Fancy a glass of water recycled from sinks and toilets? That's the reality Singa poreans may soon face as the city state searches for alternatives to cut its dependence on neighboring Malaysia, which supplies half of its water. The Public Utilities Board is looking at the findings of an international panel that has declared recycled water, or so-called Newater, safe to drink. It is expected to deliver its recommendations to the government in two months. Joan Rose, a microbiology expert from the United States who sat on the panel, stressed the importance of education to help the public get over squeamishness about drinking water that had once gurgled down drains and whooshed round toilet bowls. Two years of tests on recycled water produced at a Singapore demonstration plant showed it was consistently of high quality and met World Health Organization guidelines, the panel said. So me of the nine scientists and doctors demonstrated their confidence by sipping bottles of Newater as reporters looked on. Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong sad that recycled water was a "serious alternative" and would be sufficient to replace the entire supply Singapore gets from Malaysia under a 1961 agreement which expires in 2011. Singapore now pays three Malaysian cents (less than one U.S. cent) for every thousand gallons of water piped in but Malaysia wants to make Singap oreans pay 100 times more within a few years.

想想看，一杯从阴沟和厕所里回收来的（饮用）水？这也许是新加坡人很快就要面对的现实。这个城市国家正在寻找替代水源以减少对邻国马来西亚的依赖，新加坡的水半数来自那里。一个国际专家小组宣称再生水——亦即所谓的“新水”——合于饮用，公共事业委员会正在对这一发现进行评估，预计将在两个月后向政府提出建议。小组成员，美国微生物学家琼·罗斯强调要通过教育来帮助公众克服对饮用曾在下水道和抽水马桶中流淌的水的厌恶感。专家小组说，他们对新加坡一个实验工厂生产的再生水进行了两年的测试，结果表明再生水具有稳定的高品质，符合世界卫生组织的标准。这9位科学家和医生中有几位在记者的注视下喝下了几瓶“新水”，以此显示他们的信心。副总理李显龙称再生水为“重要的替代品”，它将足以取代新加坡按照1961年签定的协议从马来西亚得到的全部水供给，该协议将于2011年到期。新加坡现在为通过管道输入的每千加仑水付费3马来西亚分（不到1美分），但马来西亚方面想在几年内把价格提高100倍。

Remarks：这样的心理障碍没有什么道理——要认真追究过去的话，没有一滴水是喝得的。