 第四部分任务型阅读 (共10小题；每小题1分, 满分10分)请认真阅读下列短文, 并根据所读内容在文章后表格的空格处里填人最恰当的单词。注意：每个空格填1个单词。 There’re seven oceans across most of the earth's surface. But they contain saltwater, unfit for human consumption. Only a tiny part of the world's water – about 2.5 percent – is drinkable. That still would be an enough supply if it were clean and available where needed. However, it's not. Today some 1.2 billion people lack access to safe drinking water and 2.6 billion lack proper waste water treatment. As a result, polluted water supplies are blamed for the worldwide deaths of 1.8 million children, according to the United Nation's Human Development Report for 2006.That means 4,900 children under 5 years old died per day. What's more, children worldwide miss 443 million days of school each year because of water-related illnesses. The UN also estimates that half of the world's hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from water-borne diseases. Beyond that, millions of people (almost always women) in different parts of the world spend hours per day carrying water up to several miles for their family's needs because no source is close at hand. Since 1992, the UN has sponsored(倡议) World Water Day, observed on March 22, to raise awareness of the need to protect and improve access to clean water supplies. "When the well is dry, then we know the worth of water," said Benjamin Franklin, long before today's water challenges. It's clear that competition for water "will intensify(加剧) in the decades ahead," said Kemal Dervis, administrator of the United Nations Development Program in its 2006 report. "Water is the fundamental resource, crossing borders through rivers, lakes – a fact that points to the potential for cross-border tensions in water-stressed regions." Growing populations, are using up water resources, and climate change is expected to worsen the problem as it changes rainfall patterns. A new UN study shows that as temperatures have gone up, the world's glaciers(冰川) have been decreasing at fast rates and may disappear entirely within a few decades. China, India, and the West Coast of the United States are among populous places that rely on glaciers for their water supply. Glaciers feed some of the world's great rivers, which serve billions of people. One of the UN's Millennium Development Goals, established in 2000, is to cut in half by the year 2015 the population unable to reach or afford safe drinking water. Achieving that goal is "critically important," says UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon. "When you look at the health and development challenges faced by the poorest of the world's population, the common sticking point often turns out to be water." Governments and private groups are working hard to solve the problem as well.
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