《中英對照讀新聞》Australian town can't stomach recycled sewage water 澳洲小鎮無法接受回收污水

◎俞智敏

A drought-hit Australian town could not swallow the idea of drinking recycled sewage water and rejected the water-saving option in a referendum.

澳洲一個飽受乾旱所苦的小鎮無法接受飲用回收污水的想法，因此在一項公投中否決了此一省水計畫。

Toowoomba, 140 km west of the Queensland state capital Brisbane, would have become the nation's first town to supplement drinking water with recycled waste water, a practice used in Israel, Singapore, the U.S. and parts of Europe.

位於昆士蘭州首府布里斯班西方140公里處的圖溫巴原本可能成為澳洲第一個以回收污水來補充飲用水不足的城鎮，目前以色列、新加坡、美國及部份歐洲地區都已採用這種作法。

In the end, the "yuck factor" meant Toowoomba's 100,000 residents overwhelmingly voted against the idea despite a decade of tough water regulations resulting from the worst drought in 100 years in parts of Australia.

到最後，「惡心因素」讓圖溫巴的10萬名居民以壓倒性票數反對了這項計畫，儘管澳洲部份地區因面臨百年來最嚴重旱災，10年來都實施嚴格的限水措施。

If residents had voted "yes", 25 percent of their drinking water would have come from recycled water in a A$68 million scheme. The water is filtered through a complex membrane in a process known as reverse osmosis.

假如當地居民在公投中是投下「贊成」票，當地飲用水中會有25%來自回收水，而這項污水回收計畫將耗資澳幣6千8百萬元。污水會先在一種稱為逆滲透的過程中經由一種複雜的膜過濾。

Recycling water was important for Australia as demand was expected to exceed supply from existing water sources in nearly all major Australian cities within the next 20 years.

回收水對澳洲而言格外重要，因為在未來20年內，澳洲幾乎所有大城市對水資源的需求都將遠大於現有的供應。

新聞辭典

stomach、swallow：在文中均作動詞使用，意指接受、忍受，如︰I can't stomach his jokes.（我受不了他開的玩笑。）或如︰He would swallow anything you tell him.（不管你跟他說什麼，他都會相信。）

supplement：文中作動詞，指補充、增補，如︰She got a part-time job to supplement the family income.（她找了一個兼差來補貼家中收入。）

filter：動詞，指過濾，如︰The water was filtered through charcoal.（這水是通過炭來過濾的。）亦可指滲透、透過，如︰News of the defeat filtered through.（失敗的消息走漏了出來。）