
Finding water in Jordan is like looking for a needle in the desert. Jordan receives about four inches of rain annually. A bad drought has added to the woes of a dry land. 在约旦找水源就像在大海捞针。约旦年降水量大约4英寸。一场大旱使原本干旱的土地情况更糟。

PROF. ELIAS SALABH, JORDAN UNIVERSITY 埃利阿斯·萨拉波教授，约旦大学
We don't have enough (UNINTELLIGIBLE) The geography dictates whatever water resources we have. 我们缺乏……。地理环境决定了我们所拥有的水源。

ROTH 罗斯
In order to survive, Jordan has had to rely on its neighbors in what is a tough neighborhood. But hope is not dead. At the Earth Summit, Jordan and Israel reached an agreement to build a pipeline to pump water from the Red Sea in order to save the Dead Sea, which is rapidly ebbing away. And also, eventually a dam, similar to this one, to be called the Unity Dam, will be built. Water, the currency for a deal between Israel and Jordan, and then providing electricity for Syria. 为了生存，约旦不得不依赖它那些关系很难相处的邻国。但是希望还没破灭。在地球峰会上，约旦和以色列达成一项协议，将共同修建一条始自红海的输水管道，以挽救正迅速消逝的死海。最后是建造一座同这个很相象的大坝，将被命名为"联合大坝"。水是以色列和约旦之间的这项交易的"货币"，工程完成后还将向叙利亚提供电力。

ROTH 罗斯
But analysts say the struggle for water will continue to be a source of political and economic tensions, especially in the Middle East. And Jordan has little to bargain with. Jordan is on a top 10 list it would rather not be on, among those countries with the least available amount of water. Twenty-five years ago, the Wahde (ph) River surged through here in the capital. Now it's all dried up. Looking into a future that's not so sunny is Jordan's minister of water and irrigation. 但是分析人士指出，水源争端将仍然是政治和经济局势紧张的一个根源，尤其是在中东。而约旦没有讨价还价的资本。约旦上了一个它不情愿上的名单，排名在前10的最缺水国家之内。25年前，Wahde河流经安曼这儿，而现在已经全部干涸了。约旦水利和灌溉部长对未来并不看好。

ROTH 罗斯
He can see rooftops covered not just with satellite dishes, but water storage tanks. And he knows Jordan's population will double by the year 2020, far outstripping water demand and supply. 他看到了房顶上不仅有卫星大锅，还有蓄水箱。他还知道到2020年约旦人口将增加一倍，这意味着超量的自来水需求和供给。

ROTH 罗斯
Jordan is working hard to manage the scarcity of water. The prime minister opened a new multimillion-dollar expanded sewage treatment center. Turning waste water into a renewable resource is part of sustaining basic needs here. If successful, something to write home about. 约旦在努力解决缺水问题。约旦总理兴建了一个价值数百万美元的扩容污水处理中心。把废水变成可利用资源一直是本地的基本需要。如果成功，这可是值得大书特书的。