The history of life on earth has been a history of interaction between living things and their surroundings. To a large extent, the physical form and the habits of the earths vegetation and its animal life have been molded by the environment. Considering the whole span of earthly time, the opposite effect, in which life actually modifies its surroundings,has been relatively slight. Only in the present century has one species--man acquired significant power to alter the nature of his world.
地球上生命的历史一直是生物与其环境相互作用的历史。在很大程度上,地球物理形式和习惯的植被和动物生活由环境所塑造的。考虑到地球上生命存在的整个时间,相反作用,即生命对其周围环境的实际改变作用,却相对很小。只有在本世纪有一个物种人类获得相当大的权力,以修改他的世界的本质。
During the past quarter century this power has not only become increasingly great but it has changed in character.The most alarming of all mans assaults upon the environment is the contaminatien of air, earth, rivers, and sea with dangerous and even lethal materials. This pollution is for the most part irrecoverable. In this now universal contamination of the environment, chemicals are the sinister partners of radiation in changing the very nature of the world, the very nature of itslife.
在过去的四分之一个世纪中,这种力量不仅日趋强大,而且其性质也发生了变化。最令人担忧的人的攻击在环境空气的contaminatien,地球、河流以及海洋中排放危险甚至致命物质。这对大部分污染是不能挽回的。现在在这个普遍的环境污染,化学物质辐射的邪恶的伙伴改变世界的本质,他是生活的本质。
It took hundreds of millions of years to produce the life that now inhabits the earth. Given time not in years but in millennia life adjusts, and a balance has been reached. But in the modern world there is no time.
数亿年才产生了栖息其上的生活。经过了一定时间不是以若干年计而是在几千年生命开始适应环境,并形成了一种与环境的平衡。但在现代世界,没有时间。
It is not my contention that chemical insecticides must never be used. I do contend that we have put poisonous and biologically potent chemicals indiscriminately into the hands of persons largelyor wholly ignorant of their potentials for harm. We have subjected enormous numbers of people to contact with these poisons, without their consent and often without their knowledge. I contend,furthermore, that we have allowed these chemicals to be used with little or no advance investigation of their effect on soil, water, wildlife, and man himself. Future generations are unlikely to forgive our lack of concern for the integrity of the natural world that supports all life.
这不是我的观点,即化学杀虫剂绝不能被使用。我要说的是,我们不分青红皂白地将这些有毒的、具有强大生物功能的化学制品的手largelyor完全无知的人的潜力的伤害。我们使众多的人接触这些有毒物质,没有他们的同意和经常没有他们的知识。此外,我还要说的一点是,我们允许使用这些化学制品,却事先很少或者根本没有调查它们对土壤的影响,水、野生生物以及人类自身造成。后代是不可能原谅我们缺乏对自然世界的完整性,支持所有的生命。