本帖最后由 米饭袜子 于 2009-3-29 14:13 编辑
notes:
红色为红宝词汇，蓝色为了解一下的短语词汇，绿色为语言表达借鉴，橙色为文章大致思路分析
The environment
A water warning
Nov 19th 2008
From The World in 2009 print edition
Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, chairman of Nestlé, argues that water shortage is an even more urgent problem than climate change
The rise in the price of basic food has had devastating effects on the most vulnerable—the poor who spend up to two-thirds of their income on food. Some of the measures taken in response, such as export restrictions, have been highly counter-productive(感觉很和谐的句子~）. In 2009 the world needs to reflect on the underlying causes of the food crisis and start addressing(一定要记住这个意思~）(addressing） structural factors, in particular the link to biofuels and water.
（开门见山）
Frank Rijsberman, from the Sri Lanka-based International Water Management Institute, gave warning in 2003 that if current trends continued, the livelihoods of one-third of the world’s population could be affected by water scarcity(scarcity最近出现很多词，记住哇） by 2025: “We could be facing annual losses equivalent to the entire grain crops of India and the United States combined.” Normally, when people hear about water scarcity they think of tap water; he talked about crops. And the dimension (dimention)of the problem ahead is vast: America and India combined produce about 30% of globally consumed cereals.
It was a very hot summer that year. In Paris the heatwave left old people dying in their apartments. The big issue in the media was climate change. Mr Rijsberman’s warnings remained unnoticed.
（用一个很简短的例子很 有力的说明了问题的严重性，这是个以前的情况，那现在又怎样呢？很自然的引出下文）
So what has happened since to the relevant trends? They have indeed changed, but not for the better（严谨有力）. New factors—in particular the craze for biofuels—have added to the urgency of the water issue.
（nwe factors出现，核心问题终于现身，但前面的种种铺垫并不是无用功，反而让这个核心问题更加引人注目！境界啊境界）
（例子①)Let me quickly illustrate some of the links between food and water（TS）. It takes about one litre of water to produce one calorie from food crops. The actual water requirements differ according to plant, climate (most of the water withdrawn by plants is for cooling through evaporation这个句子虽然简单但感觉很好) and the efficiency of irrigation.
（作者一上来并没直接就说biofeul到底对water scarcity有什么“贡献”，而是先expalin食物与水资源的关系（通过两个实时事例），这样做有两点好处：
1、看到最后会发现通过离我们最近的food来入手解释这个问题浅显易懂，容易引起读着兴趣。
2、其实也是一种变相对比：连最基本的food方面水资源都供应不及了，还要花那么多用在biofeul上，进而从另一个方面支持作者的观点：必须减少在biofeul上的投入
这种引入式地分析问题显得很有思维深度，值得借鉴~）
(例子②）Diets are another variable（表达另一种可能，积累）. Europeans and Americans have for years had high proportions of meat in their diets, but now this trend is catching on in emerging markets as incomes rise. Meat requires ten times the water withdrawn per calorie by plants. So the average daily diet in California requires some 6,000 litres of water in agriculture, compared with 3,000 litres in countries such as Tunisia and Egypt.
（到这里，正面例子完毕，其实已经很有说服力了，但作者又在下段用compare做首词，开始反向对比，看过之后真是对这个问题服的不行了
由此可以看出正例+反例的威力~）
Compare these 3,000-6,000 daily litres withdrawn per head of world population for farming the food we eat with the three to four litres we drink or the 300-600 litres of water needed for other purposes, such as hygiene, or manufacturing (about 100 litres).
Water withdrawals for agriculture continue to increase rapidly. In some of the most fertile regions of the world (America, southern Europe, northern India, north-eastern China) overuse of water, mainly for agriculture, is leading to sinking water tables. Groundwater is being withdrawn, no longer as a buffer（buffer) over the year, but in a structural way, mainly because water is seen as a free good.
（continue一词使得作者写这一段的用以很明显，层层递进，五体投地了！
整个到这里food 与water的关系论毕，精心策划，好了，可以让biofuel登场了，这时把它甩出来基本不用多说什么作者就已经让读者对他的观点完全认同了，biofuel可以一触即溃！）
As if this were not enough, politicians have added another drain—biofuels. It takes up to 9,100 litres of water to grow the soy for one litre of biodiesel, and up to 4,000 litres for the corn to be transformed into bioethanol. What is meant to alleviate(alleviate) a serious environmental problem (climate change) is making another, even more serious problem (water shortage) worse（喜欢，要摹写~）. Whatever the scenarios for climate change, we must reduce the consumption of fossil energy. But biofuels from crops specifically planted to be transformed into energy are clearly the wrong answer. I am convinced that, under present conditions and with the way water is being managed, we will run out of water long before we run out of fuel.
How to avoid running dry
There are solutions. They start in politics—for example, stopping subsidies for biofuels. Even more important, look for ways to use water in agriculture more efficiently. There is enough land and water to supply more meat to people in emerging economies. Efficient irrigation, for instance,（老是不会把它插到中间） would reduce freshwater withdrawals almost by half.
And more can be done at international level. Some crops are better grown in water-rich countries, others grow well with relatively little water. If water had a price (such as from locally tradable water rights, though of course not for basic human needs), and if farm products could be traded freely and without subsidies across borders, a water-efficient allocation of production would follow.
What is business doing? At Nestlé, we have brought down freshwater withdrawals for our production from five litres per dollar of sales ten years ago to less than 1.8 litres. We actively participate in the public-policy dialogue on water, and together with other companies we have initiated the UN Global Compact CEO Water Mandate, aiming at a more efficient water use in industry.
We must all take the water issue seriously, better understand the link to food security and stop the trend towards overuse of freshwater. The decisions of the coming years will determine whether a major global crisis of water and food shortage can be avoided.
这篇长但是不难，我觉着亮点是中间的论述部分~很值得AW学习~
总体上是是什么，为社么，怎么办
在为社么中的论证尤其精彩~
基本思路是：提出问题→举例说明→反例对比→问题发展→引出更进一步的核心问题
感觉步步逼近，很好地呈现出biofeul加重水资源匮乏的可能，最终达到呼吁减少对biofeul的投入的目的，非常有说服力！
而且在最后的怎么办中，作者也考虑的相当全面
这篇的写作思路太赞了！
素材：事物的两面性（为了解决climate change的问题却引发了更严重的water scarcity的问题）
摹写：
1、What is meant to conceal the pain in one's heart is making even more inner worry brighter(嘿嘿~有点欲盖弥彰滴意思捏~)
2、If there're more people concentrate on the issue,and if we join hands to do something,the amelioration of environmental problems will follow
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发表于 2009-3-29 13:29:47
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发表于 2009-3-31 14:29:27
结果是被录取，因此分享供参考。面试被推迟，一直等了一个小时。面试是全英文，可以简单自我介绍自己的专业...
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