Humanity uses a little less than half the water available worldwide. Yet occurrences of shortages and droughts are causing famine and distress in some areas, and industrial and agricultural by-products are polluting water supplies. Since the world’s population is expected to double in the next 50 years, many experts think we are on the edge of a widespread water crisis.
But that doesn’t have to be the outcome. Water shortages do not have to trouble the world -- if we start valuing water more than we have in the past. Just as we began to appreciate petroleum more after the 1970s oil crises, today we must start looking at water from a fresh economic perspective. We can no longer afford to consider water a virtually free resource of which we can use as much as we like in any way we want.
Instead, for all uses except the domestic demand of the poor, governments should price water to reflect its actual value. This means charging a fee for the water itself as well as for the supply costs.
Governments should also protect this resource by providing water in more economically and environmentally sound ways. For example, often the cheapest way to provide irrigation water in dry tropics is through small-scale projects, such as gathering rainfall in depressions (凹地) and pumping it to nearby cropland.
No matter what steps governments take to provide water more efficiently, they must change their institutional and legal approaches to water use. Rather than spread control among hundreds or even thousands of local, regional, and national agencies that watch various aspects of water use, countries should set up central authorities to coordinate water policy.
1. What is the real cause of the potential water crisis?
A. Only half of the world’s water can be used.
B. The world population is increasing faster and faster.
C. Half of the world’s water resources have been seriously polluted.
D. Humanity has not placed sufficient value on water resources.
2. As indicated in the passage, the water problem .
A. has been exaggerated by some experts in the field
B. is underestimated by government organizations at different levels
C. pose a challenge to the technology of building reservoirs
D. is already serious in some parts of the world
3. According to the author, water price should .
A. be reduced to the minimum
B. stimulate domestic demand
C. correspond to its real value
D. take into account the occurrences of droughts
4. The author says that in some hot and dry areas it is advisable to .
A. build big lakes to store water
B. construct big pumping stations
C. build small and cheap irrigation systems
D. channel water from nearby rivers to cropland
5. In order to raise the efficiency of the water supply, measures should be taken to .
A. guarantee full protection of the environment
B. centralize the management of water resources
C. increase the sense of responsibility of agencies at all levels
D. encourage local and regional control of water resource
参考答案：D D C C B
译文
人类使用的水量不到全世界可利用的水的一半。但是缺水和干旱正在一些地区引起饥饿和贫困，工业和农业副产品正在污染水源。因为全世界人口在今后50年内有望会翻一番，许多专家认为我们已经濒临大面积的水危机。
但结果未必这样。如果我们现在开始比以往更珍惜水，缺水不一定会给世界带来麻烦。正像70年代石油危机之后我们开始更重视石油一样，今天我们必须开始从新的经济观点来看待水。我们不能再认水实际上是免费的资源, 我们愿意用多少就用多少、想意怎么用就怎么用。
相反，除了穷人家庭用水之外，政府应该对所有的用水加以定价, 反映水的实际价值。这就意味着不仅要收供水的成本费，也要收水本身的费用。
政府还应当用经济和环保方面更稳妥的方法来供水以保护这一资源。例如，在干旱的热带地区供给灌溉用水最经济的方法是通过小规模工程进行，如：把雨水聚集到凹地里，然后用水泵送到附近的庄稼地。
无论采取什么步骤更有效地供水，政府必须改变用水的制度和法律。与其把管理权分散到数以百计甚至数以千计的地方、区域和全国的代理机构，不如由政府设立一个中央机关来协调供水政策。
