新西兰英语 432 Control of Fresh Water

 　　The Minister for the Environment, Dr Nick Smith, said today that the government will spend money on controlling our fresh water and will make some important laws.

　　New Zealand is number 3 in the world for the amount of water per person. We have many rivers and lakes. We have 34 rivers which are longer than 100km, and many shorter rivers. The West Coast of the South Island has shorter rivers but they have a lot of water in them. The Waikato River from Lake Taupo in the North Island is 425km long. Lake Taupo is 606 sq km and 162m in its deepest part. The Clutha River in the South Island is 336km long but has the largest volume of water for any river in New Zealand. Both the Clutha and the Waikato have several hydro-electric dams on them. We are very lucky to have so much fresh water.

　　However, some parts of New Zealand do not have plenty of water and they suffer from drought¹ during a hot summer. Also dairy² farmers use a lot of water to irrigate³ their land for growing grass. Dr Smith said that it is time to look at water storage to make sure there is enough water for everyone, including farmers. He is also worried that irrigation may take too much underground water from the aquifers⁴ in places like Canterbury

　　Water pollution is also a problem in New Zealand although our rivers and lakes are number 2 in the world for quality. Some of the pollution comes from farms – from fertilizer⁵ which is washed into rivers, and from cows walking in rivers. Most farmers now have fences around rivers.

　　Grammar

　　Note that we say “the Waikato River” and “the Clutha River”. Rivers always have “the” in front of the name but lakes do not. Oceans and seas also have “the” in front of the name: the Pacific Ocean, the Tasman Sea. Also the South Island, the North Island.

　　Vocabulary:

　　Aquifers are pockets of underground water. Listen to Christchurch Water for more about aquifers or wells which take water from under the ground.

　　Drought rhymes with “out”. Drought occurs in hot summers when there has been no rain for a long time.

　　Irrigation can be just water from a hose⁶. On farms, there are usually big irrigators which spray⁷ large quantities of water on the land.

　　Fertilizer is plant food which is spread on the grass to make it grow.

　　Listening

　　Listen for numbers – number of long rivers, length of rivers, size of the lake, volume of water. Check the written text afterwards to see if you got it right.

　　Questions

　　Should householders pay for water? Should farmers pay for water?

1 drought   

n.旱灾，干旱，久旱

参考例句：

• The plants are growing in again,despite the drought.尽管干旱，植物又长出来了。
• The ground is as hard as stone after the drought.长期干旱后土地硬得就像石头一样。

2 dairy   

n.牛奶场，乳品店；adj.乳制品的

参考例句：

• The yogurt sold by this dairy is delicious.这家乳品店出售的酸奶非常好喝。
• He kept a few dairy cows.他养了几头奶牛。

3 irrigate   

vt.灌溉，修水利，冲洗伤口，使潮湿

参考例句：

• The farmer dug several trenches to irrigate the rice fields.这个农民挖了好几条沟以灌溉稻田。
• They have built canals to irrigate the desert.他们建造成水渠以灌溉沙漠。

4 aquifers   

n.地下蓄水层，砂石含水层( aquifer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• And in Africa, the aquifers barely recharge at all. 非洲的地下水开采以后几乎得不到补充。 来自时文部分
• Aquifers have water contents over 30%. 含水层的水含过30％。 来自辞典例句

5 fertilizer   

n.肥料，化肥

参考例句：

• Fertilizer enriches the soil.肥料使土壤肥沃。
• Get some more fertilizer for the garden.给花园再多施些肥料。

6 hose   

n.输水软管，长统袜；vt.浇园子，用管冲洗

参考例句：

• Connect the hose to the tap and turn on the tap.把水管接在龙头上，打开水龙头。
• After raining,I always hose the yard out.雨后，我总是用软管把院子冲干净。

7 spray   

v.喷，(使)溅散；n.浪花，飞沫；喷雾

参考例句：

• The liquid came out of the bottle in a spray.液体从瓶子里呈雾状喷出。
• We were wet with the sea spray.我们被海水的浪花溅湿。