India's Water Mother 建水壩抗旱的印度水之母 Amla Ruia is responsible for providing water to over 300 of India's driest villages. 阿姆拉•盧宜雅負責供水給三百多個印度最乾旱的村子。
Each year, over 300 million people in India have problems getting enough water. Without water, people can't grow crops or raise animals. In some cases, people are even dying of thirst. Thanks to the hard work and contributions of Amla Ruia, over 300 villages in Rajasthan, one of India's driest regions, have access to fresh water. Ruia is using a technique called check dams to help these villages, which are often poor and have little money for big projects. Luckily, check dams are very easy to build. Low spots in the landscape are used, and simple walls are built to catch and hold more rainwater naturally. Check dams are actually a very old technology and have been used in the region since ancient times. Amla Ruia and her charity group called Aakar Charitable▼ Trust have been working with communities to build these dams for the past 10 years. Now that she's 71 years old, she has taken more of a role in the planning. But despite her age, Ruia shows no sign of slowing down. She continues her mission of helping India's thirsty farmers collect and store the water they need to survive the dry climate of Rajasthan.
1. provide vt. 提供 If you can provide the police with a description of the stolen car, they can try to help you find it. 如果你能提供警方失竊車的描述，他們便能試著幫你找到它。
2. thirst n. 口渴；缺水 Chris had a terrible thirst after running a marathon. 克里斯跑完馬拉松比賽後渴得要命。
3. have access to... 有……可供使用；有權使用…… access n. 使用／看見某物的機會或權利 In ancient Chinese society, only males had access to education. 在古代的中國社會裡，只有男性能受教育。
4. dam n. 水壩 Many villages were flooded after the dam broke last year. 去年水壩潰堤後，許多村莊都淹水了。
5. naturally adv. 自然地；當然 Tom Cruise naturally attracted lots of attention when he stepped into the store. 湯姆•克魯斯走進店裡時，自然地吸引了許多注意力。
6. charity n. 慈善事業；慈善機構 The organization held a charity concert for the typhoon victims. 該機構為颱風災民舉辦了一場慈善音樂會。
7. now (that)... 而今，由於，既然，因為 Now that you are moving out, you will have to be more independent. 既然你要搬出去，你就應該要更獨立。
8. despite prep. 儘管，雖然 Despite applying for hundreds of jobs, Dave is still out of work. 儘管應徵了上百份工作，戴夫還是在失業中。
crop的相關用法 本文 "Without water, people can't grow crops or raise animals." 中的 crop 為名詞，表「作物，莊稼；收成」。與 crop 相關的用法有 crop of sb/sth，表「（同時湧現的）一群／批（人或事物）」。另外一個相關的片語為 the cream of the crop，表「天之驕子，佼佼者」。例：
Teachers will vote to select the best from the crop of students' essays. （老師們會從這批學生的文章中投票選出最佳的。）
These students are good at painting. In fact, they are the cream of the crop. （這些學生很擅長畫畫。事實上，他們是最頂尖的。）
