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Text 1 Environmental Problems
Information related to the text
1) Environment
The physical surroundings of an organism or organisms, including
biological, physical, and chemical factors. In the context of human ecology,
it also includes social and cultural surroundings. Planning, caring for, and
conservation of the human environment, both built and natural, became of increasing
concern in the years following World War II.
Since then the environmental movement
has broadened public concern so that the term now encompasses wildlife and endangered
species and habitats, and the threat to planetary systems posed by pollution,
deforestation, desertification, and other effects of human activity. In philosophy,
environmentalism stresses the influence of the physical environment on man's
development and activities.
2) Environmental protection organizations
With a growing awareness of the importance of environmental protection, a number
of environmental protection organizations have been established. Here are some
of them:
Green Party: a British political party that aims to protect the environment.
It is against the use of nuclear power and other forms of industry and transport
which it considers harmful. It was formed in 1973 as the Ecology Party, and
changed its name to the Green Party in 1985. Other countries also have parties
that share the same name and ideals.
Greenpeace: a large international pressure group that aims to protect the environment.
Its members are well known for taking direct action and putting their own lives
in dangers in order to stop people from harming the environment. For example,
they often go out in small boats to stop people from killing whales or throwing
poisonous material into the sea.
The Environmental Protection Agency: a US government organization that
establishes
rules and standards for protecting the environment, e.g. against pollution.
Language notes
1) Before humans came on the scene, the
world changed only slowly.
（人类出现之前,世界变化很慢。）
Came on the scene means arrive, (fig) be present/appear.
e.g. By the time I came on the scene, it was all over.
2) Forests have disappeared, river courses
have been changed...
（森林已经消失，河流也已改道......）
Course here means forward movement in space or time.
e.g. the course of life from the cradle to the grave;
the course of events
3) Animals (like ourselves) give out
carbon dioxide...
（动物（象我们一样）呼出二氧化碳......）
To give out means to send out or emit sth.
e.g. The radiator is giving out a lot of heat.
4) The problem with the greenhouse effect
began about 100 years ago when people started using fuels like oil and petrol
on a large scale.
（100年前人们开始大规模地使用汽油等燃料时，温室效应于是开始。）
On a large/small scale means to a large, etc. extent/degree.
e.g. They are preparing for war on a large scale.
Text 2 Farming
Information related to the text
Green Revolution: a term referring mainly to dramatic increases in cereal-grain
yields in many developing countries beginning in the late 1960s, due largely
to use of genetically improved varieties. Beginning in the mid-1940s researchers
in Mexico developed broadly adapted, short-stemmed, disease-resistant wheat
that excelled at converting fertilizer and water into high yields. The improved
seeds were instrumental in boosting Mexican wheat production and averting famine
in India and Pakistan, earning the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize for American plant
breeder Norman E. Borlaug, leader of the Mexican wheat team.
Significant though
less dramatic improvements followed in corn. The Mexican program inspired a
similarly successful rice-research effort in the Philippines and a network of
research centers dedicated to the important food crops and environments of the
developing world. By 1992 the system included 18 centers, mostly in developing
countries, staffed by scientists from around the world, supported by a consortium
of foundations, national governments, and international agencies. Recent research
responds to criticism that the Green Revolution depends on fertilizers, irrigation,
and other factors that poor farmers cannot afford and that may be ecologically
harmful,and that it promotes monocultures and loss of genetic diversity.
Language notes
1) Where this is not done the farming
is "extensive" rather than "intensive"...
（没有采用这种方法的农场经营是分散型的，而不是集约型...）
Rather than here means instead of, in preference to
(sb/sth).
e.g. It is management that is at fault rather than the work-force.
2)
In the 1960s special international efforts were made to breed new crop varieties
that would produce better yields.
（20世纪60年代国际上专门组织力量培育新的作物品种，提高产量。）
To breed means to produce
(offspring).
e.g. How often do lions breed?
3) The new varieties of plants need
fertilizers and pesticides if they are to grow well and resist diseases.
（新的植物品种要生长得好,抵抗疾病,就需要化肥和杀虫剂。）
Be to here expresses possibility.
e.g. The book was not to be found.
4) Animals kept on organic farms are
allowed to roam in the open air and are not locked up in cages for long periods.
（在施用有机肥的农场人们把动物露天放养在草场上，而不是长时间的关在笼子里。）
To lock up means to make (a house, etc.) secure by locking the doors
and
windows.
e.g. Don't forget to lock up before leaving home.
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