1.企業與環保
段落大意：很多企業認為環保影響了他們的利潤，但這一看法是不對的。
Since the rise of environmental awareness, business and industry have always considered environmentalism （環保主義） a waste of time, only getting in the way of profits and production. From the perspective of business, environmentalists push for regulations and restrictions on businesses which cost them more money and frequently restrict some of their practices. What business and economy doesn’t know is that they can actually save money by being environmentally responsible, while protecting the very resources they depend on. The protection of the environment does not only have intrinsic （內在的） value, but also has economic value from which business and industry can benefit. These factors can lead to a new economy that protects what it needs instead of destroying it.
2.人口增長與環境
段落大意：人口的快速增長給環境帶來巨大的壓力，我們應采取更加可持續的方式來發展經濟。
The human population is expected to double in the next 50.years, and the ever-growing global population needs vast amounts of food, energy and raw materials. We cannot continue to get these supplies in the way we do now without damaging the earth’s environment beyond repair. Pollution, deforestation （森林砍伐）, over-fishing, intensive farming and above all global warming are having great impact on the environment. We need to find ways to improve our food productivity, and to obtain our energy and raw materials in more sustainable ways.
3.全球化與環境
段落大意：全球化使環境問題已不再是一個國家的問題，而是全球問題，諸如美國這樣的發達國家應該為環境保護出謀劃策。
Globalization can be defined as the trend away from distinct national economic units and toward one huge global market. This trend can be found on many aspects in the business world, be it political, economical, or social. Yet one factor that is of great importance in making globalization possible is the environment issue. The environmental crisis in one nation does not only involve that nation, but also involve the globe village. Developed nations such as the United States should have policies toward the world market that protect the standards and regulations designed to reserve the environment.
4.環境問題
段落大意：水汙染、動物的滅絕、森林被砍伐、酸雨，以及殺蟲劑等化學藥品的使用打破了自然的平衡，造成嚴重的環境問題。
When industrialization began, little thought was given to its ecological effects. Untreated sewage （汙水） was poured into rivers and seas. Animals were killed for profit to the point of extinction. The loss of trees through uncontrolled deforestation caused erosion and unstable climate. Acid rain （酸雨） was caused by the poisonous gases released from industries and automobiles. Chemicals in pesticides （殺蟲劑） killed animals of no harm and threatened people’s health. Herbicides （除草劑） harmed crops and degraded soil. The balance of nature was disturbed.
5.傳統生活方式對環境的影響
段落大意：狩獵和采集、園藝、田園等傳統生活方式對環境的影響很小。
Hunting and gathering, horticultural （園藝的）, and pastoral（田園的） ways of life generally make small demands on the natural environment, because people tend to gather or grow only enough food and other materials for their basic needs. These nomadic（遊牧的） or semi-nomadic（半遊牧的） societies can also move away from depleted （耗竭的） areas, allowing plants to regrow and animals to repopulate.
6.農業社會對環境的影響
段落大意：農業社會給環境造成沉重負擔，有時甚至會危及人類自身的生存。
Agricultural societies can heavily burden the environment, sometimes endangering their own survival. For example, early Mediterranean （地中海的） civilizations deforested and overgrazed （過度放牧） large areas of land. These damages to the land prompted （促使） soil erosion （侵蝕）, which made food production increasingly costly over time.
7.工業社會對環境的影響
段落大意：工業社會對環境的要求更多，可能會耗盡重要的自然資源。
Industrial societies put even larger demands on the environment, and they may someday exhaust important supplies of natural resources. The mass production of goods is often wasteful and polluting. Thus, large societies must put great effort into disposing of their wastes and developing new sources of energy and material resources.
8.氣候變化
段落大意：自地球形成以來，氣候變化就存在了，但近些年變得越來越明顯。
Climate change is neither new nor unusual. Throughout the history of the earth, the average surface temperature, climate and greenhouse gas concentrations have changed, sometimes gradually other times quite sharply. During the past 10,000.years the earth has been in an interglacial（間冰期的） period with fairly stable climate, surface temperature, and greenhouse gas concentrations. However, scientists have discovered that in the past 150.years, especially the last 50.ones, the greenhouse gas concentration has increased significantly, making the 20th century the hottest in the last 10,000.years.
9.氣候變暖的主要原因
段落大意：大氣中的氣體阻礙熱量向外層空間釋放是導致氣候變暖的主要原因。
Although the earth has undergone periodic （周期性的） changes known as global cooling and global warming, today’s global warming is unique, due to human influences. The greenhouse effect is essentially caused by gases in the atmosphere which keep heat from spreading into the exterior space. The major heat trapping gases found in the atmosphere are CO2.and water vapor—which are found in large quantity, ozone （臭氧）, CH4.〔methane （甲烷）〕, and N2O 〔nitrous oxide （氧化亞氮）〕—which are better heat trapper but found in smaller quantity, CFC （含氯氟烴）—which is very potent （有力的） to destroy ozone. The rapid increase of these gases in the past fifty years has been the cause for what scientists call a global warming problem.
10.礦物燃料對環境的影響
段落大意：礦物燃料的燃燒會排放大量有害氣體，對環境造成極大的危害。
Fossil fuels include gasoline （汽油）, oil, coal, or natural gases. Whenever we burn them, pollutant gases are emitted （排放） into the atmosphere. Fossil fuels, which are mainly burned to run cars and trucks, heat homes, provide energy for business and power factories, are responsible for about 98% of US carbon dioxide emissions, 24% of methane emissions and 18% of nitrous oxide emissions. Because of the harmful effects of these pollutant gases, they pose a major threat to the environment.
11.環境問題的嚴峻性
段落大意：人口增長和技術發展使得環境問題日益嚴峻。為了自己及子孫後代的健康發展，我們應該重視環境問題。
The environment is a strongly arguable issue in today’s world of highly dense populations and forever growing technologies. People rely daily on the use of cars for example as means of transportation to and from their work. People travel far distances much more than they used to a century years ago due to the ease of traveling by plane, and the fact that they will reach their destinations in a matter of hours. The point is, for such great advantages that we take for granted, there’s an even greater disadvantage, the destruction of our environment. We are abusing our home. Something has to be done to help save the environment for the sake of our children and grandchildren, for their health and development.