单选题 Humanity uses a little less than half the water available worldwide. Yet occurrences of shortages and droughts(干旱) are causing famine and distress in some areas, and industrial and agricultural by-products are polluting water supplies. Since the world" 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(灌溉) water in the 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 sue. 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.
单选题 What is the real cause of the potential water crisis?
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[解析] 根据第一段内容“人类现在只使用了不足全世界水资源一半的水。但是现在水资源的缺乏和干旱的发生正在导致一些地区的饥荒贫困等情况，工业和农业的副产品也正在污染水资源，以及世界人口在未来的50年里会翻倍增长，所以专家认为我们几乎处在水资源危及的边缘了”。A项“世界人口增长得越来越快”和B项“世界上一般的水资源受到严重污染”均不够准确；D项“世界上的水只有一半能被使用”文中未提及。C项“人类没有对水资源有足够的重视”符合文意。
单选题 As indicated in the passage, the water problem ______.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 此题可用排除法。A项“水问题被专家过分夸大了”不符合逻辑；B项“水问题被政府机构不同程度地低估了”和C项“水问题激起了水库建造技术的新挑战”文中未提及；D项“水问题在世界的某些地区已经很严重了”符合第一段内容。
单选题 According to the author, the water price should ______.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[解析] 根据第二段最后两句“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.”可以推断出作者的观点是水的收费应该符合它的实际价值，所以选A项。
单选题 The author says that in some hot and dry areas it is advisable to ______.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 根据第三段第一、二句“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(灌溉) water in the dry tropics is through small-scale projects, such as gathering rainfall in depressions(凹地) and pumping it to nearby cropland.”推断出D项正确。A项文中未提及；B项和C项是混淆信息，与文意不符。
单选题 In order to raise the efficiency of the water supply, measures should be taken to ______.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[解析] 文章最后两句“No matter what steps governments take to provide water more efficiently, they must change their institutional and legal approaches to water sue. 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.”表明为了提高供水的效率，必须改变制度上和法律上的一些政策，尤其国家应该建立中央集权来调整供水政策，所以A项正确。