2.Silent Spring(1768)

Passage Two

Rachel Carson (1907-1964), writer, scientist, and ecologist, was born in Springdale,Pennsylvania. In Silent Spring (1962), she challenged the practices of agricultural scientists and the government and warned the public about the long-term effects of misusing pesticides.When the book first appeared, Carson was bitterly attacked by the chemical industry and some people in the government as an alarmist, but she courageously spoke out against those criticisms.

雷切尔·卡森(1907-1964)，作家、科学家和生态学家，出生于宾夕法尼亚州斯普林代尔。在《寂静的春天》(1962)中，她对农业科学家和政府的做法提出了挑战，并警告公众滥用杀虫剂的长期影响。当这本书第一次出版时，卡森被化学工业和政府中的一些人猛烈地抨击为危言耸听，但她勇敢地站出来反对这些批评。

Silent Spring

Rachel Carson

【1】There was once a town in the heart of America where all life seemed to live in harmony with its surroundings. The town lay in the midst of prosperous farms, where, in spring, white clouds of bloom drifted above the green fields. In autumn, oak and maple and birch set up a blaze of color that flamed and flickered across a background of pines. Then foxes barked in the hills, and deer silently crossed the fields.

【2】Along the roads, laurel, great ferns, and wildflowers delighted the traveler's eye through much of the year. Even in winter, the roadsides were places of beauty, where countless birds came to feed on the berries and on the seed heads of the dried weeds rising above the snow.

【3】The countryside was, in fact, famous for the abundance and variety of its bird life, and when the flood of migrants was pouring through in spring and fall, people traveled from great distances to observe them. Others came to fish the streams, which flowed clear and cold out of the hills and contained shady pools where trout lay. So it had been from the days many years ago when the first settlers raised their houses, sank their wells, and built their barns.

【4】Then some evil spell settled on the community: mysterious diseases swept the flocks of chickens, the cattle, and sheep sickened and died. In the town, the doctors became more and more puzzled by new kinds of sickness appearing among their patients. There had been several sudden and unexplained deaths, not only among adults but even among children.

【5】There was a strange stillness. The birds, for example—where had they gone? The feeding stations in the backyards were deserted. The few birds seen anywhere trembled violently and could not fly. It was a spring without voices. On the mornings that had once throbbed with the dawn chorus of scores of bird voices, there was now no sound; only silence lay over the fields and woods and marsh.

【6】The roadsides, once so attractive, were now lined with browned and withered vegetation as though swept by fire. These, too, were silent, deserted by all living things. Even the streams were now lifeless. Anglers no longer visited them, for all the fish had died.

【7】Some weeks before, a white powder had fallen like snow upon the roofs and the lawns, the fields, and streams.

No witchcraft, no enemy action had silenced the rebirth of new life in this stricken world. The people had done it themselves.

【8】This town does not actually exist. I know of no community that has experienced all the misfortunes I describe. Yet every one of these disasters has actually happened somewhere, and many real communities have already suffered a substantial number of them, and this imagined tragedy may easily become a harsh reality we all shall know.

What has already silenced the voices of spring in countless towns in America?

【9】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 earth's 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.

【10】During the past quarter century, this power has not only become increasingly great but it has changed in character. The most alarming of all man's assaults upon the environment is the contamination 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 its life.

【11】Chemicals sprayed on croplands or forests or gardens lie long in soil, entering into living organisms, passing from one to another in a chain of poisoning and death. Or they pass mysteriously by underground streams until they emerge and combine into new forms that kill vegetation, sicken cattle, and work unknown harm on those who drink from once pure wells. "Man can hardly even recognize the devils of his own creation," as a scientist has said.

【12】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.

【13】The rapidity of change follows the impetuous pace of man rather than the deliberate pace of nature. Radiation is now the unnatural creation of man's tampering with the atom. The chemicals are the synthetic creations of man's inventive mind, having no counterparts in nature.

【14】To adjust to these chemicals would require not merely the years of a man's life but the life of generations. And even this, were it by some miracle possible, would be futile, for the new chemicals come from our laboratories in an endless stream; almost five hundred annually find their way into actual use in the United States alone.

【15】Among them are many that are used in man's war against nature. Since the mid-1940s, over 200 basic chemicals have been created for use in killing insects, weeds, and other organisms described as "pests," and they are sold under several thousand different brand names.

【16】These chemicals are now applied almost universally to farms, gardens, forests, and homes, killing every insect, the "good" and the "bad," to still the song of birds and the leaping of fish, to coat the leaves with a deadly film, and to linger on in soil—all this though the intended target may be only a few weeds or insects.

【17】Can anyone believe it is possible to lay down such a large number of poisons on the surface of the earth without making it unfit for all life? They should not be called "insecticides," but "biocides."

【18】The whole process of spraying seems caught up in an endless spiral. This has happened because insects, in Darwin's principle of the survival of the fittest, have evolved super races immune to the particular insecticide used, hence a deadlier one has always to be developed and then a deadlier one than that.

【19】It has happened also because destructive insects often undergo a "flare-back," or resurgence, after spraying, in numbers greater than before. Thus, the chemical war is never won, and all life is caught in its violent crossfire.

【20】How could intelligent beings seek to control a few unwanted species by a method that contaminated the entire environment and brought the threat of disease and death even to their own kind? Yet this is precisely what we have done.

【21】All this is not to say there is no insect problem and no need of control. I am saying, rather, that control must be geared to realities, and that the methods employed must be such that they do not destroy us along with the insects.

【22】Under primitive agricultural conditions, the farmer had few insect problems. Nature has introduced great variety into the landscape and holds the species within bounds by the built-in checks and balances. One important natural check is a limit on the amount of suitable habitat for each species.

【23】Insect problems arose with the intensification of agriculture, the devotion of immense acreage to a single crop. Such a system set the stage for explosive increases in specific insect populations. Obviously then, an insect that lives on wheat can build up its population to much higher levels on a farm devoted to wheat than on one in which wheat is intermingled with other crops to which the insect is not adapted.

【24】Another factor in the modern insect problem is the spreading of thousands of different kinds of organisms from their native homes. Some hundred million years ago, flooding seas cut many land bridges between continents, and living things found themselves confined in what an ecologist calls "colossal separate nature reserves." There, isolated from others of their kind, they developed many new species. When some of the land masses were joined again, about 15 million years ago, these species began to move out into new territories—a movement that is not only still in progress but is now receiving considerable assistance from man.

【25】The importation of plants is the primary agent in the modern spread of species, for animals have almost invariably gone along with the plants. Nearly half of the 180 or so major insect enemies of plants in the United States are accidental imports from abroad, and most of them have come as hitchhikers on plants.

【26】In new territory, out of reach of the restraining hand of the natural enemies that kept down its numbers in its native land, an invading plant or animal is able to become enormously abundant. Thus, it is no accident that our most troublesome insects are introduced species.

【27】We are faced, according to Dr. Elton, "with a life-and-death need not just to find new technological means of suppressing this plant or that animal," instead we need the basic knowledge of animal populations and their relations to their surroundings that will "promote an even balance and damp down the explosive power of outbreaks and new invasions."

【28】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 largely or 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.

【29】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.

第二课

寂静的春天

瑞秋·卡森

【1】从前，在美国的中心地带有一个小镇，那里所有的生物似乎都与周围的环境和谐相处。小镇坐落在一片欣欣向荣的农场中间，春天的时候，盛开的白云飘过绿色的田野。秋天，橡树、枫树和桦树在松树的背景上形成了熊熊燃烧和闪烁的色彩。狐狸在山上吠叫，鹿悄悄地穿过田野。

【2】在一年中的大部分时间里，沿路的月桂、大蕨类植物和野花都使旅行者赏心悦目。即使在冬天，路边也是美丽的地方，无数的鸟儿来吃浆果和雪上长出来的干杂草的种子。

【3】事实上，这个乡村以鸟类的丰富多样而闻名，当春天和秋天候鸟大量涌入时，人们从很远的地方赶来观察它们。另一些人则到小溪里钓鱼，小溪从山上清澈而冰冷地流出来，里面有阴凉的池塘，鳟鱼就躺在那里。从许多年前第一批移民盖房子、打井、建谷仓的日子起，情况就一直如此。

【4】然后，某种邪恶的魔咒降临了这个社区:神秘的疾病席卷了鸡群，牛羊生病和死亡。在镇上，医生们对病人中出现的新疾病越来越感到困惑。不仅在成年人中，甚至在儿童中，都发生了几起突然而无法解释的死亡事件。

【5】有一种奇怪的寂静。比如那些鸟，它们到哪里去了?后院的喂食站空无一人。随处可见的几只鸟剧烈地颤抖着，飞不起来。这是一个无声的春天。曾经在黎明时分有几十只鸟合唱的早晨悸动着，现在却没有了声音;只有寂静笼罩着田野、树林和沼泽。

【6】曾经如此迷人的路边，现在却像被大火扫过一样，铺满了枯黄的植物。这些地方也鸦雀无声，被所有的生物遗弃了。现在连小溪都死气沉沉了。垂钓者不再光顾他们，因为所有的鱼都死了。

【7】几个星期前，一种白色的粉末像雪一样落在屋顶上、草坪上、田野上和小溪上。

在这个受灾的世界里，没有巫术，没有敌人的行动阻止了新生命的重生。这是人们自己做的。

【8】这个城镇实际上并不存在。据我所知，没有哪个社区经历过我所描述的所有不幸。然而，这些灾难中的每一个实际上都在某个地方发生过，许多真实的社区已经遭受了相当多的灾难，这种想象中的悲剧很容易成为我们都将知道的残酷现实。

是什么让美国无数城镇的春声沉寂?

【9】地球上生命的历史就是一部生物与其周围环境相互作用的历史。在很大程度上，地球上植物和动物的物理形态和习性是由环境塑造的。考虑到地球时间的整个跨度，相反的影响，即生命实际改变其周围环境的影响，相对较小。只有在本世纪，一个物种，人类，才获得了改变世界自然的强大力量。

【10】在过去的25年里，这种力量不仅变得越来越强大，而且它的性质也发生了变化。在人类对环境的所有破坏中，最令人担忧的是空气、土壤、河流和海洋受到危险甚至致命物质的污染。这种污染在很大程度上是无法恢复的。在现在这种普遍的环境污染中，化学物质是辐射的邪恶伙伴，改变着世界的本质，生命的本质。

【11】喷洒在农田、森林或花园上的化学物质长期滞留在土壤中，进入生物体内，从一个传到另一个，形成中毒和死亡的链条。或者它们神秘地通过地下溪流，直到它们出现并结合成新的形式，杀死植物，生病的牛，并对那些饮用曾经纯净的井的人造成未知的伤害。正如一位科学家所说:“人类甚至连自己创造的魔鬼都认不出来。”

【12】现在居住在地球上的生命花了数亿年的时间才产生。假以时日，不是以年为单位，而是以千年为单位，生命会进行调整，并达到一种平衡。但在现代社会，没有时间了。

【13】变化之快追随的是人类鲁莽的步伐，而不是大自然从容的步伐。如今，辐射是人类对原子进行干预的非自然产物。这些化学物质是人类创造性思维的合成产物，在自然界中没有相应的产物。

【14】适应这些化学物质不仅需要一个人一生的时间，而且需要几代人的时间。即使这样，即使奇迹发生，也是徒劳的，因为新的化学物质源源不断地从我们的实验室里涌出;仅在美国，每年就有近500种药物投入实际使用。

【15】其中有许多被用于人类与自然的战争。自20世纪40年代中期以来，超过200种基本化学物质被发明出来，用于杀死昆虫、杂草和其他被称为“害虫”的生物，它们以几千种不同的品牌出售。

【16】这些化学物质现在几乎普遍应用于农场、花园、森林和家庭中，杀死所有的昆虫，包括“好的”和“坏的”，使鸟儿的歌声和鱼的跳跃停止，使树叶上覆盖一层致命的薄膜，并滞留在土壤中，所有这些尽管预期的目标可能只是一些杂草或昆虫。

【17】有人能相信在地球表面投放如此大量的毒药而不使地球不适合所有生命生存吗?它们不应该被称为“杀虫剂”，而应该被称为“杀生物剂”。

【18】整个喷洒过程似乎陷入了一个无止境的漩涡。这是因为，根据达尔文的适者生存原则，昆虫已经进化出了对特定杀虫剂免疫的超级种族，因此总是会开发出更致命的杀虫剂，然后是更致命的杀虫剂。

【19】造成这种情况的另一个原因是，在喷洒农药后，破坏性昆虫的数量往往会比以前更多地“反弹”或复活。因此，化学战争永远不会获胜，所有的生命都被卷入了这场激烈的交火中。

【20】有智慧的生物怎么可能试图用一种污染整个环境，甚至给自己的同类带来疾病和死亡威胁的方法来控制少数不受欢迎的物种呢?然而，这正是我们所做的。

【21】这一切并不是说没有昆虫问题，也不需要控制。相反，我要说的是，控制必须与现实相适应，所采用的方法不能把我们和昆虫一起消灭。

【22】在原始农业条件下，农民很少有虫害问题。大自然为景观带来了巨大的多样性，并通过内在的制衡将物种限制在一定范围内。一个重要的自然检查是每个物种适合栖息地的数量限制。

【23】随着农业的集约化，大面积种植单一作物，出现了昆虫问题。这种系统为特定昆虫种群的爆炸性增长奠定了基础。显然，以小麦为食的昆虫在种植小麦的农场上的种群数量要比在小麦与其他昆虫不适应的作物混种的农场上的种群数量高得多。

【24】现代昆虫问题的另一个因素是成千上万种不同的生物从它们的原生栖息地扩散开来。几亿年前，泛滥的海水切断了大陆之间的许多陆桥，生物发现自己被限制在生态学家所说的“巨大的独立自然保护区”中。在那里，它们与其他同类隔绝，进化出了许多新物种。大约1500万年前，当一些陆地块再次连接在一起时，这些物种开始向新的领域迁移，这一运动不仅仍在进行中，而且现在还得到了人类的大力帮助。

【25】植物的输入是现代物种传播的主要媒介，因为动物几乎总是与植物一起传播的。在美国，大约180种植物的主要天敌中，有近一半是偶然从国外进口的，其中大多数是搭植物的便车而来的。

【26】在新的领土上，一种入侵的植物或动物在其原生土地上摆脱了天敌控制其数量的控制之手，能够变得极其丰富。因此，我们最讨厌的昆虫是外来物种，这绝非偶然。

【27】根据埃尔顿博士的说法，我们面临着“一种生死攸关的需要，不仅需要找到抑制这种植物或那种动物的新技术手段，”相反，我们需要了解动物种群及其与周围环境的关系的基本知识，以“促进平衡，抑制疾病爆发和新入侵的爆炸性力量”。

【28】我并不是说绝不能使用化学杀虫剂。我确实认为，我们不分青红皂白地把有毒的和具有生物效力的化学品交给了那些基本上或完全不知道其潜在危害的人。我们让大量的人在未经他们同意，而且往往不知情的情况下接触这些毒药。

【29】此外，我认为，我们允许使用这些化学物质，很少或根本没有事先调查它们对土壤、水、野生动物和人类本身的影响。子孙后代不太可能原谅我们对支持所有生命的自然世界的完整性缺乏关注。