中國網站品牌欄目（頻道）
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 Arenal National Park in Costa Rica. A new report has warned that humans are overusing the planet's resources.
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Human demands on natural resources have doubled in under 50 years and are now outstripping what the Earth can provide by more than half, a new report has warned. And humanity carries on as it is in use of resources, globally it will need the capacity of two Earths by 2030, the biennial Living Planet Report said. Wildlife in tropical countries is also under huge pressure, with populations of species falling by 60 per cent in three decades. And the report, from the WWF, the Zoological Society of London and the Global Footprint Network, said British people are still consuming far more than the Earth can cope with. If everyone lived such a lifestyle, humans would need 2.75 planets to survive, it warned. The world's people are now living lifestyles which would require one and a half planets to sustain, though there are significant differences between rich and poor nations. The study's authors looked at 8,000 populations of 2,500 species and studied the change in land use and water consumption across the globe. The UK comes 31st in a list of countries based on their 'ecological footprint' - the amount of land and sea each person needs to provide the food, clothes and other products they consume and to absorb the carbon dioxide they emit. The country has fallen down the league table from having the 15th biggest footprint in the last report two years ago, but WWF attributes this to an increase in other countries' impact rather than a reduction in the UK's use of resources. Ireland has the 10th highest ecological footprint in the world, while the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Denmark, Belgium and the US are the five worst countries for over-consumption of resources. Much of the 'ecological overshoot' is caused by the world's rising carbon footprint, which has increased 11-fold since 1961. It also carried a warning about the loss of wildlife and ecosystems which people depend on for food, fuel, clean water and other resources - with populations of species declining by 30 per cent worldwide between 1970 and 2007. (Read by Nelly Min. Nelly Min is a journalist at the China Daily Web site.) (Agencies) |
一份新報告警告稱，人類對自然資源的需求量在不到50年內翻了一番，目前已超出地球供應能力的一半。 這份每兩年出版一次的《地球生命力報告》稱，如果人類繼續以這種方式消耗資源，到2030年，全球人口將需要兩個地球才能滿足其需求。 熱帶國家的野生動物也面臨著巨大的壓力，其物種數量在30年內減少了60%。 該報告稱英國人對資源的消耗量依然遠遠超過地球的供應能力。這份報告由世界自然基金會、倫敦動物學會和環球足跡網絡共同完成。 報告告誡道，如果人人都以這種方式生活，人類將需要2.75個地球才能維持生存。 以目前的生活方式，世界人口需要1.5個地球才能維持，不過富國和窮國人口的生活方式存在著巨大差異。 該研究的作者對2500多個物種、8000個種群的生存狀況進行了觀察，并對全球土地和水資源消耗方式的變化進行了研究。 在依據“生態足跡”對多個國家做出的排名中，英國排在第31位。“生態足跡”即維持一個人生存所需的衣食等消費品以及吸收一個人排出的二氧化碳所占用的土地和海洋的面積。 英國的“生態足跡”排名比兩年前的第15名有所下降。但世界自然基金會將其歸功于其它國家影響作用的增加，而非英國資源消耗量的減少。 愛爾蘭的“生態足跡”在世界上排名第十，阿聯酋、卡塔爾、丹麥、比利時和美國是過度消耗資源情況最糟的五個國家。 全世界大部分“生態超載”都是由“碳足跡”的不斷增長引起的，自1961年以來，“碳足跡”已增長了11倍。 該報告還針對野生動植物的減少和生態系統的破壞提出了警告——這是人類獲取食物、燃料、淡水和其它資源的來源。1970年至2007年間，全球的物種數量減少了30%。 相關閱讀 （中國日報網英語點津 實習生強鳳華 編輯：陳丹妮） |
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Vocabulary: outstrip: exceed（超過） biennial: happening once every two years（兩年一次的） overshoot: to do more or to spend more money than you originally planned 超過（原計劃）；突破（預計費用） |
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