美国国家公共电台 NPR--Extreme drought in northern Mexico has left millions of residents without water

Extreme drought in northern Mexico has left millions of residents without water

Transcript¹

Two of the three reservoirs that serve the city are practically empty. In the long term, officials are trying to build more dams and reservoirs. The short term plan is to hope for rain.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Temperatures this weekend in the northern Mexican city of Monterrey are once again expected to top 100 degrees. Extreme heat and drought there have left the 5 million residents with barely any water. NPR's Carrie Kahn found that two of the three reservoirs that serve the city are practically empty, and the last one is draining fast.

CARRIE KAHN, BYLINE²: Margarita Santos got an urgent text message on her Monterrey, Mexico, neighborhood chat group. After five days without a drop, water was coming back out of the spigots.

MARGARITA SANTOS: (Speaking Spanish).

KAHN: The 60-year-old widow says luckily she caught the text, which came at 1:30 a.m., because by 7 a.m., there was no more water.

SANTOS: (Speaking Spanish).

KAHN: "We didn't sleep much at all," she says. The pressure was so low it took hours to fill every bucket, pail and container they could find. Her 25-year-old son now takes naps at lunchtime and after work so he'll be ready in the middle of the night if the water comes back on. This is what life has been like in Monterrey, about 2 1/2 hours south of the Texas border. Water restrictions³ began back in March, as the levels at three reservoirs serving the city began falling. Tens of thousands of homes now have no water coming at all.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT ANDRES MANUEL LOPEZ OBRADOR: (Speaking Spanish).

KAHN: "The situation is grave in Monterrey," says President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. He blames past administrations for allowing industry to explode in the dry north of the country. He's asked soft drink and beer bottlers there to halt production.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

LOPEZ OBRADOR: (Speaking Spanish).

KAHN: "Help us out," he said earlier this week. But researcher Jose Antonio Ordonez Diaz, who has done water studies at Mexico's top universities, says this problem has been long coming. Monterrey has never had a reliable water source. Droughts are getting longer. And urban planning is shoddy.

JOSE ANTONIO ORDONEZ DIAZ: (Speaking Spanish).

KAHN: "No one has dealt with this. There's been a dearth⁴ of leadership for more than 50 years," he says. German Martinez Santoyo, who heads Mexico's federal water agency, CONAGUA, says delayed plans to build a fourth dam and more well drilling are being fast-tracked, but Monterrey is an economic powerhouse and can't be limited.

GERMAN MARTINEZ SANTOYO: (Speaking Spanish).

KAHN: "It's a zone where we can't damage its productivity or its economic growth," he says. Adrian de la Garza Tijerina (ph), head of one of the state's biggest cattle farmer associations, says members are slaughtering⁵ cows earlier now. They're losing weight and value without water and feed.

ADRIAN DE LA GARZA TIJERINA: (Speaking Spanish).

KAHN: "In the end," he says, "nature and limited water will control growth in and around the city." Monterrey resident Margarita Santos says she's exhausted⁶ after weeks of struggling for water. She makes three trips a day to a nearby park to wait in line with hundreds of residents in the hot sun to fill up from an irrigation hose.

SANTOS: (Speaking Spanish).

KAHN: "My hands, my back, legs, everything," she says, "hurts." Like state officials, she too hopes rain is coming soon. Unfortunately, forecasters say that's not expected until September.

Carrie Kahn, NPR News, Mexico City.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

4 dearth   

n.缺乏，粮食不足，饥谨

参考例句：

• There is a dearth of good children's plays.目前缺少优秀的儿童剧。
• Many people in that country died because of dearth of food.那个国家有许多人因为缺少粮食而死。

5 slaughtering   

v.屠杀，杀戮，屠宰( slaughter的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The Revolutionary Tribunal went to work, and a steady slaughtering began. 革命法庭投入工作，持续不断的大屠杀开始了。 来自英汉非文学 - 历史
• \"Isn't it terrific slaughtering pigs? “宰猪的！ 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

6 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。