Unit Five For Want of a Drink

Period 7-8: Detailed Study of theText

1. When the wordwater appears in print nowadays, crisis is rarely far behind. (para. 1)

—Today,whenever people mention the word “water” in books or newspapers, you know theyare going to talk about water crisis.

2. Water, it is said, is the new oil: a resource long squandered, now growing expensive andsoon to be overwhelmed by insatiable demand. (para. 1)

— Here thewriter is reminding people of the Mideast Oil Crisis in the 1970’s.

In October1973, Arab petroleum exporting countries cut off exports of petroleum to manyWestern nations, including the United States, in response to their involvementin the Arab-Israeli conflicts. The embargo led to rising oil prices in theearly 1970’s, bringing widespread panic to Western countries. Many peoplebelieve that high oil consumption in these countries was the root cause of theoil crisis. The Mideast Oil Crisis enhanced public environmental awareness andheightened public concern over natural resource scarcity.

3. Everyone mustuse less water if famine, pestilence and mass migratio n are not to sweep theglobe. (para. 1)

— All of us must useless water to avoid such disasters as famine, epidemic, and mass migration throughoutthe world.

4. To carry on withpresent practice would indeed be to invite disaster. (para. 2)

— If people maintaintheir present lifestyle and continue wasting water the way they do, they wouldhead for disaster.

This is asentence of implied condition, which is conveyed in the subject "to carry onwith present practice."

invite: to encourage sth bad to happen,esp. without intending to 招致，导致,  e.g.

   TheFirst Lady's recent trip invited sharp criticism.

   Theman's behavior is inviting suspicion.

More examples:

   粗心大意招致灾难。 Recklessnessinvites disaster.

   平静的湖水引起我们去游泳的兴趣。The calmwater in the lake invited us to swim.

   别让窗户那么开着, 会招来小偷的。Don'tleave the windows open—it's inviting thieves to enter.

5. Then the greenrevolution, in an inspired combination of new crop breeds, fertilizers andwater, made possible a huge rise in the population. (para. 3)

—The sentence lists the causes for atremendous increase in the world’s food supply. First and foremost, improvedmethods of farming, then better breeds, and fertilizers. The consequence is ahuge rise of the world’s population.

6. Scarce orplentiful, water is above all local. (para. 11)

— Whether there islittle or a lot of it, most importantly, water is found in particular areas, noteverywhere on Earth (not evenly distributed).

scarce or plentiful: a phrasefunctioning as a conditional clause

More examples:

   AlIpeople, black or white, rich or poor, should live side by side.

   Inwealth or in poverty, his wife proved a reliable anchor for his life.

   I wantto take this man/ woman to my lawful wedded husband/ wife, to love him/ her andcherish him/ her, for better or worse, for poorer and richer.

   你愿意以后谨遵结婚誓词无论贫穷还是富裕、疾病或健康、美貌或失色、顺利或失意，都愿意爱她、安慰她、尊敬她、保护她吗?并愿意在你们一生之中对她永远忠心不变吗?

7. As it nears thesea, the opportunities diminish to the point where it has no uses except tosustain deltas, wetlands and to carry silt out to sea. (para.11)

— … near the sea,the river water becomes less and less useful except finally to sustain deltas,wetlands and to carry silt out to sea.

6. ...deep-groundwater tables have dropped by up to 90 meters. (para. 14)

watertable: groundwater level, that is, the upper surface of groundwater, belowwhich pores in the rocks are filled with water

7. tube well: a pipe with holes in thesides near the end, that is put into the ground and used with a pump operatedby hand to bring water up from under the ground

8. But almostnowhere will the price reflect scarcity... (para. 15)

— Many countries arefaced with the problem of water shortage, but the resource is free almosteverywhere. Its low price does not show the scarcity of it. Here, the writer isadvocating treating recourse as a commodity, the price of which is determinedby supply and demand. This can help control and manage the stuff.

will: to indicate the way that sth usu.happens

9. Priced or not,water is certainly valued, and that value depends on the use to which it isharnessed. (para. 16)

— Whether it isreasonably priced or not, water is a valuable resource, and the value is determinedby the purpose it is made to serve.

priced or not: anotherpattern of condensed conditional clauses introduced by "whether"

More examples:

   Believeit or not, a 10-year-old girl beat a professional at chess.

   Like itor not, learners of English have to live with its irregular spelling.

harness: to attach a horse or other animal tosth with a harness, e.g.

   Thefarmer harnessed two oxen to the plow.

But here,"harness" is used figuratively, e.g.

   ln someareas, the poor feel harnessed to their jobs.

"Harness"also means "to gain control of sth and use it for some purpose，" e.g.

   Thewindmill is an example of how people harness the wind to produce electricity.

10. Many peoplebelieve water to be a human right, a necessity more basic than bread or a roofover the head. (para. 17)

— Many peoplebelieve that water is a right every human being is entitled to. lt is anecessity more important than food and shelter ( for water is finite, and hasno substitute).

a human right: lt refersto one of the basic rights that many societies think every person should have.The right to life itself and the basic necessities of food, shelter andclothing may be considered fundamental human rights.

11. From this muchfollows. (para. 18)

The beliefthat water is a human right... results in/leads to many other consequences.

follow: to be a logical consequence of sth,e.g.

   If theexplanation is right, two things follow.

   The conclusionthat follows from the investigation is that drunk driving was the immediatecause of the accident.

   Justbecause a child fails an exam, it does not follow that he will fail the next.

12. Water often hasa sacred or mystical quality that is invested in deities like Gong Gong andOsiris and rivers like the Jordan and the Ganges.

invest: (often passive) to provide sb/sthwith a particular quality or characteristic, e.g.

   TiananmenSquare in Beijing is invested with deep historic significance.

   Her easymannèr and simple black dress invested her with great elegance.

   A senseof wonder and delight is invested in his poems.

Gong Gong (共工): inChinese mythology, a water god or sea monster, said to resemble a serpent ordragon. He is said to be responsible for the great floods together with hisassociate, Xiangyao (相繇)，who has nine heads and the body of asnake. They are both killed by Yu the Great.

13. Water is in our body and in oursoul.

子曰：“知（zhì）者乐水，仁者乐山；知（zhì）者动，仁者静；知者乐，仁者寿。”

——《论语》·雍也篇

译义有多种:

  孔子说：“智慧的人喜爱水，仁义的人喜爱山；智慧的人懂得变通，仁义的人心境平和。智慧的人快乐，仁义的人长寿。”

  “智者乐，水” ——智者之乐，就像流水一样，阅尽世间万物、悠然、淡泊。“仁者乐，山” ——仁者之乐，就像大山一样，岿然矗立、崇高、安宁。

 

上善若水。水善利万物而不争，处众人之所恶，故几于道。居善地，心善渊，与善仁，言善信，政善治，事善能，动善时。夫唯不争，故无尤。

——《道德经》第八章