So it’s especially fitting, Ambassador Quinn, that we honor today someone who has made such contributions because he understood the critical role that water plays in agriculture and the importance of getting every last drop used efficiently.
奎因大使，因此，我们今天嘉奖做出这样贡献的人就特别恰当，因为他了解水在农业中的关键作用以及有效利用每一滴水的重要性。
We use more water for agriculture than for any other human pursuit – more than cooking, cleaning, or manufacturing. It takes roughly a liter of water to produce just one calorie of food – another reason for us all to watch our calories, I guess. (Laughter.) There’s also – you wonder why you’re standing. The latest research shows you burn more calories when you stand. So – (laughter) – we’re doing our part. (Laughter.) But in many regions of the world that so many of you are from or you work in, you know that water is either too scarce or too unpredictable to sustain what we think of as regular agriculture.
农业用水超过任何其他用途，包括做饭、保持清洁、制造产品。大约需要1公升的水才能生产1卡路里的粮食——我想这也是我们要减少我们摄取的热量的另一个理由。(笑声) 还有——你们可能纳闷为什么让你们站着。最新的研究表明，当你站着的时候，你消耗更多的卡路里。（笑声）——我们尽了我们的力。(笑声)但在你们许多人生活和工作的地区，你们知道，水资源太少或不可预知，不能维持我们所说的正常的农业。
For 40 years, Dr. Hillel has worked to solve this problem by bringing his micro-irrigation techniques to the driest and least hospitable growing climates on earth, from Israel to Pakistan to Sudan. Today, farmers using micro-irrigation produce high-yield, nutritious crops on more than 6 million hectares worldwide. Dr. Hillel’s work will become even more important as we grapple with how to feed the world’s growing population. We know the facts: Nearly a billion people already go to bed hungry every night. By the year 2050, the global population is estimated to reach 9 billion. And according to the latest FAO estimates, the world will need to produce 60 percent more food than we do today to feed everyone. In that same time, the demand for water to grow food will rise by almost 20 percent. But our water supply is finite. So if we’re going to strengthen food security, we have to get more out of each drop.
40年来，希勒尔博士一直在努力解决这个问题，把他的微灌技术应用到地球上最干燥和最不适合作物生长的气候带，从以色列到巴基斯坦到苏丹。今天，使用 微灌技术的农民在全球超过600万公顷的土地上种植高产、营养丰富的作物。在我们考虑如何养活世界不断增长的人口之际，希勒尔博士的工作将变得更加重要。我们知道的事实是：近10亿人每天晚上饿着肚子上床睡觉。到2050年，全球人口预计将达到90亿。根据粮农组织的最新估计，要让每个人吃饱饭，全球将需要比现在多生产60％以上的粮食。在同一时间，种植粮食对水的需求将增加20％。但是，我们的水资源是有限的。因此，我们如果要加强粮食安全，就必须更好地利用每一滴水。
Now of course, making sure people get enough nutritious food is fundamentally a human, moral concern. But it does have implications for global health and development. When people are undernourished or malnourished, they are more susceptible to illness and disease. Children in particular suffer if they don’t get proper nutrition during the 1,000 days from their mother’s pregnancy through age two. It stunts their growth and diminishes their ability to learn. So when they become adults, their ability to earn a living is limited, which in turn limits their country’s economic prospects. When you multiply this chain of cause and effect by a billion people suffering from chronic hunger, you can see how undernutrition hobbles global economic advancement.
当然，确保人们得到充分的营养食品在根本上是一个人道和道德问题。但是，这确实对全球健康和发展有着重大意义。人在营养不足或营养不良时，会更容易生病。如果胎儿和幼儿在从母亲怀孕到满2岁的1000天内得不到适当的营养，他们的健康特别容易受到危害。这会妨碍他们的发育及成长，减弱他们的学习能力，致使他们在长大成人后谋生能力受到限制，进而制约其祖国的经济发展前景。这种因果链再乘以10亿长期遭受饥饿的人口，你们就会看到营养不足将如何阻碍全球经济发展。
Food security is also fundamental to human security. Scarce food resources can lead to panic buying, countries disrupting or even stopping their food trades, and spikes in the price of food. That then can lead to public unrest or violent protests. When nations make competing claims for fertile fields or sources of water, it can also undermine regional stability. But when we strengthen food security and enhance cooperation at the local, national, and regional levels, we create a stronger base for our efforts to promote human development, dignity and security worldwide.
（责任编辑:admin）
