常春藤生活英語：生態(tài)足跡

How often do you eat meat? Do you recycle? Do you drive a car? Depending upon your answers, you may have a big or small ecological footprint. An ecological what? Of course we all have footprints. We leave them in the mud or after stepping in a puddle, but the ecological footprints that we leave on the Earth are far more important.

By looking at one's ecological footprints, we can see how much a person impacts our planet Earth. The things one does, the products one uses, and how one consumes natural resources are part of that person's ecological footprint. Let's say you eat meat and a lot of processed food every day. You also ride a scooter to work and never recycle. These things amount to having a big ecological footprint. On the contrary, a vegetarian who rides a bike everywhere and recycles everything would have a much smaller ecological footprint. In other words, this person's life doesn't hurt the environment as much as your own. Now, what do you do if you have a big footprint?

您多常吃肉?您會做資源回收嗎?您是否開車?根據(jù)您的答案，您的生態(tài)足跡可能或大或小。生態(tài)什么?我們當(dāng)然都有腳印。我們在泥濘中、或是踏過水坑后，都會留下印子，但我們在地球上所留下的生態(tài)足跡可是重要得多。

藉由觀察一個人的生態(tài)足跡，我們可以檢視人們對地球造成的沖擊有多大。一個人所做的事，所使用的產(chǎn)品，以及如何消耗天然資源，都算是那個人生態(tài)足跡的一部份。假設(shè)您每天都吃肉類及許多加工食品。您還騎摩托車去上班，而且從不做資源回收。這些將累積為一個巨大的生態(tài)足跡。相反地，一個什么東西都會回收、以及到任何地方都騎腳踏車的素食主義者，所留下的生態(tài)足跡會小很多。換言之，這個人一生對環(huán)境造成的傷害會比您本身還少。假如您的腳印很大，那您現(xiàn)在該怎么做?

Building Your Vocabulary

1.recycle　vt. 回收

It is important that we recycle our garbage.

我們將垃圾回收是很重要的。

2.impact　vt. 對……產(chǎn)生影響

How will this new policy impact society?

這項新政策將會如何沖擊社會?

3.consume　vt. 消耗

My old car consumes a lot of gas.

我的老爺車非常耗油。

Phrases for Learning

1.amount to + 動名詞∕名詞　　達(dá)到∕總計……

Jim's hard work and patience amounted to his success.

吉姆的努力和耐心造就了他的成功。

2.On the contrary, 主詞 + 動詞　　相反地……

I'm not planning on quitting my job. On the contrary, I'm going to work harder.

我并沒有打算辭職。我反而將更努力工作。

3.In other words, 主詞 + 動詞　　換言之……

Zack always keeps his promises. In other words, you can count on him.

柴克總是信守承諾。換句話說，你可以仰賴他。

參考字詞

1.ecological　a. 生態(tài)的

2.footprint　n. 足跡，腳印

3.puddle　n. 水坑

4.processed food　n. 加工食品

5.scooter　n. 速克達(dá);摩托車

6.vegetarian　n. 素食主義者

Tips In Use

Let's say you eat meat and a lot of processed food every day.

(假設(shè)您每天都吃肉類及許多加工食品。)

本句中的 say 并非『說』的意思，而是表『假設(shè)(= assume [ J`sum ])』。一般用于祈使句中，常見的句型如下：

let's/just say + that 子句　　假設(shè)……

Just say (that) our plan failed-what would we do then?

=Assuming (that) our plan failed, what would we do then?

(假使我們的計劃失敗，到時該怎么辦?)