we and our yellow river: thriving together
good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. the issue of the yellow river has become the biggest concern of members of the chinese peoples political consultative conference. my childhood, in fact, is closely associated with the river. my father is an engineering geologist, and he used to take me with him on his trips to the hydropower stations on the river. i enjoyed those trips, especially the trip to longyang xia reservoir. although ten years have passed since my visit, i can still recall the scenery; i can still recall the water i saw at the reservoir. it was pure, clean and blue, not like the water i saw in the middle reaches of the river, which had turned brown and muddy after passing through the loess plateau.
once during our stay at the power station, we were caught in a thunderstorm. and when rain stopped, i could see trickles of water rolling down mountain slopes and flowing into the reservoir. it carried little mud or sand, because at that time, trees and grass still grew around the reservoir. and they protected the soil. at longyang xia i was struck by the beauty of nature, and as a child i wanted to stay there and to grow up with our yellow river.
li bai, the tang dynasty poet, said praises to the flowing water in the yellow river. he saw it as coming down from heaven and nurturing the people along her way to the sea. however, in 1997,for 330days, not a single drop of water from the yellow river went into the sea. and droughts are not the only punishment by nature. a friend of my father's, a university professor, is doing research on the yellow river. according to this professor, the yellow river will soon change its course if we allow this situation to continue. because there is no longer enough water to carry away the silt and mud in the lower reaches of the river and the riverbed rises higher and higher each year.
we have taken too much from nature, but given back too little in return. and this is the cost of the unbalanced growth. if we had taken care of the vegetation in the upper and middle reaches of the yellow river, we would still experience the river as li bai described it.
while the developed countries are consuming proportionally more natural resources than the rest of the world, they've also taken some good measures in protecting nature. and as a developing country, china can learn from them in this aspect.
last year, when i was visiting australia with a group of chinese students who had won prizes in an english skills test, our australian hosts invited us to join them for a horse-ride in the mountains. after two hours on horseback, we reached a valley, where there was a most beautiful meadow, with flowers in all colors dotted on a huge blanket of green. when i began to praise the beauty of nature, my friends told me that in this valley, there used to be a big mine and the wastewater from the mine turned everything brown. when the mine was abandoned, people made great efforts to restore the green vegetation. they also used the latest biological technology choosing the best grass seeds suitable for the local soil. so the beautiful meadow is a result of commitment, hard work, and new technology.、
what happened to this valley in australia should also happen to our yellow river and, in fact, it is happening. i have seen farmers planting trees on mountains along the yellow river. i have seen them climb the mountain tops with seedlings on their shoulders because they had no machinery. i have seen them pour on trees the water they had carried up in buckets from miles down the valley. these farmers are quietly nourishing our yellow river, just as the river has nourished them.
and these farmers, men and women i don't know, gave me the confidence that we and our yellow river will grow together, and someday in the future, we will be able to drink the clean water from our yellow river again, because she is our dearest mother.
thank you.
我们和我们的黄河：一起兴旺
女士们，先生们，下午好。黄河问题已成为中国人民政治协商会议的最大关注。事实上，我的童年与这条河有着密切的联系。我的父亲是一个工程地质学家，他过去常带我一起去河边的水电站。我喜欢旅行，尤其是龙羊峡水库之旅。虽然十年过去了，但我仍然能回忆起那一景，我还记得我在水库看到的水。这是纯净，干净，蓝，而不是像水，我看到在河中游，这已经变成了棕色和泥泞经过黄土高原。
在我们呆在电站的一次，我们被困在一场雷雨中。当雨停了，我看到涓涓细流由山坡流入水库。它携带了小泥土或沙子，因为在那时，树木和草地仍然生长在水库周围。他们保护了土壤。在龙羊峡我被大自然的美景迷住了，作为一个孩子我想呆在那里，与我们的黄河长大。
李杜，唐代诗人，对黄河流水说。他看见它从天上降下来，并在她到海的路上，培育着人们。然而，在1997，足有330天，没有一滴水从黄河到海。干旱并不是自然的唯一惩罚。我父亲的一位朋友，一位大学教授，正在研究黄河。根据这个教授，黄河将很快改变它的课程，如果我们允许这种情况继续下去。因为没有足够的水来冲走河下游的泥沙和淤泥，河床上升，每年都会增加。
我们从自然中得到了太多的回报，但由于太少的回报。这是不平衡增长的代价。如果我们在黄河上游和中游的植被，我们仍然会体验到李杜所描述的河流。
虽然发达国家在自然资源的消耗上比世界上的自然资源要大得多，但他们也采取了一些保护自然的措施。作为一个发展中国家，中国可以在这方面向他们学习。
去年，当我和一组在英语技能考试中获得过大奖的中国学生一起去澳大利亚时，我们的澳大利亚东道主邀请我们参加了一个骑马的马。在骑马上了2个小时后，我们到达了一个山谷，那里有一片最美丽的草地，在所有的颜色上点缀着一条巨大的绿色毯子。当我开始赞美大自然的美丽时，我的朋友们告诉我，在这个山谷里，曾经有一个大矿山，矿山的废水变成了棕色的东西。当我的被遗弃，人们作出了巨大的努力，恢复绿色植被。他们还使用了最新的生物技术，选择适合当地土壤的最佳草种子。美丽的草地是一个承诺，努力工作和新技术的结果。
澳大利亚的这条河在我们的黄河中也发生了什么事，事实上，它正发生着呢。我看到黄河的农民在山上植树。我看到他们爬上山顶，在他们的肩膀上，因为他们没有机械。我看到他们倒在树上，他们在几英里外的山谷里进行的水上。这些农民们正在静静地滋养我们的黄河，正如河水已经滋养了他们。
我不知道，这些农民，我不知道，给了我信心，我们和我们的黄河将一起成长，并在将来的一天，我们将能够喝干净的水，从我们的黄河，因为她是我们最亲爱的母亲。
谢谢。