私醫聯招 英文歷屆試題｜第 177 題

According to the World Resources Institute, approximately 38% of the world's population could face chronic water shortages by the year 2025. It is estimated that humans use 45 times as  (26)  water as they did three centuries ago. All over the globe, humans are pumping water out of the ground faster than it can be  (27) . The United Nations recently outlined the severity of the problem, saying that more people will suffer a high level of water stress if consumption continues at current rates.

Several factors contribute to water shortages. Irrigation, which grows 40 percent of the world's food and makes it possible to feed the plant's 6.2 billion people,  (28)  the largest percentage of water use. Another problem is that people don't see the need to conserve water. If people can  (29)  the seriousness of the situation, they may be more willing to take action and use less water. In addition, it has been found that some places were rife with broken water pipes, leaky toilets, and faulty plumbing  (30)  a lot of water was simply being wasted.