人爲破壞情況嚴重 死海正在死亡!
Something's happening at the lowest point on our planet, some 1,388 feet below sea level.
在地球上海拔最低的湖泊、海平面以下1388英尺的地方，一些事情正在悄然發生。The Dead Sea, a salt lake nestled by Israel, Jordan and the West Bank, is shrinking at an alarming rate -- about 3.3 feet per year, according to the environmentalist group EcoPeace Middle East. And human actions are largely to blame.
位於以色列和約旦河西岸交界地區的鹽水湖死海，正在以令人擔憂的速度萎縮--據環保組織“中東生態和平”稱，其湖面每年下降3.3英尺，這主要是人爲造成的。"It's not just like one country is punishing the Dead Sea; it's more like the whole region," said photographer Moritz Küstner, who visited the area in February to work on his series "The Dying Dead Sea."
攝影師莫里茨·屈斯特納表示：“並非是單個國家在破壞死海，更確切的說，這是整個區域性的行爲。”他曾在今年2月到訪死海，以完成他的“正在死去的死海”系列攝影。
The Dead Sea needs water from the other natural sources surrounding it, such as the Jordan River basin. But around the 1960s, some of the water sources it relied upon were diverted.
死海需要從周邊其他天然水源，比如約旦河流域等獲取水，然而，上世紀60年代，死海賴以生存的部分流域遭到了改道。Mineral extraction industries are another main reason the water levels are declining, experts say. The Dead Sea's minerals have been hailed for their therapeutic properties and can often be found in cosmetics and other consumer products.
專家表示，礦物開採是死海水位下降又一主因。死海中富含的礦物因其良好的療效而受到歡迎，常被添加在護膚品以及其它消費品上。And then, of course, there's the Middle East's hot, dry climate, which makes it difficult for the lake to replenish itself.
此外，中東炎熱的天氣、乾燥的氣候，也使得死海很難能夠重新積蓄水分。Last year, Israel and Jordan signed a $900 million deal in an effort to stabilize the Dead Sea's water levels.
去年，以色列和約旦簽署了一項高達9億美元的協議，致力於穩定死海的水位。It entails building a canal from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea so that both countries would be able to not only supply water to Israel and Jordan but also to pump much needed water -- some 300 million cubic meters annually -- into the Dead Sea.
其中包括修建一條由紅海通向死海的水道，這樣不僅能夠同時滿足以色列和約旦兩國的供水需求，還可以向死海輸送其所需要的水--大約每年3億立方。"This is the most important and significant agreement since the peace treaty with Jordan (in 1994)," said Silvan Shalom, Israel's energy and water resources minister at the time.
“自與約旦（在1994年）簽訂和約以來，沒有任何協議比這項協議最爲重要，更爲意義深遠，”時任以色列能源及水資源部部長西爾萬·沙洛姆說道。Whether the canal -- estimated to take three years to complete -- will work out positively and as planned remains to be seen.
至於這條水道——預計需要3年才能建成——是否能起到積極的作用以及達成預期的效果，仍需我們拭目以待。
