VOA慢速英語:斯里蘭卡使用雨水來灌溉農作物與發(fā)電

Sri Lankaplansto store and use a billion cubic meters of rainwater each year to support irrigation and power generation. The rainwater would go into the sea if it is not used.

斯里蘭卡計劃每年將存儲與使用十億立方米的雨水用以支持灌溉與發(fā)電。如果雨水不被使用將會流入大海。

Sri Lankais building the new water management system in the country's dry zone. The area covers the northern and eastern parts of the country. It is home to about one-third of Sri Lanka’s twenty million people. It is also mainly agricultural land.

在比較干旱的區(qū)域，斯里蘭卡正在建設新的水資源管理體制。此地帶覆蓋了這一國家的北部與東北部地區(qū)。斯里蘭卡兩千萬人口中近三分之一的人口居住在這里。這里也是主要的農業(yè)用地區(qū)。

Climate change has severely hurt the area in the past 10 years. The region is also is suffering a severe water crisis.

Sri Lankan men push their bicycles through flood waters after heavy rains in Batticaloa, about 320 km (199 miles) east of Colombo, 13 Jan 2011

過去十年里，氣候變化對該區(qū)域造成嚴重影響。該地區(qū)還正在遭受嚴重的水危機。

Experts say the project could use enough water to fill two of the country's largest reservoirs, Victoria and Randenigala.

專家聲稱，這個項目可以使充足的水資源來填補全國最大的兩個水庫，維多利亞水庫與蘭登尼加拉水庫。

The government and donorsare paying for the $675-million project. Work begins this month and should be completed by December 2024.

政府與捐助者支付這一6.75億美元的項目。這一項目將于本月實施，應于2024年12月完工。

The plan is one of the nation's largest water-related projects in the past years. It includes the construction of two new reservoirs and 260 kilometers of new canals linking existing reservoirs.

在過去幾年里，這一計劃是該國最大的與水相關項目之一。它包括建設兩個新水庫以及將260公里的新運河與現(xiàn)有水庫進行連接。

The aim is to help the dry zone better control its water supply for power generation and farming.

其目的在于幫助干旱區(qū)域更好地控制其發(fā)電與耕作的水資源供給。

S. Shanmugasivanathan is a top official with the Department of Irrigation. He said that rainpatterns have been changing and the dry zone is getting less water now. He said Sri Lanka needs to make the most of the water usage.

灌溉部一位高級官員，S. Shanmugasivanathan，他聲稱降雨模式一直在發(fā)生變化，干旱地區(qū)可獲得的降水越來越少。他表示斯里蘭卡需要充分利用水資源。

The country’s rainfall is 2,000 millimeters per year.Less than half falls in the dry zone. Most of the farming there depends on irrigation. Small water tanks hold water from the region's large reservoirs.

該國的降雨量為每年2000毫米，不到一半的降水位于干旱地區(qū)。在這兒，大多數(shù)的耕作依賴灌溉。小水箱存儲來自于該地區(qū)的大型水庫的水。

Mr. Shanmugasivanathan said the dry zone faces the extremes of floods and drought as the rain patterns have changed. But, he said there is no system in place to capture flood waters, so drought can happen even in years of floods.

Shanmugasivanathan先生還聲稱，隨著降雨模式發(fā)生變化，干旱地區(qū)面臨洪水與干旱的極端。不但是，他表示，目前沒有適當?shù)南到y(tǒng)來截留洪水，因此，甚至在洪水的年份也會發(fā)生干旱。

Water to fight against poverty

用水來消除貧困

A water infrastructure project for the dry zone has been in Sri Lankan plans since the 1970s. The Mahaweli Development Program included such ideas for the country's central hills and some of the north.

自1970年代以來，針對干旱區(qū)域的水利基礎設施建設項目就存在于斯里蘭卡計劃中。馬哈威利發(fā)展項目也包括這些想法，其針對該國家中部丘陵以及北方一些地區(qū)。

The idea was to use the waters of the MahaweliRiver, the longest in the country, to increase power generation capacity by about 260 megawatts.

當時的想法是利用馬哈威利河的水域，該國最長的水域，將發(fā)電能力增加到約260兆瓦。

It was also designed to provide irrigation water to an additional 131,500hectares of land.

它也用來為額外的131，500公頃土地。提供灌溉用水。

But civil war delayed the project for 25 years until 2009.

但是內戰(zhàn)將這一項目拖延了25年，直到2009年。

Sri Lankan and Asian Development Bank officials said the new water management project is based on the Mahaweli plans. The ADB is providing$453 million in funding.

斯里蘭卡和亞洲開發(fā)銀行官員表示，新的水資源管理項目基于馬哈威利計劃。亞洲開發(fā)銀行將提供4.53億資金。

The international lender also estimates that 70 percent of the dry zone's population depends on agriculture. The average yearly earnings of the people there is 10 percent lower than in other parts of the country.

國際貸款人也估計，70％的干旱區(qū)域人口依靠農業(yè)。在這兒，人民的平均收入每年比該國其他地區(qū)低10％。

Lance Gore is a water resources expertwith the ADB in the Philippine capital, Manila. He said the organization hopes that the new project will help end poverty in the area. The water expert said more water will increase the earning level of people dependent on agriculture. It also aims to supply safe drinking water to 350,000 people.

蘭斯·戈爾是亞洲開發(fā)銀行的一位水資源專家，該銀行位于菲律賓首都馬尼拉。他表示該組織希望新項目將有助于消除該地區(qū)的貧困。水利專家表示更多的水將提高那些依賴于農業(yè)人口的收入水平。它還旨在為350，000人提供安全飲用水。

I’m Jonathan Evans.

Reuters provided this report. Triwik Kurniasari adapted it for Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor.

___________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

irrigation– n. system of bringing water to plants for agricultural purposes

zone– n. an area that is different from other areas in a particular way

reservoirs– n. usually human-made lake is used to store a large supply of water for use in people’s homes, businesses, etc.

canal – n. a long, narrow waterway

pattern– n. something that happens in a regular way

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