考研英語講義:推薦背誦的十篇精選文章九
Saving Land for Endangered Animals

　　There is only so much land on the earth, and so what we can do with it is limited. Some people believe that human needs for farmland, housing and industry should come first, while others believe that some land should be set aside for endangered animals. I am of the opinion that we should reserve some land for the world’s animals for the following reasons.
　　First, mankind’s need for land is constantly growing. If the demand is not checked in some way, humans will eventually develop all of the earth’s available land. At that time, mankind will have no more room to grow, and all the wild animals will have disappeared, as well as other valuable resources. Second, humans are able to innovate and can use the land that they already possess in more efficient ways. Animals are unable to do this. Once their land is taken away from them they will die. Third and last, endangered animals are an important part of the biodiversity of our planet. If they disappear, we cannot predict what the effect will be. Therefore, we should treat such animals as a valuable resource to be protected.
　　To sum up, the world’s endangered animals are an important resource and we should protect them by setting aside some land for them. Although mankind’s need for land continues to grow, people are intelligent and inventive enough to put the land they have to better use. In this way, we can have enough land for farming, housing and industry, and preserve the biodiversity of the planet at the same time.

　　參考譯文：
保留土地給瀕臨絕種的動物
　　地球上的土地就只有這么多，所以我們可以利用土地的方式有限。有些人認(rèn)為人類對于耕地、居住以及工業(yè)的需求應(yīng)該擺在第一位，但是有人則認(rèn)為，有些土地應(yīng)該留給瀕臨絕種的動物。我的看法是，基于下列的理由，我們應(yīng)該保留一些土地給地球上的動物。
　　首先，人類對土地的需求在不斷增加。如果這些需求不以某種方式來加以抑制，人類最后將會開發(fā)完地球上所有可用的土地。到那時候，人類將沒有栽種作物的空間，而且全部的野生動物將會和其他寶貴的資源一樣消失殆盡。其次，人類可以創(chuàng)新并且以更有效率的方式來使用已經(jīng)擁有的土地，動物則無法做到這一點(diǎn)。一旦土地被剝奪，它們就會死亡。第三點(diǎn)，也是最后一點(diǎn)，瀕臨絕種的動物是我們地球上物種多元性的重要組成部分。如果它們消失了，我們無法預(yù)測將會造成什么樣有影響。因此，我們應(yīng)該把這些動物視為需要保護(hù)的珍貴資源。
　　總之，全世界瀕臨絕種的動物都是一項重要的資源，我們應(yīng)該加以保護(hù)，并且保留一些土地給它們。雖然人類對于土地的需求在持續(xù)增加，但人類很聰明，而且具有創(chuàng)造力，能夠更充分利用所擁有的土地。如此一來，我們會有足夠的土地耕種、居住，并用來發(fā)展工業(yè)，而且能同時保持地球物種的多元性。

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