翻译题 7.Preserving Water Sources
Recently we held a successful daylong workshop that was attended by local primary and secondary school teachers as well as several university students representing the environmental groups on their campuses. The workshop was unique: To convey how critical water is to the survival of society, we showed to what an extent our bodies are water and how the natural environment also revolves around it. We depicted the intimate connection between the functions of the human body and water, and further showed how human systems have parallels in nature. Our participants were amazed that, when shown on the same scale, the human cardiovascular system of veins and arteries and an aerial view of a river system were so much alike as to be indistinguishable. We also showed them the similarities between a human bone and a tree. Nerves, when a person experiences pleasure, look relaxed and have many curves, like a healthy river that also has numerous bends and curves. We contrasted these with a picture of a nerve straight and stiff as it feels pain; alongside it we placed a picture of a river that has been manipulated by human engineering and rendered straight, unhealthy and lifeless.
Once our participants had gained a new appreciation for water, the urgent need to protect this precious resource became plain to them. We followed up by spending some time thinking about concrete projects that they could undertake with their students or green groups.
Many great project ideas were voiced that day and some are already getting underway. A secondary school in Tianjin is beginning a campus greening project and wants to include greywater treatment as well as rainwater collection in their plan. Students from a local university are campaigning to reduce the water usage in their bathhouses. Currently, students pay one price for a shower of unlimited length, which invariably leads to waste. Their approach to cutting waste includes changing the pricing scheme and replacing the showerheads in their bathhouses with a water-saving type.