Shrinking Water Supply Poses Theat to Peace

　　“Water, which is essential for life,costs nothing.On the other hand,diamonds,which are essential for nothing,cost a lot.”Unfortunately,the word has changed considerably since an 18th century economist made this remark.

　　What was true over 200 years ago is certainly no longer true now.In a number of countries people pay as much for water in their homes as they do for electricity.

　　What is still true,however, is the remark made by benjamin Franklin at the same time as the previous observation was made.“When the well’s dry, we knon the worth of water ,”he observed.

　　Like health,we ignore water when we have it---unless there are floods,of course.Once there is a threat to our water supply,however,water can quickly become the only thing that matters.We know only too well that,without water,there can be no life.

　　The situation is now becoming so bad that environmentalists feel it may be necessary to shock the world into saving water in a similar way to the shock caused by the oil crisis in the 1970s.

　　At that time,the oil crisis became such a serious threat to the lives of everyone in the developed countries that it made people conscious of the importance of saving oil and provided powerful encouragement for governments to look for other forms of energy.

　　The result undoubtedly was of major benefit to energy conservation.

　　There is now no longer an unlimited supply of fresh water.If all the earth’s water could be poured into a gallon jug,the fresh water which would be available for everyone would amount to slightly more than one tablespoon---less than half of per cent of the total water in the jug.

　　About 97 per cent of the planet’s water is seawater.Anonther 2 per cen is locked in icecaps and glaciers.There are also reserves of fresh water under the earth’s surface but these are too deep for us to use economically.

　　Unfortunately,competition is growing fiercely for what little is available.It may be matter of time before that competition becomes a conflict.

　　供水减少将会威胁世界和平

　　“水，对生命来说至关重要，却不值分文；而钻石，对任何东西来说都无关紧要，却价值连城。”不幸的是，18世纪的一位经济学家说了这番话后，世界发生了很大变化。

　　现在决不是200多年前的那种情况了。现在，在很多国家，人们所付的家用水费如家用电费一样多。

　　然而，18世纪那位经济学家讲那番话的同时，本杰明·弗兰克林曾说过的那句话却依然是正确的。他说：“井干了，才知水的价值。”

　　水，如同健康一样，我们拥有它时，就毫不在乎，当然，除非发洪水。然而，一旦我们的供水受到威胁，水很快就会成为唯一重要的东西。我们太清楚了：没有水，就没有生命。

　　现在形势越来越恶化，以致环境学家们认为有必要使全世界的人们受到震动而节约用水，就如同20世纪70年代石油危机促使人们节约用油那样。

　　当时，在发达国家，石油危机对人们的生活构成了严重的威胁，这使人们意识到了节约用油的重要性，也有力地促使了政府去寻找其他形式的能源。

　　毫无疑问