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拯救热带雨林，造福子孙万代 Rainforests are being cut and burned form Brazil to Indonesia at such a rate that they could well disappear from the earth's surface before the year 2050. They are being cleared for valuable timber and other resources to speed up the economic growth of the nations in which they are located. The most recent figures show that the area of rainforest destroyed last year alone was bigger than the size of Great Britain and Ireland. 从巴西到印尼，热带雨林正在被砍伐，正在被烧毁，其速度非常之快，以致于到不了2050年，热带雨林就会被砍光烧光而从地球表面上彻底消失。为了获取贵重木材和其他资源，以加速处于热带雨林国家的经济发展，热带雨林正在逐渐被砍伐得干干净净一棵树都不剩了。最近的统计数字表明，仅去年一年被吸掉的热带雨林的面积比英国和爱尔兰两国的面积加起来还大。 If the present rate of deforestation is allowed to continue, the consequences for the earth will be great. We shall see a massive upsetting of ecosystems, very large increases in soil erosion, increases in flooding and in drought, changes in rainfall patterns and regional, quite possibly global, changes in climate. We shall also probably lose many rare plant and animal species. 如果听任现在的热带雨林被毁掉的百分比继续发展下去，给整个地球所带来的后果将是十分严重的。我们将会看到（1） 各种生态系统的平衡均遭到大规模的破坏；（2）水土流失现象大规模地增加了；（3）水灾和旱灾大规模增加了；（4）降雨的方式改变了；（5）地区性的气候改变，甚至完全可能导致全球性气候的改变。我们也许会永远失去很多种珍稀的植物和动物。 According to many scientists, the burning of rainforests is also directly contributing to the so-called greenhouse effect. This effect, they say, is raising average temperatures and sea levels as the polar ice caps recede. 根据许多科学家报告，烧毁了热带雨林也直接导致了所谓的温室效应。科学家们都说，这种温室效应正在使全球平均气温升高，正在使南极和北极地区的冰盖融化，随之而来的也正在使全球海洋的水平面上升。 The rainforest is essential in other areas also. It is a medicine chest of unlimited potential. The US National Cancer Institute has identified 2,000 rainforest plants which could be beneficial in fighting cancer. In today's pharmaceutical market, 15 of the 125 drugs derived from plants were discovered in the rainforest. 从其他方面来看，热带雨林对人类也是必不可缺的。热带雨林是一个有着无限潜在能力的取之不尽用之不竭的医药资源的万宝库。美国国家癌症研究院已经证实了有2000种热带雨林中的植物对预防和治疗癌症有奇效。在今天的药品市场上，在125种单味药中，就有15种是从热带雨林中发现的植物中提取出来的。 
各种植物在热带雨林中并不是受到灭种威胁的唯一的生物。世界上除了热带雨林而外，在其他任何地方都找不到的珍稀鸟类和珍稀动物，在这世纪交替的时候正在以每年消失一种的速度逐渐灭绝。 In the face of all these facts, it seems senseless for countries to continue destroying their rainforests. However, the problem is not so simple. The countries in which the rainforests are located are all quite poor and overpopulated. One of them, Brazil, has a population of 140 million, about half of whom are living in absolute poverty. The governments in these countries are usually also too weak to stop large companies and powerful individuals from destroying the rainforests. They have no money, so when the poor whom they cannot feed find work cutting down trees or burning forestland, the governments often have no choice but to turn a blind eye. Moreover, for many of these countries, the valuable timber and other resources found in the rainforests are also a very important source of foreign exchange, which they badly need to pay off their foreign debts and purchase foreign equipment and other goods. 面对这一切事实，这些国家还在继续毁灭他们的热带雨林，这令人觉得他们简直太麻木不仁了。但是，这个问题并不是很简单的。地处于热带雨林的那些国家都相当贫穷而且人口都相当过剩。热带雨林国家之一，巴西，人口有一亿四千万人。其中约有半数人生活在绝对贫困当中。这些国家的政府通常也都是十分软弱的，以致不能制止一些大公司或有权有势的人毁坏热带雨林的行为。那些国家的政府都没有钱，所以当政府养活不起的那些穷人，找到了砍树或在森林里烧树开荒的工作时，政府别无选择，只好睁一只眼闭一只眼。况且，对这些国家中的有些国家来说，热带雨林中的珍贵木材和其他资源也是他们所急需换取外汇的很重要的资源，以便用来偿还外债和用来购买外国的设备和其他物资。 The only solution to the problem, then, seems to be for the richer countries of the world to help the countries where the rainforests are located. One way they could help would be by cancelling the international debts that countries like Brazil owe, while also working together with these countries to solve their other economic problems. At the same time, they could support programmes to teach the local people to regard the rainforests as gardens to be harvested, and not merely as places where the only way for them to make a living is by senselessly cutting down trees and burning. 那么，令人觉得这个问题唯一的解决办法似乎就是世界上较富裕国家应该援助地处于热带雨林的那些国家。援助的方法之一就是放弃或取消像巴西这类国家所欠他们的国际债务，同时还要同这些国家一起协作去解决他们的一些经济问题。与此同时，他们还应该举办各种培训班，教会当在居民把热带雨林办成获得大丰收的花园、果园、菜园、动植物园，而不要只把热带雨林看成是只能用极愚昧无知的砍树烧树的办法来作为谋生的唯一手段的地方。 Such programmes could teach the local people how to select trees worth exporting and to cut only those trees down while leaving the rest, so that the basic make-up of the forest would not be disturbed. This would also mean that the environment needed for the survival of the many rare species of animals and plants, as well as of the Indian tribes that live in the rainforest, could be preserved. The local people could also be taught to earn more money by cutting the selected trees and making them into furniture on the spot. In addition, they could learn how to harvest other valuable natural materials that are now being wasted, and sell them overseas to earn foreign exchange for their countries. 这类培训班或者还可以教会当地居民如何精选出值得出口的树木，只把有出口价值的树木砍掉，而把其余的树都保留下来，以便使森林中基本的生态平衡不被破坏。这样做，也将意味着会把许多珍稀植物和动物赖以生存所必须的环境以及生活在热带雨林中的印地安人的各个部落所赖以自下而上的环境保存下来。也可以教会当地居民通过采伐精选的树木并用这些树木在当地加工成家具的办法去赚到更多的钱。此外，当地居民在培训班还可以学会怎样去采集现在被浪费掉的其他珍贵的天然材料，然后把这些材料卖到国外去，以便为他们的祖国赚回外汇。 Last but not least, people in the richer countries of the world could also help save the rainforests by using wood-derived products such as paper more carefully and by recycling used paper products to help reduce the demand for newly cut wood. 最后，同样重要的是，世界上较富裕国家的人民，要更加注意节约使用以木材为原料的纸张之类的产品，回收利用纸制产品，以便有助于减少重新去砍伐树木的需求量，从而有助于拯救热带雨林。 
接近北冰洋的冻土带上的生活情景 Tundra is the name given to the low, marshy plains of Europe, Siberia, and North America that border on the Arctic Ocean. In Alaska, the vast, cold region known as the "Northern Slope" is part of the tundra. Nature sets harsh terms for survival in this land. Only those plants and animals that are adapted to the hostile environment can survive in it. 欧洲、西伯利亚和北美洲接近北冰洋的低洼沼泽平原名之为冻土带。在美国阿拉斯加洲，那块广阔寒冷通称为"北边坡地"的地区就是冻土带的一部分。大自然为这片土地设置的自下而上条件十分恶劣。只有那些能适应在逆境中生存的植物和动物才能在这种环境中生存下来。 Long periods of darkness and bitter cold are the major threats to life on the tundra. At the Arctic Circle, the sun cannot be seen above the horizon in December. North of the Circle, the darkness lasts even longer. Over the northern reaches of the tundra, no sunlight can be seen at all for several months of the year. 长期的黑暗和刺骨的严寒对在冻土带上生活是两大最主要的威胁。北极圈在12月份，在地平地线之上是看不到太阳的。从北极圈往北黑暗的时间通常会持续得更长些。在冻土带北部边缘的上空，一年中有好几个月根本见不到阳光。 The darkness is balanced, to some degree, by continuous daylight during the summer months. But even in the warmest month, the temperature only averages about 50 degree F (10 degrees C). During the dark winter months the average temperature falls to -16 degrees F ( -27 degrees C), and sometimes to -40 degrees (C and F) and below. 持续的黑暗，在某种意义上来说，同夏季几个月连续不断的的白昼达到了平衡。但即使是在最暖和的月份里，平均温度刚刚能达到华氏约50度。在冬季那几个黑暗的月份里，平均气温降到华氏负16度，有时达零下40甚至更低。 Because of the intense cold, the subsoil of the tundra remains permanently frozen to a great depth. During the brief summer, a few feet (about a meter) of soil thaw at the surface. It is this thin layer of active soil that supports all living things on the tundra. 由于酷寒，冻土带的下层封都冻得很深。在短暂的夏季仅三英尺的表层土壤能解冻。正是这被太阳晒暖了苏醒过来的薄薄的一层土壤养活着冻土带上的一切生物。 
每年长达9个月，冻土带都是一块看上去毫无生机的荒凉的土地。然后到3-6月份，好像是施了魔法一样，一轮永不落的夏天的太阳生出了数百种北极的植物覆盖着大地。 A plant that grows more than three feet (about a meter) is unusual on the tundra. There are no tall trees. The frozen subsoil prevents roots from growing deep enough to support them. By the end of August the breath of winter returns, and by mid-September the tundra is white again. 一种植物若能长得超过了三英尺，这在冻土带上就是很不平常的了。冻土带上根本就不要有高大的树木。深层的永冻土使植物的根不能常常地扎下去来支撑高大的树木。到8月底，冬天的气息又返回来了，到了9月中旬这冻土带又是冬天了。 The animal life on the tundra is unusually rich for an environment that seems so harsh. Herds of arctic deer move from place to place in search of food. Bands of wolves follow them and hunt for the weak or sick ones. 在这种非常恶劣的环境中，冻土带上动物的生活却非常充实。一群一群的北极鹿到处迁徙以便寻找食物。一帮一帮的北极狼跟踪着北极鹿群以便猎吃鹿群中的老弱残病者。 Few birds actually live on the tundra. However, a variety of birds migrate to nest and feed during the summer. The wet, marshy land produces a large number of insects that provide food for the smaller birds that, in turn, provide food for the arctic fox and the wolf. 实际上几乎没有鸟类生活在冻土带上。但是各种各样的候鸟到了夏季会到这里来筑巢繁衍生息。这湿润的沼泽地能生出大量的昆虫，这就给小鸟提供了食物。接下来这些小鸟又充作了北极狐和北极狼的食物。 The balance of nature is so delicate on the tundra that even minor disturbances may produce major changes in the environment. Any increase or decrease in the population of one species may affect all other species on the tundra. For example, if the number of wolves and foxes decrease, the food chain is upset. Without wolves, the number of grazing animals - like the deer - would increase. This increase would result in a food shortage, which would cause death to many smaller animals. A decrease in the number of these smaller animals would in turn decrease the food supply for the arctic fox and the wolf. In this way, the entire food chain might be affected by a change in the number of a single species. 自然界的平衡在冻土带上是非常灵敏的，那怕只要稍微有一点破坏平衡的现象出现就可能产生环境上的一些重大变化。任何一个物种在数量上的增加或减少都会影响到冻土带上所有的其他物种。例如，如果北极狼和北极狐的的数量减少，那食物链就会遭到破坏就会脱节。倘若没有了北极狼，那些食草兽--像驯鹿之类--就会增加，这一增加就会导致很多小动物的死亡。倘若这些波动的数量减少了，接下来就会减少了供应给北极狐和北极狼的食物。这样下来，由于某一物种的数量的改变，就有可能影响到整个食物链的脱节。 
不久前，也只有极少数的爱斯基摩的猎手和探险家才能深究到冻土带上的寒来暑往冬去春来。那么，是什么东西把男男女女都吸引到这块环境十分恶劣的土地上来的呢？答案就是：石油。 In 1968, oil was discovered beneath the frozen soil on Alaska's Northern Slope. Now an 800-mile (about 1300 kilometers) pipeline has been built from Prudhoe Bay on the Arctic Ocean to Valdes, a port on the south coast of Alaska. The pipeline carries the oil from the Northern Slope, across the tundra, to the port. From there, it is shipped to the rest of the United States.1968 年在阿拉斯加北边坡地的冻土下面发现了石油。现在已经把一条800英里长的输油管从北冰洋上的普拉德霍贝架设到了阿拉斯加北边坡地的冻土下面发现了石油。现在的普拉德霍贝架设到了阿拉斯加南岸的港口城市瓦尔迪兹。这条输油管把石油从北部坡地，越过冻土带，输送到瓦尔迪兹港口，又从那里把石油装船运送到美国其他地方。 Thousands of men and women were needed to build and maintain the pipeline. For the first time, large numbers of people were brought into contract with the tundra. Their presence and the presence of the pipeline they built represented a major change in the environment. How will the life cycles of the tundra be affected? 为了和维护保养这条输油管，需要有成千上万的男男女女参与工作。这是破天荒第一次，把一大批又一大批的人送到这里来与冻土带打交道。这些人的到来以及他们所修建的输油管的出现标志着冻土带的环境的重大改变。那么，冻土带的生活周期会受到什么影响呢？ The survival of the United States depends on the ability to find new sources of energy. Oil from beneath the tundra is very important to the nations' development. But the survival of the tundra depends on how carefully people maintain the delicate balance of nature in this environment. 美国能否继续生存下去，依赖于是否有能力找到新的能源。来自冻土带下面的石油对美国的发展至关重要。但是，这块冻土带上的一切是否能继续维持下去，这依赖于人们是否能细心地维护在这种环境下大自然里各个物种之间的平衡。
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