趣味英语高中学生阅读理解材料(2)

　　趣味英语高中学生阅读(三)

　　It's life or death

　　AUSTRALIANS have been warned they face a life or death decision over their water — drink recycled sewage (污水) or die.

　　With the drought (干旱) continuing, the country is set to be forced to use purified (净化的) waste water for drinking, even though there is great opposition to the measure.

　　Queensland has become the first state to introduce the policy after a warning from its premier (总理).

　　"I think in the end, because of the drought, all of Australia is going to end up drinking recycled purified water," said Peter Beattie.

　　"These are difficult decisions, but you either drink water or you die. There's no choice. It's liquid gold, it's a matter of life and death."

　　Beattie said Australia's second largest state would become the first to use recycled water for drinking.

　　Water is recycled in Britain and parts of northern Europe along with the US and Israel.

　　But Australians have never liked the idea.

　　To try to change the way Australians think, Prime Minister John Howard and Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull have backed (支持) Queensland's move.

　　"I am very strongly in favour of recycling and Mr Beattie is right and I agree with him completely," Howard said.

　　Turnbull added that Australian cities, all now facing water shortages because of the worst drought on record, must start to use recycled water.

　　"All of our big cities have to widen the range of water sources to include sources which are not dependent (依赖的) on rainfall," he said.