【文化点滴】“南水北调”用英文怎么说？

2015-03-20作者：Bing出处：FLTD

首先，我们来看一下新华网的英文报道：
China's south-to-north water diversion project consists of three routes - the eastern, middle and western. Shandong has been building part of the eastern route, which runs 1,467 kilometers, since 2002. As of the end of 2011, investment had totaled 15.8 billion yuan.

在报道中，south-to-north water diversion project指的就是“南水北调工程”。名词diversion在这里是“转移”的意思，例如：High tariffs often cause a diversion of trade from one country to another.（高额关税常使贸易从一国转往另一国。）diversion也可以指“娱乐、消遣”或“分散注意力的东西”，例如：Chess and tennis are his favorite diversions.（下棋和网球是他最喜爱的娱乐活动。） diversion的动词是divert，比如：He can always invent a new game to divert the children.（他总能想出新的游戏来供孩子们娱乐。）

南水北调（south-to-north water diversion project）是divert water from the south to the north（将南方的水调到北方），缓解中国北方severe shortage of water resources（水资源严重短缺）局面的重大战略性工程。除了南水北调之外，其它跨地域“借资源”的项目还有west-east electricity transmission project（西电东送）、west-east natural gas transmission project（西气东输），这些项目都可以optimize allocation of resources（优化资源配置）。