战争,干旱威胁伊拉克沼泽地

战争,干旱威胁伊拉克沼泽地

Drought that has stretched for two decades means less fresh water flowing into the marshes². As water levels fall, salinity³ goes up, leading to fish kills. The lack of fresh water has also pushed Marsh¹ Arabs who own livestock⁴ - mainly cows or buffalo⁵ - to search for other sources of water.

干旱持续了二十年，流入湿地的淡水减少了。随着水位下降，含盐量上升，造成鱼类死亡。淡水稀缺还迫使主要以养牛为生的“沼泽阿拉伯人”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,"

当然，“沼泽阿拉伯人”会和其他部落因自然资源而产生斗争，这会引起安全问题。

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

如今，将近20年的干旱问题却让自称是“伊斯兰国”的入侵而变得雪上加霜。

"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,"

伊拉克北部和西部的反恐战争都发生在我们所说的大坝地区，比如摩苏尔水坝。

That gives the militants⁶ the ability to flood cities or withhold⁷ water.

这给激进分子放水淹城或切断供水提供了机会。

An effort to restore the wetlands began after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. While herders can still find forage⁸ 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. Those who have stayed struggle to survive.

2003年，美国联军入侵伊拉克之后，人们开始了恢复湿地的工作。尽管牧民仍然可以为水牛找到饲料，水深也足够它们嘻嘻打滚，渔民依旧撒网捕鱼，然而，湿地的绝大部分地方仍然处于干枯决裂的状态。留下来的居民艰难为生。

The water now is bad, all the families now are tired and frustrated⁹ about where to go. Some of them left and others stayed and are trying to fix the tragedy."

如今，水是严重问题，家家户户疲惫不堪，不知到哪里去好。有些人远走他乡，那些留下来的人正在试图改变这一局面。

 

It is an environmental crisis that is evolving into a humanitarian¹⁰ one.

环境危机正在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 livestock   

n.家畜，牲畜

参考例句：

• Both men and livestock are flourishing.人畜两旺。
• The heavy rains and flooding killed scores of livestock.暴雨和大水淹死了许多牲口。

5 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。

6 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。

7 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。

8 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。

9 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》

10 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。