The other environmental emergency

另一个环境紧急状况

Loss of biodiversity

生物多样性丧失

Technology has a growing role to play in monitoring, modeling and protecting ecosystems, writes Catherine Brahic

本专题作者凯瑟琳•布拉伊克认为，技术将在监测、模拟和保护生态系统方面发挥日益重要的作用

01

原文及翻译

HUMAN SOCIETIES depend on healthy ecosystems. 

People consume their products in the shape of fish, meat, crops, timber and fibres such as cotton and silk. 

Medicines may be directly harvested from the natural world or inspired bymolecules and mechanisms found within it. 

The ecosystems that crops dependupon are regulated by living things. 

Through photosynthesis, trees and other plants take in carbon and pump out oxygen. 

【In doing so they remove roughly 11bn tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year, equivalent to 27% of what human industry and agriculture emits (the oceans absorb a further 10bn tonnes).】

人类社会依赖健康的生态系统。人们消费这些系统的产物，比如鱼、肉、农作物、木材和纤维(比如棉和丝绸)。药物可以直接从自然界获得，也可以受在自然界中发现的分子和机制启发而来。农作物依赖的生态系统受生物的调节。通过光合作用，树木和其他植物吸收二氧化碳并释放氧气。以这种方式，它们每年从大气中移除约 110 亿吨二氧化碳,相当于人类工业和农业排放量的 27%(海洋吸收了另外 100 亿吨)。

【段落大意】：人类依赖生态系统，但其移除的二氧化碳不到人类排放量的三分之一

02

重点词汇

1. monitor /'mɒnɪtə/ n. 监视器 vt. 监控

【→】If you monitor something, you regularly check its development or progress, and sometimes comment on it. 监控;监视;监督

【例】Other devices monitor drivers' behavior behind the wheel.

还有一些装置可以监控司机在驾驶过程中的行为。

2. timber /'tɪmbə/ n. 木料，木材；树木；横梁

【→】Timber is wood that is used for building houses and making furniture. You can also refer to trees that are grown for this purpose as timber. 木材;原木;树木；林木

【例】Trade in tropical timber is a billion-dollar business.

热带木材贸易是一项价值十亿美元的生意。

3. molecule /'mɒlɪkjuːl/ n. 分子

【→】A molecule is the smallest amount of a chemical substance which can exist by itself. 分子

【例】Without realizing it, molecule by molecule, we have upset the Earth's climatic balance.

不知不觉中那些分子破坏了地球的气候平衡。

4. photosynthesis /ˌfəʊtə(ʊ)'sɪnθɪsɪs/ n. 光合作用

【→】Photosynthesis is the way that green plants make their food using sunlight. 光合作用；光能合成

【例】Photosynthesis is surprisingly inefficient, only of the order of one to two percent.

“光合作用的效率低得惊人，大概只有 1%到 2%。 

5. absorb /əb'sɔ:b/ vt. 吸收；承受；理解；使…全神贯注

【→】If something absorbs light, heat, or another form of energy, it takes it in. 吸收（光、热等能量）

【例】They're naturally hydrophobic, meaning they won't absorb water.

它们天生就具疏水性，意思是它们不会吸收水分。

03

短语、句型、长难句

⚫ depend on：依赖；相信；随…而定

⚫ inspired by：受启发

⚫ depend upon：依赖；依靠

⚫ take in：接受；理解

⚫ equivalent to：等于；相当于

【①In doing so they remove roughly 11bn tonnes ②of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year, equivalent to 27% of ③what human industry and agriculture emits (the oceans absorb a further 10bn tonnes).】 

①作状语，in doing so 这样做时，以这种方式。 

②作后置定语，解释说明 110 亿吨什么，又从哪来。

③what 为定语，引导宾语从句。

▷ 翻译：以这种方式，它们每年从大气中移除约 110 亿吨二氧化碳,相当于人类工业和农业排放量的 27%(海洋吸收了另外 100 亿吨)。

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