各类长篇翻译交流贴

Shrinking Water Supply Poses Threat to Peace
紧缩的水资源给和平带来威胁
"Water, which is essential for life, costs nothing. On the other hand, diamonds, which are essential for nothing, cost a lot." Unfortunately, the world has changed considerably since an 18th century economist made this remark.
“对生命极其重要的水，取之容易，而相对来说，并不重要的钻石却是价值连城的。”遗憾的是，自从18世纪的经济学家提出这个见解后，世界已经迥然不同了。
What was true over 200 years ago is certainly no longer true now, in a number of countries people pay as much for water in their homes as they do for electricity.
200年前板上钉钉的事情，现在却已经不复存在了。在多数国家，人们的家用需缴纳的水电费几乎一样多。
Like health, we ignore water when we have it — unless there are floods, of course. Once there is a threat to our water supply, however, water can quickly become the only thing that matters. We know only too well that, without water, there can be no life.
就像健康一样，当我们坐拥水资源的时候，往往会忽视了它。一旦洪灾来袭，这个说法就完全不同了。当我们的水资源供应受到威胁，用水问题迅猛的成了唯一重要的事情，而我们再清楚不过了，没有水便不会有生命的存在。
The situation is now becoming so bad that environmentalist feel it may be necessary to shock the world into saving water in a similar way to the shock caused by the oil crises in the 1970s.
水资源紧缺的问题变得如此恶劣以至于环境学家觉得，需要警醒世人节约用水，这状况和20世纪70年代的石油短缺造成的危机如出一辙。
At that time, the oil crisis became such a serious threat to the lives of everyone in the developed countries that it made people conscious of the importance of saving oil and provided powerful encouragement for governments to look for other forms of energy.
在当时，石油危机对发展中国家人们的生活构成相当严峻的威胁，促使人们注意到节约用油的重要性，并且为政府寻求其它形式的能源提供了强大的助力。

Shrinking Water Supply Poses Threat to Peace
紧缩的水资源给和平带来威胁
The result undoubtedly was of major benefit to energy conservation.
毫无疑问的，这个结果对保护能源是绝对大有裨益的。
There is now no longer and unlimited supply of fresh water. About 97 per cent of the planet's water is seawater. Another 2 per cent is locked in icecaps and glaciers. There are also reserves of fresh water under the earth's surface but these are too deep for us to use economically.
现今淡水资源已经不再是无限量供应了，地球上大约97%的水资源是海水，另外2%藏于冰山与雪岩之中。当然，地表中亦存有淡水资源，但是这些资源埋藏太深，开采花费的经济效益过大。
Unfortunately, competition is growing fiercely for what little water is available. It may be a matter of time before that competition becomes a conflict.
不幸地是，对仅有少量水资源的争夺日益激烈，竞争演化成冲突恐怕也是迟早的事情罢了。
To make matters worse, the world's population is increasing so rapidly that it is expected to grow to about 8 billion in 30 years — an increase of 60 per cent.
雪上加霜的是，世界人口增长如此剧烈以至预期30 年内大概增长到80亿人，增速为60%。
Moreover, in many developed countries throughout the would, flush lavatories and washing machines mean the average person now uses 300 litres of water a day compared with 50 at the beginning of the century.
更糟糕的是，在很多发达国家，算上冲厕所，洗衣机所耗费水量，意味着与世纪初50人的平均用水量相比，现今人均每天用水量达到了300升。
At the other extreme, according to the World Health Organization, one qu0rter of the world's population still lacks safe drinking water and proper sanitation. Most live in the southern hemisphere, where supplies of fresh water are put in jeopardy through dirty industrial practices, poor irrigation and erosion.
根据世界卫生组织的统计，另一种极端现象是世界上仍然有四分之一的人缺乏安全的饮用水源和相应的医疗措施。大部分生活在南半球的人们，由于重工业污染，缺乏灌溉和流水侵蚀使淡水资源的供应受到严重的威胁。
The social stability of the world is no longer threatened by global wars, the Cold War, ... However, the supply of water could soon become the chief threat to such stability. There is already evidence of this happening, especially in Africa.
如今社会虽然已经不再受冷战这样的全球性战争的威胁，但是，淡水资源供应不足则会很快对社会安定构成新的威胁。已有证据显示此次对淡水资源争夺的战争已经开始，特别是在非洲。
Recently the Egyptian Government threatened 'to destroy any dams built on the Nile if they considered the dams would affect their supply of fresh water.
最近埃及政府由于惧怕水坝会影响淡水资源的供应，考虑到毁灭任何建在尼罗河上的水坝。
What is required immediately is an awareness of the true value of water and the formation of sensible water conservation strategies.
现今最紧要的是明白水资源的真正价值并且建立行之有效的储蓄水资源的对策。
It is also of vital importance to have a consensus on how best to use shared Water resources for the benefit of all the countries in the world as well as an examination of the best methods for the distribution of the world's water.
为世界各国的共同利益，如何树立最大化共享水资源的共识也是极其重要，同时这也是检验如何分配使用世界水资源的最好方式。