新世纪大学英语综合教程4unit1课文逐段翻译

Unit 1

Text A

人在自然界

|亚历山大·斯伯金

Nature nurtures mankind unselfishly with its rich resources. Yet, man is so carried away in his transformation of nature that he is unaware that it also has limitations and needs constant care. Now worn by the excessive demands of mankind, nature is unable to maintain the ecological balance needed. Humanity is faced with the problem of how to stop, or at least to moderate, the destruction of Mother Nature.

人类生活在大自然的王国里。他们时刻被大自然所包围并与之相互影响。人类呼吸的空气、喝下的水和摄入的食物，无一不令人类时刻感知到大自然的影响。我们与大自然血肉相连，离开大自然，我们将无法生存。

Human beings live in the realm of nature. They are constantly surrounded by it and interact with it. Man is constantly aware of the influence of nature in the form of the air he breathes, the water he drinks, and the food he eats. We are connected with nature by "blood" ties and we cannot live outside nature.

人类不仅生活在大自然之中，同时也在改变着大自然。人类把自然资源转变为各种文化，社会历史的财富。人类降服并控制了电，迫使它为人类社会的利益服务。人类不仅把各种各样的动植物转移到不同的气候环境，也改变了他生活环境的地貌和气候并使动植物因之而发生转变。

Man is not only a dweller in nature, he also transforms it. Humanity converts nature's wealth into the means of the cultural, historical life of society. Man has subdued and disciplined electricity and compelled it to serve the interests of society. Not only has man transferred various species of plants and animals to different climatic conditions, he has also changed the shape and climate of his environment and transformed plants and animals.

随着社会的发展，人类对大自然的直接依赖越来越少，而间接的依赖却越来越多。我们远古的祖先生活在大自然的威胁及破坏力的恐惧之中，他们常常连基本的生活物资都无法获取。然而，尽管工具不甚完备，他们却能同心协力，顽强工作，并总是有所收获。在与人类的相互作用中，大自然也发生了改变。森林被破坏了，耕地面积增加了。大自然及其威力被看成是和人类敌对的东西。譬如，森林被认为是野性的和令人恐惧的，因此人类便想方设法使其面积缩小。这一切都是打着―文明‖的旗号进行的，所谓―文明‖，就是人类在哪里建立家园，耕耘土地，哪里的森林就被砍伐。

As society develops, man tends to become less dependent on nature directly, while indirectly his dependence grows. Our distant ancestors lived in fear of nature's destructive forces. Very often they were unable to obtain the merest daily necessities. However, despite their imperfect tools, they worked together stubbornly , collectively, and were able to attain results . Nature was also changed through interaction with man. Forests were destroyed and the area of farmland increased. Nature with its elemental forces was regarded as something hostile to man. The forest, for example, was something wild and frightening and people tried to force it to retreat . This was all done in the name of civilization , which meant the places where man had made his home, where the earth was cultivated, where the forest had been cut down.

然而，随着岁月的流逝，人类越来越关注的是在何处得到和如何得到生产所需的不可替代的

自然资源的问题。科学与人类改变大自然的实践活动已经使人类意识到了工业在改变地球的进程中对地质产生的重大影响。

But as time goes on mankind becomes increasingly concerned with the question of where and how to obtain irreplaceable natural resources for the needs of production. Science and man's practical transforming activities have made humanity aware of the enormous geological role played by the industrial transformation of the earth.

目前，人与自然以及自然与社会整体之间过去存在的动态平衡，已呈现崩溃的迹象。生物圈中所谓可替代资源的问题变得极为尖锐。人类和社会的需求，即便是简单得像淡水一样的物质，也变得越来越难以满足。清除工业废物的问题也变得日益复杂。

At present the previous dynamic balance between man and nature and between nature and society as a whole, has shown ominous signs of breaking down. The problem of the so-called replaceable resources of the biosphere has become particularly acute . It is getting more and more difficult to satisfy the needs of human beings and society even for such a substance , for example, as fresh water. The problem of eliminating industrial waste is also becoming increasingly complex.

现代技术的特征是生产和使用日益丰富的人工合成产品。人们生产成千上万的人工合成材料。人们越来越多地用尼龙和其他人造纤维把自己从头到脚地包裹起来，这些绚丽的织物显然对他们无益。年轻人或许很少注意到这一点，他们更关注的是外表，而不是健康。但是上了年岁之后，他们就会感受到这种有害的影响。

Modern technology is distinguished by an ever increasing abundance of produced and used synthetic goods. Hundreds of thousands of synthetic materials are being made. People increasingly cover their bodies from head to foot in nylon and other synthetic, glittering fabrics that are obviously not good for them. Young people may hardly feel this, and they pay more attention to appearance than to health. But they become more aware of this harmful influence as they grow older.

久而久之，这些合成物质转变成废弃物，那些原本毒性不大的物质在自然循环中变为极其有害的物质。自然科学家和哲学家如今都在问自己这样一个问题：人类对生物圈的破坏难道是无法避免的吗？

As time goes on the synthetic output of production turns into waste, and then substances that in their original form were not very toxic are transformed in the cycle of natural processes into aggressive agents . Today both natural scientists and philosophers are asking themselves the question: Is man's destruction of the biosphere inevitable?

人与大自然的关系——生态环境的危机——已经成为一个全球性问题。这一问题的解决之道在于理性而明智地协调生产和对大自然的关爱之间的关系，这不仅要依靠个人、企业或者某些国家的力量，而且要依靠全人类的力量。解决人与大自然关系危机的方法之一，就是使用太阳能、风能、海洋能等资源，以及其他尚不为人所知的宇宙中的自然能。

The man-nature relation – the crisis of the ecological situation – is a global problem. Its solution lies in rational and wise organization of both production itself and care for Mother Nature, not just by individuals, enterprises or countries, but by all humanity. One of the ways to deal with the crisis situation in the "man-nature" system is to use such resources as solar energy, the power of winds, the riches of the seas and oceans and other, as yet unknown natural forces of the universe. 但是，回到我们原先的主题上，令人难以接受的事实是那些违背了自然规律、破坏了生物圈和谐的人类行为将会带来灾难，而这种灾难也许是全球性的。古代东方智者的话讲得真是恰如其分：朋友们，你要是亲近大自然，大自然就会用那永恒不变的规律永远呵护你！

But to return to our theme, the bitter truth is that those human actions which violate the laws of

nature, the harmony of the biosphere, threaten to bring disaster and this disaster may turn out to be universal. How apt then are the words of ancient Oriental wisdom: live closer to nature, my friends, and its eternal laws will protect you!

Text B

|物种灭绝——过去和将来Extinctions, Past and Present

理查德·利基

Preface

Man and wildlife are supposed to live in harmony, but human intrusion has driven a large number of species to extinction. It is high time that we took up the cause of wildlife conservation; otherwise, the price for us to pay in the future will be extremely high. In the following essay, the author calls for a global fund for wildlife conservation.

我在肯尼亚的图尔卡纳湖东岸工作时度过了生命中最激动人心的一些日子，寻找我们人类祖先的化石残骸。我们并不总是想找什么就能得到什么，但是，除了我们祖先的遗迹外，每天都会发现更多的东西。那些化石，有些相当完整，有些仅是碎片，道出了另一个世界。在那个世界，约150万年至200万年前，许多今天非洲哺乳动物的祖先漫游在肥沃的草原和森林边缘。当时的环境与现在非洲雨水更多的一些草原没有太大区别，但那里当时到处生活着今天早已灭绝的令人称奇的动物。

I spent some of the most exciting days of my life working on the eastern shores of Kenya's Lake Turkana searching for the fossilized remains (遗体) of our early ancestors. We did not always find what we wanted, but every day there was much more to discover than the traces of our own ancestors. The fossils , some quite complete, others mere fragments , spoke of another world in which the ancestors of many of today's African mammals (哺乳动物) wandered the rich grassland and forest edges between 1.5 million and 2 million years ago. The environment was not too different from the wetter grasslands of Africa today, but it was full of amazing animals that are now long extinct (绝种的).

不仅非洲如此，世界上任何地方的化石记录下来的一切，都是一样。据估计，在过去的6亿年中，这个世界上存在过的物种，有95％以上都已灭绝了。

That was true not just for Africa. The fossil record tells the same story everywhere. It is estimated that more than 95％of the species that have existed over the past 600 million years are gone.

工农业不断的扩展加速了当前物种灭绝的步伐，因此，我们该不该关心一下这个问题？有没有必要尽力去减慢这个永不停止的过程呢？

So, should we be concerned about the current rate of extinction (灭绝), which has been accelerated by the constant expansion of agriculture and industry? Is it necessary to try to slow down a process that has been going on forever?

我认为是应该的。我们知道，人类的健康发展与其他许多物种的健康发展紧密相关，而我们不能确知哪一种生物对我们的生存最为重要。

I believe it is. We know that the well-being of the human race is tied to the well-being of many other species , and we can't be sure which species are most important to our own survival.

但是，解决物种灭绝的危机问题决非易事，因为世界上许多生物多样性地区位于最贫穷的国家，尤其是亚洲、非洲和拉丁美洲。这些国家划拨土地，兴建国家公园和自然保护区而禁止人类侵入甚至接近它们，人们能接受吗？当一个国家相当大一部分人仍生活在贫困线以下，

去花大笔钱挽救一些物种，这样做是否合适呢？

But dealing with the extinction crisis is no simple matter, since much of the world's biodiversity (生物多样性) resides (存在) in its poorest nations, especially in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Can such countries justify setting aside national parks and nature reserves where human intrusion (侵扰) and even access is forbidden? Is it appropriate to spend large sums of money to save some species in a nation in which a considerable percentage of the people are living below the poverty line?

这些问题令我对倡导在贫穷国家中推行野生动植物的保护感到不安。然而我相信我们能够——而且也应该——做大量的工作。这是一个改变侧重点的问题。大量资金已投入到对濒危物种的野外科学研究和会议上。但是，能不能给那些保护野生动物使之不被偷猎的公园管理人员提供些胶鞋和车子？能不能为那些靠伐木和种地为生的当地人提供别的经济出路，帮助他们发展？这些资金很难获得。

Such questions make me uneasy about promoting wildlife conservation in poor nations. Nonetheless , I believe that we can –and should –do a great deal. It's a matter of changing priorities. Plenty of money is available for scientific field studies and conferences on endangered (将要灭绝的) species. But what about boots and vehicles for park personnel who protect wildlife from illegal hunters? What about development aid to give local people economic alternatives to cutting forests and plowing over the land? That kind of funding is difficult to come by .

我们不应该要求贫穷国家的人们在自己的短期生存和长期环境需求之间做出选择。假如他们的政府愿意保护环境，所需的资金应由国际组织提供。我认为，答案是明摆着的：要么富有国家现在就伸出援助之手，要么整个世界将遭受巨大损失。

People in poor countries should not be asked to choose between their own short-term survival and longer-term environmental needs. If their governments are willing to protect the environment, the money needed should come from international sources. To me, the choice is clear. Either the more wealthy world helps now or the world as a whole will lose out .

为此，我们需要在全球筹集专门用于野生动植物保护的资金，这些资金应该主要由工业国家的政府和国际援助机构提供。

For that reason, we need permanent global funds devoted to wildlife protection. The funds should Primarily come from the governments of the industrial nations and international aid agencies.

至于如何使用这些资金，人们可能会无休无止地争论下去。是应该由当地社团决定工作事项，还是由外面请来的专家控制这些资金？野生动物园里应该允许有限制的打猎呢，还是禁止入内？错误总是难免的，自然外貌也会不断地发生变化，物种仍旧会继续消逝，但是这项工作的困难不应该使我们放弃希望。地球上的许多自然栖息地已经永远消失了，但是也有许多栖息地可以挽救，并最终得到恢复。

How to use those funds would be a matter of endless debate. Should local communities be entitled to set the agenda , or should outside experts take control? Should limited hunting be allowed in parks, or should they be put off limits ? Mistakes will be made, the landscape will keep changing, and species will still be lost, but the difficulty of the task should not lead us to abandon hope. Many of the planet's natural habitats (栖息地) are gone forever, but many others can be saved and in time restored.

21世纪的一个主要挑战是保护尽可能多的自然栖息地。让我们全力抵制任何减少现有野生物种天然栖息地数量的行为。让我们号召全世界最富有的国家提供资金，使这个抵制行动成为可能。这并不是对慈善事业的捐赠，这是对人类未来和地球上所有生命的一项投资。

A major challenge for the 21st century is to preserve as much of our natural estate as possible. Let

us resist with all our efforts any moves to reduce the amount of wild land available for wild species. And let us call upon the world's richest nations to provide the money to make that possible. That would not be a contribution to charity ; it would be an investment in the future of humanity – and all life on Earth.