Australians have been warned they face a life or death decision over their water — drink recycled sewage (污水) or die.
With t he 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 .
"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 adhered to Queensland's move.
"I am very strongly for recycling and Mr. Beattie is right and I agree with him completely," Howard said.
“Australian cities, all now facing water shortages because of the worst drought on record, must start to use recycled water.” added Turnbull, "All of our big cities have to widen the range of water sources to include sources which are not dependent on rainfall."
小题1:What is the text mainly about?
A．Continuing drought forces Australians to drink recycled sewage
B．Australians face the choice of life and death
C．Premier Beattie is worried about his people’s health
D．We should avoid drinking recycled water to keep healthy小题2:According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?
A．Nobody disagrees to the idea of drinking recycled purified water
B．Australia's second largest state has become the first state to introduce the policy
C．No other countries but Australia decide to drink recycled water
D．The drought is the worst one in the droughts recorded in Australian history.小题3:What can we learn from the last paragraph ?
A．Australians have never like drinking purified waste water
B．Australians should develop more water sources to live through the hard time
C．Australians can’t depend upon rainwater , which is not suitable for drinking .
D．Australian government has no ability to solve the problem of water shortage小题4:The underlined phrase “adhered to” in Paragraph 9 probably means_________.
A．disliked
B．gone against
C．supported
D．doubted小题5:It can be inferred from what Premier Peter Beattie said that________.
A．he gives orders to drink purified waste water
B．It is painful for him to see his people drink recycled sewage
C．If the decision is made, people won’t survive the drought
D．It’s up to you to either make a life or death decision