VOA慢速英语2019 南非女孩取水溺亡引发骚乱（在线收听）

Girl Drowns Getting Drinking Water, Causing Riots in South Africa

Eight-year-old Musa and her older sister Moleboheng walked slowly downhill to get water from a dirty waterway. The girls really wanted a drink and were tired of waiting for trucks to bring water to their neighborhood. The trucks never came.

八岁的穆萨(Musa)和姐姐Moleboheng慢慢地走下山坡，到一条肮脏的小溪边取水。两个孩子十分口渴，她们已经不想再等着卡车给社区送水了。送水卡车从来没来过。

But Musa never returned from the stream, her mother Phindile Mbele remembers, trying not to cry. The little girl drowned in the stream, which is thick with mud and pollution. A strong underwater current probably pulled her down.

但是小穆萨却一去不返，她的母亲Phindile Mbele回忆道，努力压抑着悲痛的泪水。小女孩最终丧命于泥泞和肮脏的小溪中。一股强大的水下水流可能将她拖了下去。

"We rushed down there. She was still under the water... Two boys from the neighborhood went in and one carried her out," Mbele said. "The house is empty without her. She was such a sweet, quiet child".

“我们连忙赶过去。她还在水里……邻居家的两个男孩跳入水中，其中一个把她捞了上来。”“孩子走了，家里空荡荡的。穆萨很可爱、也很听话。”

Musa's death last month angered people living in Mandela Park Township, near Qwaqwa, in South Africa. What had been off-and-on protests over water shortages became a week-long riot.

穆萨上个月的溺水事件激怒了居住在南非夸夸瓦附近曼德拉公园镇的居民。此前，断断续续的水资源短缺抗议演变成了持续一周的骚乱。

Protesters burned businesses, overturned government vehicles and threw bricks and bottles at riot police. The police reacted by firing rubber bullets.

抗议者们烧毁商店，掀翻政府车辆，向防暴警察投掷砖块和瓶子。警察用发射橡皮子弹作为回应。

South Africans have protested for years because they cannot depend on water and power supplies. Their long-term mismanagement and a lack of rainfall last year made the situation worse. Climate change is thought to be the cause of the drought.

多年来，因为无法依靠水和电力供应，南非人民一直在抗议。政府的长期管理不善加上去年的降雨不足使情况变得更加糟糕。气候变化被认为是干旱的原因。

"It rains here all the time but they say there's drought. Then how did that little girl drown because that stream was full?" said Malgas "Skinny" John. He used rocks and burning tires during the January riot to block the road leading into Qwaqwa.

马尔哈斯的约翰表示：“这里一直在下雨，但他们却说遭遇了干旱。那么小女孩又是如何在小溪涨潮时溺水的呢?”在1月份的暴乱中，他使用石块和燃烧的轮胎来封锁通往夸夸瓦的道路。

"We have to strike and burn things, only then do we get water," John said. A father of two, he stood in line with neighbors to fill his container from a water truck.

约翰说:“我们必须进行罢工和破坏行动，只有这样才能有水喝。”作为两个孩子的父亲，他和邻居们一起并肩而战，好让自己家的水桶装满水。

"We'll do it again, we'll keep burning things if we have to," he added.

“我们不会就此罢休，如有必要，我们会继续焚烧行动，”他补充道。

Officials fear riots like the one at Qwaqwa could be a sign of more social problems related to climate change in the future. The dams and water pipes get older and sometimes break down while the population and the demand for water continues to grow.

官员们担心，像夸夸瓦这样的骚乱可能是未来更多与气候变化相关的社会问题的迹象。随着人口的增长以及对水资源需求的增长，水坝和水管会出现甚至是故障等问题。

South Africa's water minister Lindiwe Sisulu has promised 3 billion rand, or $203 million, to end the shortages in Qwaqwa. The local government owes about 500 million rand for water.

南非水利部长西苏鲁(Lindiwe Sisulu)承诺提供30亿兰特（或2.03亿美元），来结束夸夸瓦的水资源短缺问题。当地政府欠下5亿兰特的水费。

Sisulu's own department needs 3.5 billion rand more to carry out maintenance. Without those repairs, there could be what the government calls harmful effects on the national economy.

西苏鲁管理的部门仍需要35亿兰特来进行维护。如果不进行维护，可能会对国民经济造成政府所说的有害影响。

"We've been drinking this brown, filthy water since 2016," said Musa's mother Phindile Mbele.

“自2016年以来，我们一直在饮用这种褐色的污水，”穆萨的母亲芬德尔·姆贝里(Phindile Mbele)说道。

"Nothing will change. I know, soon, I will have to go the same stream where my daughter died to get water."

“这种现状不会改变。我知道，很快，我还得去女儿溺亡的那条小溪继续取水喝。”

Words in This Story

stream – n. a natural flow of water that is smaller than a river

rush – v. to hurry

brick – n. a building material; a small block used in building

drought – n. long period of time during which there is very little or no rain

tire – n. a rubber covering for a wheel

mismanagement – n. the process of leading or something very badly or wrongly

filthy – adj. very dirty