and Counting
美音、自然拼读、分级阅读与词汇复习
Table of Contents A Giant Mystery.
内容表 A巨型神秘.
4 How Many Are Too Many?
4 有多少人太多?
5 A Recent Problem?
5 最近的问题?
7 The Growth Spurt.
7 增长之流.
8 Technology to the Rescue!
8技术救援!
9 The Good News.
9"好报".
12 An Uncertain Future.
12 不确定的未来。
13 Enough for Everyone.
13 足够每个人。
14 An Island in Space.
14 太空岛。
15 Glossary.
15 词汇。
16 India will soon have more people than any other country on Earth.
16 印度将很快拥有比地球上任何其他国家更多的人.
Because most of its people are poor, however, India uses far fewer resources than the United States.
然而,由于印度人民大多是穷人,印度使用的资源远远少于美国。
A Giant Mystery When a group of people called the Rapanui (ra-pa-NOO-e) settled Easter Island in the Pacific Ocean, they cleared trees for homes and fields.
一个巨大的神秘 当一群人叫"拉帕努伊"(ra-pa-NOO-e)在太平洋上定居复活节岛时,他们为家园和田地清除了树木.
With plenty of fish, wildlife, and crops, the population grew.
由于鱼、野生生物和农作物数量多,人口增长。
The Rapanui carved moai (MO-eye)—huge human figures of stone— and raised them along the coast.
拉帕努伊人雕刻了Moai(MO-eye) -- -- 人类石块人物 -- -- 并在海岸一带饲养。
Then, around the year 1680, the carving stopped and the population dropped.
后于1680年左右停止雕刻,人口减少.
What happened?
发生了什么事?
One theory is that the Rapanui used up many of their resources as their population grew too large.
一种理论认为,拉帕努伊人由于人口过多而耗用了许多资源.
Resources are natural things in our environment that help us live: food, clean water, energy.
资源是我们环境中帮助我们生活的自然事物:食物、清洁水、能源。
At one time, the island was able to provide a small population with food, water, and wood for building.
该岛曾一度能为少量人口提供食物,水,木等建筑.
During this time, the people may have used the trunks of trees like wheels to move the huge stones.
在这段时间里,人们可能利用了轮子等树木的树干来移动巨大的石头.
Eventually though, the population grew too large for everyone to get what they needed.
但最终,人口的增长太快,无法满足每个人的需要。
The forests were all cut down.
森林都被砍伐了
Many of the Rapanui died because they’ d used up their resources.
许多拉帕努伊人因耗尽了资源而死亡。
Many people today think the seven billion humans on Earth are using up the planet’s resources in much the same way as the Rapanui.
今天许多人认为地球上70亿人类正在以与拉帕努伊人相同的方式消耗地球的资源。
Will Earth’s people meet the same end as the people of Easter Island?
地球人民会与复活节岛人民同归于尽吗?
These giant statues on Easter Island were far too heavy to carry.
这些复活节岛上的巨型雕像太重了,无法携带.
So how were they moved?
他们怎么移动的?
How Many Are Too Many?
有多少是太多吗?
If you look around you, Earth may not seem crowded.
如果你环顾四周,地球可能看起来并不拥挤.
There are empty houses, fields, and forests.
有空屋,田地和森林.
Even New York City, with an average of 27,012 people per square mile, still has room for parks.
甚至纽约市平均每平方英里27,012人,仍然有公园的空间.
Overpopulation is not a problem of space.
人口过多不是一个空间问题。
Rather, it is a problem of not having enough resources.
相反,这是一个资源不足的问题。
Overpopulation means that people have gone beyond their environment’s carrying capacity—the largest number that can live in a place without using up the resources they need in order to survive.
人口过剩意味着人们已经超越了环境的承受能力,这是能够生活在一个地方而又不耗尽生存所需的资源的最大数量。
Scientists estimate Earth’s carrying capacity at between two and forty billion people.
科学家估计地球的承载能力在20至400亿人之间.
Why such a wide estimate?
为什么这么广的估计?
Because the carrying capacity depends on how many resources each person uses.
因为承载能力取决于每个人使用多少资源.
If everyone on Earth lived the way most Americans live, Earth could only support two billion people.
如果地球上的每一个人都像大多数美国人一样生活,地球只能支持20亿人.
That’s because rich countries like the United States and those in Western Europe use more than three-quarters of the world’s resources.
这是因为美国等富国和西欧国家利用了世界四分之三以上的资源。
Those living in poor countries, although they outnumber the people in rich countries, use only 1.
生活在贫穷国家的人,虽然人数超过富国的人,但只使用1个。
5 percent of the world’s resources.
占世界资源的5%。
Over half the world’s people live in developing countries where more and more resources are being used.
世界上一半以上的人口生活在发展中国家,那里正在使用越来越多的资源。
Two developing countries are China and India, each with more than a billion people.
两个发展中国家是中国和印度,各有10多亿人。
If everyone on Earth used only what we needed to stay alive, our planet could support forty billion people.
如果地球上的每个人都只使用我们生存所需的东西,那么我们的星球可以养活400亿人。
Other species would be pushed out, however, and life would be hard.
然而,其他物种将被淘汰,生活将十分艰难。
World Resource Use in 2005 World Population in 2005Poor countries used 1.
2005年世界资源使用情况 穷国使用1.
5% Many people in poor countries live on less than $1.
贫穷国家中许多人的生活费不到一美元。
25 a day.
一天25个
In rich countries, most people live on at least $10 a day.
在富国,大多数人每天至少靠10美元生活。
Ten dollars a day doesn’t mean you’re rich—far from it.
每天10美元并不代表你有钱,
It does mean you’re richer than 80 percent of the other people on the planet.
这意味着你比地球上其他80%的人都富有。
A Recent Problem?
最近的问题?
Experts suspect the kind of collapse that led to the Rapanui’s decline has happened to many civilizations.
专家怀疑导致拉帕努伊人衰落的倒塌,
In the Middle East, where farming began about ten thousand years ago, populations soared with more food from irrigating crops.
在中东,大约一万年前就开始了耕作,人们从灌溉作物得到更多的粮食。
However, irrigation can erode soil or leave enough salt in the soil to kill crops.
然而,灌溉可能会侵蚀土壤,或者在土壤中留下足够的盐来杀死农作物.
This land, once known as the Fertile Crescent because it could grow so much food, wore out.
这片土地曾被称作"发酵新月" 因为它能种出这么多的食物 却耗尽了
Over time, the theory goes, the carrying capacity of the land decreased and the ancient civilizations disappeared.
随着时间推移,理论发展,土地的承载能力下降,古代文明消失.
As populations go beyond their carrying capacity, the result can be starvation, the spread of disease, the destruction of the environment, and wars as people fight for scarce resources.
随着人口超过其承受能力,结果可能是饥饿、疾病蔓延、环境被破坏,以及人们在为稀缺资源而战。
If they can, some people leave to find new resources.
如果可以的话,有些人离开寻找新的资源.
The Easter Islanders could not leave because their nearest neighbors were thousands of miles across the ocean, and they had no wood left to build canoes.
复活节岛民不能离开,因为他们最近的邻居相隔数千英里,他们没有木材来建造独木舟.
As the European population boomed in the 1800s, people moved to the Americas and Australia.
随着1800年代欧洲人口的繁荣,人们移居到美洲和澳大利亚.
Clearing trees can cause erosion.
清除树木会造成侵蚀。
Too much salt in the soil can kill plants.
土壤中太多的盐能杀死植物.
Here, clearing trees for farming actually released salt from the soil and ruined it.
在这里,清除树木用于耕作 实际上是释放出土壤中的盐 并破坏了它。
The Growth Spurt In 1800, one billion people lived on Earth.
增长之流 1800年,有10亿人生活在地球上.
It took humans 120,000 years to reach that number.
人类花了12万年才达到这个数目.
By 1927, just 127 years later, we had doubled that number.
到了1927年,仅仅127年后,我们把这个数字翻了一番。
Thirty-three years later, in 1960, we’ d tripled it: three billion people.
三十三年之后,在1960年,我们又增加了三倍:30亿人。
The year 2011 saw the seven billionth person on the planet—and a population still growing at more than 200,000 people each day.
2011年是世界上第70亿人的一年,人口仍然每天以20多万人增长。
The population explosion began with the new technology of the Industrial Revolution (1760–1850).
人口爆炸从工业革命的新技术(1760–1850)开始.
New farming practices, manufacturing, and railroads changed the way people lived.
新的耕作方式、制造业和铁路改变了人们的生活方式。
More food and better distribution meant that more children survived and people were healthier.
更多的食物和更好的分配意味着更多的儿童活下来,人们更健康。
More people moved from farms to cities in order to work in factories.
更多的人从农场迁往城市去工厂工作.
At the same time, scientists discovered the causes of many diseases and ways to save thousands of lives.
与此同时,科学家发现了许多疾病的原因和拯救上千人的生命的方法.
More children survived to adulthood, which meant that more adults were around to have more children.
更多的儿童活到成年,这意味着更多的成年人在身边生出更多的孩子。
The human population boomed.
人口激增。
A seven-month-old girl inhales vaporized penicillin.
一个7个月的女孩吸入了被蒸发的青霉素
The antibiotic has saved countless lives.
抗生素拯救了无数人的生命。
Technology to the Rescue!
技术呼叫救援队!
The human population might have grown faster than its ability to grow food, but in the 1940s the Green Revolution began.
人口的增长可能快于其种植粮食的能力,但在1940年代,绿色革命开始了.
Scientists developed special seeds so farmers could produce more food.
科学家开发出特殊的种子,使农民能够生产出更多的粮食.
They developed chemicals to control insects and plant diseases.
他们研发出化学物质来控制昆虫和植物疾病.
Places once unfit for farming could now grow food with chemical fertilizers and irrigation.
曾经不适合耕作的地方现在可以用化肥和灌溉来种植粮食。
This new farming technology spread across the globe, allowing even poor countries to grow more food.
这种新的农业技术在全球传播,甚至使穷国能够种植更多的粮食。
It brought a threefold increase in food production.
粮食产量增加了三倍。
Some people believed that this kind of human invention would allow the population to grow forever.
有些人认为这种人类发明会让人口永远地增长.
Yet new technology brought new problems.
然而,新技术带来了新的问题。
More water was needed for irrigation.
灌溉需要更多的水。
Chemicals used for growing crops polluted food and water, and poisoned the environment.
用于种植作物的化学品污染了食物和水并毒害了环境。
Some people realized that we were destroying the planet we depend on for life.
有些人意识到,我们正在摧毁我们赖以生存的地球。
But there were no New Worlds left to discover on Earth.
但地球上已经没有新世界了
Of course, some resources are renewable.
当然,有些资源是可再生的。
They can be replaced.
他们可以被替换。
New trees can be planted.
新树可栽.
The Sun and wind offer huge supplies of energy.
太阳和风提供了巨大的能源供给。
Water is constantly renewed through the water cycle.
水通过水循环不断更新.
Only 2.
只有2个
5 percent of Earth’s water is fresh.
地球5%的水是新鲜的。
Of that small amount, two-thirds is frozen in glaciers.
其中三分之二被冰冻在冰川中。
The amount of available fresh water is less than 1 percent of the water on Earth.
可用的淡水量不到地球上水量的1%。
Fresh water is not everywhere on the planet, either.
淡水也不在地球上的任何地方。
Twenty percent of people, mostly in Africa and parts of Asia, do not have a safe source of drinking water.
20%的人,大部分在非洲和亚洲部分地区,没有安全的饮用水来源。
Seventy percent of available fresh water is used for irrigation.
现有淡水的70%用于灌溉。
In the United States, underground water in the West is pumped onto fields faster than it can be replaced.
在美国,西方的地下水被泵入田地的速度快于可以取而代之的速度.
Mighty rivers like the Colorado either trickle to the sea or fail to reach the sea at all because so much water is taken for irrigation and cities.
科罗拉多河等威力巨大的河流要么流入大海,要么根本无法通向大海,因为大量水被取去灌溉和城市.
As water becomes scarce, much of the cropland that feeds the world will become desert.
随着水的稀缺,许多养活世界的耕地会变成沙漠.
As the population of Southern Arizona grew from 40,000 to 1 million, the water table plunged 170 feet.
随着亚利桑那州南部的人口从4万增长到100万,水位跌入了170英尺.
One Region’s Water Table 1945–2005 ground level 20 ft.
一个地区的水表,1945-2005年,地表20英尺。
40 ft.
40英尺长
60 ft.
60英尺长.
80 ft.
80英尺长.
100 ft.
百尺长.
120 ft.
120英尺长.
140 ft.
140英尺长.
160 ft.
160英尺长.
180 ft.
180英尺长.
200 ft.
两百英尺
Some of Earth’s resources, like coal, copper, and other metals, can’t be renewed.
地球的一些资源,如煤炭、铜等,无法再更新。
These resources take millions of years to form, so they can’t be replaced once they are used up.
这些资源需要数百万年才能形成,
Oil, one such resource, is used in farming and manufacturing, and to fuel vehicles.
石油是此类资源之一,用于农业和制造业,并用于为车辆提供燃料。
The United States, with 5 percent of the world’s people, uses 25 percent of the world’s oil.
美国拥有世界5%的人口,使用世界25%的石油。
As developing countries need more oil, the price of food and energy will increase.
由于发展中国家需要更多的石油,粮食和能源的价格将上升。
An ecosystem is another resource that can’t be renewed.
生态系统是另一种无法更新的资源。
Ecosystems do the work that keeps our planet healthy.
生态系统的工作是维护地球健康。
Swamps clean water and reduce flooding, grasslands form rich soils, and forests balance the atmosphere.
沼泽净水并减少洪水,草地形成丰富的土壤,而森林平衡了大气.
Yet heavy use of wood and farmland is destroying many important ecosystems.
然而,大量使用木材和农田正在破坏许多重要的生态系统。
Half of Earth’s tropical rainforests, the most diverse ecosystems, are gone.
地球一半的热带雨林,最多样化的生态系统已经消失.
Thousands of plant and animal species become extinct each year.
每年有上千个动植物物种被灭绝.
We cannot bring them back.
我们不能把他们带回来。
Our planet is warming, too.
我们的星球也在变暖
Burning fossil fuels such as oil and coal releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, trapping more heat at Earth’s surface and changing ecosystems around the world.
燃烧石油和煤等化石燃料会释放出二氧化碳入大气层,将更多的热量困入地表,并在世界各地改变生态系统.
Already we have seen melting polar ice caps, spreading deserts, and wilder weather.
我们已经看到了融化的极地冰盖, 沙漠的蔓延, 以及更狂野的天气。
These trends cannot easily be reversed.
这些趋势不容易扭转。
The Good News By 2010, the global population growth rate had slowed from a high of 2.
好消息 到2010年,全球人口增长率从2.高降至2.
2 percent to 1.
2%对1.
1 percent per year.
每年1%。
In many rich countries, population growth has actually stopped or reversed.
在许多富国,人口增长实际上已经停止或逆转。
Their birthrate is now below the replacement rate of 2.
他们的出生率现在低于2的更替率。
1 children per woman.
每名妇女生育1个子女。
The replacement rate is the average number of children born per woman that over time will create a stable population.
更替率是每个妇女平均生出的孩子数量,随着时间的推移,这些孩子将创造稳定的人口。
More people are becoming aware that Earth has limited resources.
更多的人意识到地球资源有限。
Renewable sources of energy, such as wind and solar power, are being developed.
正在开发可再生能源,如风能和太阳能。
Many countries have passed laws for cleaner air and water as well as protection for ecosystems.
许多国家已经通过了清洁空气和水以及保护生态系统的法律。
In some places forests have increased, although the ecosystems of old forests are often lost, even when new trees are planted.
在有些地方,森林有所增加,尽管旧森林的生态系统往往丧失了,即使种植了新树木。
Population (Billions) TFR = total fertility rate TFR = 2.
人口(10亿) TFR = 总生育率 TFR = 2.
5 TFR = 2.
5 TFR = 2. (中文(简体) ).
06 TFR = 1.
06）总和生育率＝1。
7 Data source: UN Long-Range World Population Projections, 1991 World Population Projections, 1990–2150 Three estimates of future world population based on three different fertility rates.
7 资料来源:联合国长期世界人口预测,1991年世界人口预测,1990-2150年。 根据三个不同的生育率对今后世界人口进行三项估计。
The TFR is the average number of children that each woman will have during her lifetime, worldwide.
TFR是每位妇女在其一生中在全世界平均拥有的孩子数量.
An Uncertain Future Despite the good news, the world’s population continues to grow, mostly in poor countries.
尽管有好消息,但世界人口继续增长,主要是在贫穷国家。
The United Nations predicts a population of about 9.
联合国预测人口约为9人。
6 billion by 2050.
到2050年达到60亿.
By most estimates, this is almost twice the number of people who can live on Earth in a sustainable way.
据大多数估计,这几乎是能够以可持续方式生活在地球上的人数的两倍。
But no matter which estimate you believe, everyone now agrees that the human population cannot keep growing forever without destroying the planet.
但是无论你相信什么,现在每个人都同意,人类不可能永远地增长而不摧毁地球。
Lowering birthrates is critical.
降低出生率至关重要。
If rich countries can share Earth’s resources more fairly, it can actually help lower the global birthrate.
如果富国能够更公平地分享地球资源,它实际上可以帮助降低全球出生率。
How might they do this?
他们怎么能这么做?
First, make sure that children and mothers get better health care, clean water, and good food.
第一,确保儿童和母亲得到更好的保健、清洁水和好食物。
Families generally have fewer children if they believe the children they have will survive.
家庭如果相信自己的子女能够活下来,子女一般较少。
Second, governments can provide help for elderly and sick people so that parents will know someone will take care of them when they are old.
第二,政府可以为老年人和病人提供帮助,以便父母知道在他们年老时会有人照顾他们。
Third, educate women.
第三,教育妇女。
When women are educated and given control over deciding the size of their family, they tend to have fewer children.
当妇女接受教育并掌握决定家庭规模的权力时,她们的孩子往往较少。
Enough for Everyone Consider the United States.
足够大家考虑美国了
Because it has gone past its carrying capacity, Americans must bring in resources from other countries to keep up their standard of living.
由于美国已经超过其承受能力,美国必须从其他国家引进资源来维持其生活水平。
With seven billion people on Earth, we’ d need three or four more planets for everyone to live like most people in the United States.
地球上有70亿人,我们还需要三到四个星球,让每个人都像美国大多数人一样生活。
Everyone in the world can have enough to eat, however, if people in rich countries eat smarter and waste less.
然而,如果富国人民吃得更聪明、浪费更少,世界上每个人都可以吃得足够多。
For example, grain is the world’s most important source of food.
例如,谷物是世界上最重要的食物来源。
Yet as meat production has boomed for rich and developing countries, a third of the grain grown worldwide is used to feed livestock.
然而,随着富国和发展中国家的肉类生产蓬勃发展,全世界所种植的粮食有三分之一用于养活牲畜。
It takes between 11 pounds (4.
需要11磅(4.
99 kg) and 16 pounds (7.
99公斤)和16磅(7.
25 kg) of grain to create 1 pound (0.
25公斤)的谷物来创造出1磅(0.
45 kg) of meat.
45公斤)肉类.
Eating less meat means more grain for people in poor countries and protection of valuable grasslands.
食用较少的肉类意味着为贫穷国家的人民提供更多的谷物并保护有价值草地.
Average Americans use 3 times the food and 250 times the fresh water needed to survive.
美国人平均使用的食物是食物的3倍,是生存所需的淡水的250倍.
They are the world’s biggest consumers.
他们是世界上最大的消费者。
They could instead be the world’s most efficient consumers if they make intelligent choices about how to live.
相反,如果他们能明智地选择如何生活,他们可以成为世界上效率最高的消费者。
An Island in Space The Rapanui left records on carved tablets, but no one can translate the ancient language today.
太空中的一岛"拉帕努伊"将记录留在了被雕刻的平板上,但今天没有人能翻译出古老的语言.
Even so, we can still learn from the Rapanui.
尽管如此,我们仍然可以从拉帕努伊人那里学习.
Hopefully, the tale of their little island can teach us to protect our limited resources on Earth, our own little island in space.
希望他们的小岛的故事 能教我们保护我们地球上的有限资源 我们自己的小岛