天灾干旱与人祸战火交织演变为人道主义威胁

天灾干旱与人祸战火交织演变为人道主义威胁

Drought that has stretched for two decades means less fresh water flowing into the marshes².

持续20年的干旱使得流入湿地的淡水不断减少。

As water levels fall, salinity³ goes up, leading to fish kills.

而且水位下降，含盐量的上升使得鱼类死亡。

The lack of fresh water has also pushed Marsh¹ Arabs who own livestock-mainly cows or buffalo⁴-to search for other sources of water.

淡水稀缺也迫使以饲养水牛为生的玛斯·阿雅博斯寻找其它水源。

"Sure, there will be conflict between them and other tribes about natural resources and it will cause security problems."

“他们肯定会同其他部落因为争抢自然资源发生冲突，这会引发安全问题。”

Nearly 20 years of drought, are complicated today by the advance of the self-declared Islamic State.

持续近二十年的干旱，再加上极端恐怖组织“伊斯兰国”组织的崛起使得局势更加严峻。

"The war that is taking place in the north and west of Iraq against the terrorist groups, is happening in the areas that we call the large dams, like Mosul dam.

“反对这个极端恐怖组织的战争是在伊拉克北部及西部，这就是我们所说的大坝地区，比如摩苏尔水坝。”

That gives the militants⁵ the ability to flood cities or withhold⁶ water.

激进分子可以依靠这样的地势淹没城市或切断供水能力。

An effort to restore the wetlands began after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

在美国领导的联军2003年攻入伊拉克之后，对于湿地的保护工作才正式开始。

While herders can still find forage⁷ for their buffalo, and water deep enough for the animals to wallow in, and fishermen still cast their nets, vast areas of the marshland remain dried, cracked mud.

虽然牧民仍以为水牛找到植物和芦苇，水也有足够深度供渔民撒网捕捞，然而，湿地仍有大片干枯的地块。

Those who have stayed struggle to survive.

选择留下来的人仍然艰难谋生。

The water now is bad, all the families now are tired and frustrated⁸ about where to go. Some of them left and others stayed and are trying to fix the tragedy."

“水质很差，每个家庭都疲惫不堪，不知该去哪里。有些家庭选择离去，而有些则留了下来，想改变环境。”

 

It is an environmental crisis that is evolving into a humanitarian⁹ one.

这场环境危机正演变为人道主义危机。

1 marsh   

n.沼泽，湿地

参考例句：

• There are a lot of frogs in the marsh.沼泽里有许多青蛙。
• I made my way slowly out of the marsh.我缓慢地走出这片沼泽地。

2 marshes   

n.沼泽，湿地( marsh的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Cows were grazing on the marshes. 牛群在湿地上吃草。
• We had to cross the marshes. 我们不得不穿过那片沼泽地。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 salinity   

n.盐分；咸度；盐浓度；咸性

参考例句：

• In the sea water sampled the salinity is two parts per thousand.在取样的海水中，盐度为千分之二。
• In many sedimentary basins the salinity of the formation water increases with depth or compaction.在许多沉积盆地中，地层水的含盐量随深度或压实作用而增高。

4 buffalo   

n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛

参考例句：

• Asian buffalo isn't as wild as that of America's. 亚洲水牛比美洲水牛温顺些。
• The boots are made of buffalo hide. 这双靴子是由水牛皮制成的。

5 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

6 withhold   

v.拒绝，不给；使停止，阻挡

参考例句：

• It was unscrupulous of their lawyer to withhold evidence.他们的律师隐瞒证据是不道德的。
• I couldn't withhold giving some loose to my indignation.我忍不住要发泄一点我的愤怒。

7 forage   

n.(牛马的)饲料，粮草；v.搜寻，翻寻

参考例句：

• They were forced to forage for clothing and fuel.他们不得不去寻找衣服和燃料。
• Now the nutritive value of the forage is reduced.此时牧草的营养价值也下降了。

8 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。