译林版牛津高中英语(必修5):Unit3 Science and nature-Project(1)

Man and nature

人类与自然

For a long time, our environment has been damaged because humans have been careless.

很长一段时间，我们的环境由于人类的粗心而遭到破坏。

People have harmed nature through agriculture, fishing, hunting and tourism.

人们通过农业、渔业、狩猎和旅游破坏地球资源。

We further damage the Earth by building new channels in the sea and factories on the land, and by creating pollution with chemical waste.

通过在海底建隧道、在陆地上建工厂以及化学废物造成的污染，我们更进一步地破坏了地球。

We will some day destroy the planet¹ we live on if we continue in this way.

如果我们继续这样的话，终有一天，我们会毁掉这个我们赖以生存的星球。

However, if we focus² only on conservation³, then people may suffer. Not everything that is best for nature is good for people.

但是如果我们只注意环境保护，人们将忍受苦难。对自然好的事不一定对人类也好。

Would anyone say that development should be stopped in favour of nature?

难道我们为了保护自然就应该停止经济发展？

From the point of view of some people, we are only doing what humans have always done, using nature to meet our own needs.

根据有些人的想法，我们只是在做人类一直在做的事情—利用自然满足我们自己的需求。

Other people argue that such thinking may cause a catastrophe⁴, unless we start to look around and understand how a clean environment benefits⁵ us all.

1 planet   

n.行星

参考例句：

• Neptune is the furthest planet from the sun. 海王星是离太阳最远的行星。
• Rubbish, however, is only part of the problem of polluting our planet. 然而, 垃圾只是我们这个星球的污染问题的一个方面。

2 focus   

n.焦点，焦距；vi.聚焦，注视；vt.使聚焦，调焦，集中

参考例句：

• She was the focus of everyone's attention.她是大家注意的焦点。
• The noise made it hard for me to focus on work.噪音让我无法集中注意力工作。

3 conservation   

n.保存，保持，守恒

参考例句：

• She is interested in conservation of environment.她对环境保护这个问题十分关心。
• Our community is a leader in the conservation of wildlife.我们社区在野生动物保护方面走在前头。

4 catastrophe   

n.大灾难，大祸

参考例句：

• I owe it to you that I survived the catastrophe.亏得你我才大难不死。
• This is a catastrophe beyond human control.这是一场人类无法控制的灾难。

5 benefits   

n.津贴费；利益( benefit的名词复数 )；（给职工的）奖金；救济金；益处

参考例句：

• economic benefits accruing to the country from tourism 旅游业为该国带来的经济效益
• The article enthused about the benefits that the new system would bring. 本文热情赞扬了新制度将带来的好处。