【TED ED 中英雙語】 P37
Are we running out of clean water
我們是否要用完潔凈的水了
From space, our planet appears to be more ocean than Earth.
But despite the water covering 71% of the planet’s surface,
more than half the world’s population endures extreme water scarcity
for at least one month a year.
And current estimates predict that by 2040,
up to 20?more countries could be ?experiencing water shortages.
Taken together, these bleak statistics raise a startling question:
are we running out of clean water?
Well yes, and no.
從外太空看，我們的星球上 海洋比土地更多。
盡管地球表面的71%覆蓋著水，
世界上超過一半人口
每年至少有一個月要經(jīng)受嚴(yán)重缺水。
以目前預(yù)計，到了2040年
會新增20個國家陷入用水短缺。
總的說來，這些冰冷的統(tǒng)計數(shù)據(jù) 帶來了一個駭人的問題：
我們將會用盡僅有的凈水嗎？
At a planetary scale, Earth can’t run out ?of freshwater thanks to the water cycle,
a system that continuously produces ?and recycles water,
morphing it from vapour, to liquid, ?to ice as it circulates around the globe.
So this isn’t really a question of ?how much water there is,
but of how much of it ?is accessible to us.
嗯，也是，也不是。
就行星而言，地球不會用完淡水
得益于水循環(huán)系統(tǒng)不斷地產(chǎn)生和回收水，
將其形態(tài)不斷汽化、液化、固化， 并在全球循環(huán)往復(fù)。
所以問題并不在于水有多少，
而是我們能得到多少水。
97% of earth’s liquid is saltwater,
too loaded with minerals for humans to drink or use in agriculture.
Of the remaining 3% of potentially ?usable freshwater,
more than two-thirds is frozen in ice caps and glaciers.
That leaves less than 1% available ?for sustaining all life on Earth,
spread across our planet in rivers, lakes,
underground aquifers, ground ice and permafrost.
It’s these sources of water that are being rapidly depleted by humans,
but slowly replenished ?by rain and snowfall.
地球上97%的水是海水，
對人類來說礦物質(zhì)太多了， 不合適飲用或灌溉。
在剩下3%的淡水中，
三分之二以上都封存于冰蓋和冰川之中。
只有不到1%的水可以 維持地球上所有生命，
而這些凈水遍布于江河、湖泊、
地下蓄水層、地下冰和永凍層。
人類正在快速地消耗著這些水源，
而雨雪的補充卻很慢。
And this limited supply isn’t distributed evenly around the globe.
Diverse climates and geography provide some regions
with more rainfall and natural water sources, while other areas have geographic features
that make transporting water ?much more difficult.
And supplying the infrastructure ?and energy it would take
to move water across these ?regions is extremely expensive.
In many of these water-poor areas, as well as some with greater access to water,
humanity is guzzling up the local water supply faster than it can be replenished.
這些有限的水源在全球的 分布不是平均的，
不同的氣候和地理為某些地區(qū)
帶來不絕的雨水和自然水資源，
其他地區(qū)的地理因素令引水艱難。
這些地區(qū)的引水工程和能源消耗
費用極為昂貴。
在很多缺水的地方和 水資源充裕的地方，
人類的用水量都超越了 自然補充的速率。
And when more quickly renewed ?sources can’t meet the demand,
we start pumping it out of our ?finite underground reserves.
Of Earth’s 37?major underground reservoirs, 21?are on track to be irreversibly emptied.
So while it’s true that our planet ?isn’t actually losing water,
we are depleting the water sources we rely on at an unsustainable pace.
This might seem surprising –
after all, on average, people only drink ?about two liters of water a day.
當(dāng)快速補水資源不再滿足需求時，
我們開始抽取有限的地下水儲備。
全球37個主要的天然地下水庫當(dāng)中， 有21正在被耗盡。
雖然地球確實不會失去水，
我們正以不可持續(xù)的方式 消耗著賴以生存的水源。
出人意外的是——
平均每人一天畢竟只需飲用2升水。
But water plays a hidden role in our daily lives, and in that same 24?hours,
most people will actually consume an estimated 3000?liters of water.
In fact, household water – which we use to drink, cook, and clean –
accounts for only 3.6% of humanity’s water consumption.
Another 4.4% goes to the wide ?range of factories
which make the products we buy each day.
But the remaining 92% of our water consumption is all spent on a single industry:
agriculture.
但是水在日常生活中的作用是潛在的，
同樣的24小時中， 多數(shù)人其實要消耗3000升水。
事實上，家庭用水—— 飲用、做飯、清洗等等——
只是人類用水的3.6%。
另外有4.4%的水用于廣泛的工廠中
用以制造出我們的日常用品。
而剩下的92%的水都是用在一件事上：
農(nóng)業(yè)。
Our farms drain the equivalent of 3.3?billion
Olympic-sized swimming pools every year,
all of it swallowed up by ?crops and livestock
to feed Earth’s growing population.
Agriculture currently covers 37% of Earth’s land area,
posing the biggest threat to our ?regional water supplies.
And yet, it’s also a necessity.
每年，農(nóng)場消耗的淡水足以填滿
33億個奧運標(biāo)準(zhǔn)泳池。
全都用于農(nóng)作物和畜牧業(yè)
用以養(yǎng)活全球不斷增長的人口。
目前農(nóng)業(yè)用地占全球陸地面積的37%，
對地區(qū)供水是最大的威脅。
話說回來，這是必須的。
So how do we limit agriculture’s thirst while still feeding those who rely on it?
Farmers are already finding ingenious ways to reduce their impact,
like using special irrigation techniques ?to grow “more crop per drop”,
and breeding new crops ?that are less thirsty.
Other industries are following suit,
adopting production processes ?that reuse and recycle water.
我們能否控制農(nóng)業(yè)的渴求， 同時也能滿足其他的用水需求呢？
農(nóng)民們想出了創(chuàng)造性的方法 來降低他們的影響，
比如采用特殊的灌溉技術(shù) 讓每滴水養(yǎng)更多作物，
以及種植耐旱的新作物。
其他工業(yè)也從善如流，
采用的生產(chǎn)過程可以循環(huán)用水
On a personal level, reducing food waste ?is the first step to reducing water use,
since one-third of the food that leaves ?farms is currently wasted or thrown away.
You might also want to consider ?eating less water-intensive foods
like shelled nuts and red meat.
Adopting a vegetarian lifestyle ?could reduce
up to one third of your water footprint.
對個人來說，減少食物浪費是 降低用水的第一步，
因為種出來的食物有三分之一是 浪費掉或扔掉的。
你也可以考慮少吃耗水的食物，
比如脫殼堅果和牛羊肉。
素食的生活方式可以減少
三分之一的廣義用水。
Our planet may never run out of water,
but it doesn’t have to for ?individuals to go thirsty.
Solving this local problem ?requires a global solution,
and small day-to-day decisions can ?affect reservoirs around the world.
我們的星球永遠不會缺水，
但她不必為了人類而變得干涸。
這樣的區(qū)域性問題需要 全球性的解決方案，
日常的每個改變可以 影響全世界的水資源。
So where will this global solutions come from，
and how can we humans famously set?in our ways, make sure these changes stick.
?Lucky for us, a generation of young people is already committed to a cleaner, greener future，
and many of them are sharing their innovative ideas through TEDEd student voice program.
Sign up to gain access to our free curriculum,?
?and learn how to fine-tune your idea and share it with the world.
那么這種全球解決方案將來自哪里，
人類又該如何以自己的方式行事，并確保這些更改保持不變。
幸運的是，一代年輕人已經(jīng)致力于一個更清潔，更綠色的未來，
他們中的許多人通過TEDEd學(xué)生語音計劃分享他們的創(chuàng)新想法。
注冊以訪問我們的免費課程，
并學(xué)習(xí)如何微調(diào)您的想法并與世界分享。
最后一段里本聽成是 set on our way ,但查詢出來的基本都是set in our way，下面是找到的一些定義，僅供有興趣的朋友參考
