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现代大学英语精读(第2版)第六册:U5 At War with the Planet(6)

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In contrast to the ecosphere, the technosphere is composed of objects and materials that reflect a rapid and relentless process of change and variation. In less than a century, transport has progressed from the horse-drawn carriage, through the Model T Ford, to the present array of annually modified cars and aircraft. In a not much longer period, writing instruments have evolved from the quill pen to the typewriter and now the word processor. Synthetic organic chemistry began innocuously enough about 150 years ago with the laboratory production of a common natural substance-urea-but soon departed from this imitative approach to produce a huge array of organic compounds never found in nature and, for that reason, often incompatible with the chemistry of life. Nylon, for example, unlike a natural polymer such as cellulose, is not biodegradable-that is, there is no enzyme in any known living organismthat can break it down. As a result, when it is discarded into the ecosphere, nylon, like plastics generally, persists. Thus oceanographers now find in theircollecting nets bits of orange, blue, and white nylon and larger pieces jammedin the digestive tracts of dead turtles-the residue of nylon marine cordage. In the technosphere, nylon is a useful new commodity; in the ecosphere, nylon, untested by evolution, is a harmful intruder.

与生态圈相反,技术圈是由线性流程决定的。在不到一个世纪的时间里,交通工具不断更新,从马车、福特T型汽车到如今每年不断更新的汽车和飞机。在不长的一段时间里,书写工具便从羽毛笔变成了打字机,直至现在的文字处理器。150年前普通自然物质尿素的实验生产意味着人工合成有机化学的开端,但很快人们就从这条模仿型的方式转移到生产一系列自然界中从未有过的有机合成物,因此导致与生命化学极不相容。例如尼龙,它不会像植物纤维那样的天然聚合物一样可以进行生物分解,也就是说在现存的有机生物中还没发现哪种酶可以分解尼龙。所以,若尼龙被遗弃到生态圈,它就会像塑料一样永存。因此,海洋学家目前发现在他们的打网中有不少橙色、蓝色和白色的尼龙,在死海龟的消化道里也卡着大量船用尼龙绳索的残留物。在技术圈中,尼龙是一种有用的新商品;但在生态圈中,尼龙没有经过进化的检验,是一个有害的侵犯者。
Nature knows best is shorthand for the view that during the several billion years in which they have evolved, living things have created a limited but self-consistent array of substances and reactions that are essential to life. The petrochemical industry has departed from these restrictions, producing thousands of new man-made substances.
“自然深知一切”是一个概括。在他们进化的几十亿年里,有生命的东西创造了一系列对生命至关重要的有限但独立的物质和反应。石油化学制品工业已经脱离了这些限制,生产出数以万计的新型人造物质。

重点单词   查看全部解释    
relentless [ri'lentlis]

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adj. 无情的,冷酷的,残酷的

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contrast ['kɔntræst,kən'træst]

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n. 差别,对比,对照物
v. 对比,成对照<

 
quill [kwil]

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n. 羽茎,大翎毛,鹅毛笔,(豪猪等动物的)刺 ,纬管

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array [ə'rei]

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n. 数组,(陈)排列,大批,一系列
vt.

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produce [prə'dju:s]

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n. 产品,农作物
vt. 生产,提出,引起,

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composed [kəm'pəuzd]

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adj. 镇静的,沉着的

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organic [ɔ:'gænik]

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adj. 器官的,有机的,根本的,接近自然的

 
imitative ['imitətiv]

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adj. 仿制的,模仿的

 
evolution [.i:və'lu:ʃən]

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n. 进化,发展,演变

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incompatible [.inkəm'pætəbl]

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adj. 不相容的,不能并存的,矛盾的

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