News of the Week (27/7/2015)
Social Issues

Lead water leaves residents high and dry

Tempers have been fraying since lead was detected in water collected from a public housing estate in early July. Although negligible amounts of lead, a heavy metal, do not pose a fatal threat to humans, the Centre for Health Protection reminded that exposure to lead for a long time is likely to cause damage to the brain and kidney.

Worried about the dangers of lead, residents in Kai Ching Estate are rushing to get bottled water frantically. Netizens expressed dissatisfaction with the way the government handled this matter – the government disclosed the identity of the plumber, which fuelled suspicions that they are intending to shift the responsibility onto him.

While the samples later collected from Kai Ching Estate met the standard of the World Health Organisation, the Centre for Health Protection urged that children below six and pregnant women use other sources of drinking water. Whether harmful to humans or not, water polluted with lead in Kai Ching Estate has revealed how the government approached a matter which concerns the safety of drinking water. The investigation is ongoing, and public fear is mounting too.

lead water是含鉛的水，正式應該寫成lead in water，但標題以言簡意賅為佳，因此寫成lead water已經非常清晰。water是水，有水理應不會乾，但標題則加上了dry一字，令標題加添了一份懸疑感覺，吸引讀者。leave someone high and dry其實是一整個expression，意思是「令…陷入困境、無人協助」。修辭手法oxymoron是指文字中加入矛盾，例如bittersweet (苦樂參半的)、you only have one choice (你只有一個選擇) 等等，都是運用了oxymoron。這個標題的語言概念與oxymoron概念相同，都是在句子中加入矛盾的元素。乍看並不會發現標題的特別之處，但細心閱讀後，便會發現water與dry的矛盾。

lead是「鉛」，讀音是/led/，即是與let的讀音 (le-) 相似；而解作「領導」時，則與need的 (-eed) 讀音相似。

Glossary:
1. temper [n.] 情緒
2. fray [v.] 煩惱；憤怒
3. negligible [adj.] 微不足道的
4. fatal [adj.] 致命的
5. Centre for Health Protection [ph.] 衛生防護中心
6. exposure [n.] 暴露
7. kidney [n.] 腎
8. frantically [adv.] 緊張忙亂地
9. disclose [v.] 揭露
10. plumber [n.] 水喉匠
11. fuel [v.] 令…惡化
12. suspicion [n.] 懷疑
13. shift [v.] 轉移
14. World Health Organisation [ph.] 世界衛生組織
15. approach [v.] 處理
16. ongoing [adj.] 持續進行中的
17. mount [v.] 增加