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  3. Pollution and Ecocrisis The problem of pollution is also of great social

Pollution and Ecocrisis The problem of pollution is also of great social

游客2024-01-02  7
问题     Pollution and Ecocrisis
    The problem of pollution is also of great social concern. Continued population increase, accompanied by a rise in the level of living standards, not only threatens to exhaust American resources but pollutes the environment to such an extent that production in the thickly settled area is impossible without damaging the health of the local residents.
    Smog, once an urban annoyance, is now recognized as a health risk, and the automobile has been pinpointed as the principal culprit. Heavy industries have been blamed for river, soil, air, noise and visual pollutions. DDT and other chemical remedies have been doing more ecological harm than the good that they may have brought along.
    Several decades ago, Americans dumped raw sewage into rivers and many industrial plants are now still dumping chemical pollutants into lakes, rivers and oceans. Oceans used to be and are still being considered to be a reserve of seafood. Today, after the oceans have become the home of all pollutants, this use of the oceans is being reduced at an alarming rate.
    The worst pollution threat is concentrated in and near large cities. There the people-made pollutants increasingly surpass the ability of air and water to dilute the contaminants to safe levels. The natural ecological cycle depends on plants, which absorb some pollutants and release oxygen to the air. But near large cities, natural vegetation becomes scarce, and introduced trees, ornamental shrubs and gardens are far from adequate in absorbing motor vehicle and industrial air pollutants. Finally, some pollutants, most notably atomic waste, may continue to contaminate air, land, and water for thousands of years. Therefore, ecocrisis — ecocatastrophe or ecocide — has been for some time one of the major concerns of not only the ecoactivists and environmentalists, but of many scientists of other fields and the government authorities of many countries as well.
    Last but not least, there is the question of whether the people will eventually be able to solve all these problems. The American continent is a wealthy land inhabited by many able and well-educated people. There today, people have originated a life-style which is known to the world as being characteristic of a society of consumption — a life-style based on the prodigal use of material goods. They are using up many times their share of the earth’s resources at a rate unparalleled in history. And I am sorry to say that this life-style of American has been copied by the people of many developed countries, leading to the greatest problem of the modern world as a whole.
    So I must ask: Are the Americans apt enough to cooperate with other peoples to prevent overpopulation, resource exhaustion, the catastrophe of pollution and the wanton waste of wealth-problems which are basic to the solution of many outstanding economic, social and political problems ? Only time will tell.
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答案     污染和生态危机
    污染问题也受到了社会的极大关注。人口在持续增长，生活水平在提高，这不仅威胁到美国资源的枯竭，而且还污染环境到了极严重的地步：人口密集区的工业生产与当地居民的健康已成为不可调和的矛盾。
    烟雾，原先不过是城市居民的一件烦心事，现在被公认为危害健康的头号大敌。机动车辆已被视为造成烟雾的罪魁祸首。重工业因污染河流、土壤、空气、产生噪音和影响可见度等方面而备受指责。滴滴涕(DDT)及其他化学药剂对生态的影响是弊大于利。
    几十年前，美国人把未经处理的污水倒入河流，而许多工厂如今仍在把化学污染物倾入湖泊、江河和海洋。人们一向认为海洋是海产品的宝库。今天，海洋已成为一切污染物的集中地之后，海产品正以惊人速度缩减。
    大城市及其周边是污染最严重的地方。在那里，人为污染物的扩散越来越超过空气和水将污染物分解稀释到安全水平的能力。自然界生态循环依赖于植物；植物吸收一些污染物，把氧气释放到空气中。但邻近大城市的地区，天然植被日渐稀少，而移植的树木、观赏灌木及花园又远不足以吸收机动车辆和工业产生的空气污染物。最终，有些污染物，尤其是原子能废料，可能会继续污染空气、土地和水源达几千年之久。因此，生态危机——也称为生态灾难或生态灭绝——一段时期以来不仅是生态活动家和环保主义者关注的主要问题，而且引起了其他领域许多科学家和许多国家政府当局的重视。
    最后，问题是，人们最终是否能解决所有这些问题?美国大陆是一块富裕的土地，居住着许多能干的、受过良好教育的人。如今，在那里人们开创了一种以消费社会为特色而闻名全球的生活方式，即一种挥霍物质财富为基础的生活方式。美国人正以前所未有的速度耗费着超过他们份额不知多少倍的地球资源。我遗憾地说，美国人的这种生活方式，已被许多发达国家的人民所仿效，导致了当前整个世界的最严重的问题。
    因此我不得不问：美国人是否善于与别国人民合作来防止人口过剩、资源枯竭、污染灾难和恣意浪费人类财富的行为?这一系列问题正是解决许多悬而未决的经济、社会和政治问题的基础。我们将拭目以待。
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