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No.187 SIM音読用英文

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Drought Has Severe Impact on Australian People, Economy
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Australia is the world's driest continent.

Drought has always been a part of life here.

But, even by Australia's standards,

the current spell of extremely low rainfall has been extreme.

It's lasted

for more than five years so far.

Many towns and cities in the southern half of the continent

are subject to severe water restrictions.

Those who break the rules face fines of up to $150,

and it's thought that more stringent controls on domestic use are
only a matter of time.

The effect is being felt worst

on the country's farms, however.

The government is paying millions of dollars in emergency farm
relief

to help those struggling to stay on the land.

Five years is a long time,

but experts like Professor Andy Pitman,

a climatologist at Macquarie University,

say the drought could actually go on for decades.

"The really scary thing is

last time we had a drought of this intensity

that lasted about five years –

it lasted for about 50 years.

And I really find it difficult to imagine

what Australia would look like

- or at least east coast Australia, where the major population
centers are –

what it would look like

if this current rainfall regime was sustained for 40 to 50 years.

The politicians truly believe

this is a five-year or six-year drought

that will break sometime in 2007 or 2008.

It might not break till 2050."

Farmer Gary Halle says

his land has been rendered useless by the drought.

He can only hope

people like Pitman are wrong, and the "Big Dry" will soon end.

"It's actually like standing on edge of a cliff.

The grass should be a couple of foot high, and green and lush.

And as you can see, it's just brown and dust."

With harvests destroyed and livelihoods under threat,

many typically tough and resilient farmers in the outback

are experiencing mental depression.

Mental health charities estimate

that one farmer takes his life every four days,

and special help lines have been set up

for those who find it hard to cope.

Some climate experts believe

that this drought, too, will pass, and Australians shouldn't be
too alarmed.

Bill Kinimonth, a 40-year veteran of the Bureau of Meteorology
in Melbourne and now a meteorology consultant,

has a very different take on the "Big Dry."

Unlike environmentalists and scientists

who describe the situation as a grave emergency,

Kinimonth insists that the gradual warming of the earth is part
of a natural cycle.

Man-made or natural,

the drought is teaching millions of Australians some harsh lessons

about the uncompromising physical nature of their country.

One senior politician recently suggested

that farmers move to the rain-drenched north of the country.

“There is no question

that climate change is a reality,” he said.

“And we have got to take our farms

where the water is."

Phil Mercer, VOA News, Sydney.
(Material is provided courtesy of voanews.com.)
by danueno | 2007-03-28 12:00 | SIM音読用英文


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