#41. Land for human needs or endangered animals
When making decisions about land use, some say that human needs should come before animal needs in every case. While I agree that human needs should have primary consideration, humans have a special responsibility to protect the land that endangered animals call home.
Animals adapt very slowly to sudden changes in their environments. Many endangered animals can only live in one place, or in a specific type of place. Humans, on the other hand, have a special ability to adapt quickly to changing and hostile environments. For instance, if humans need to live in a very dry environment they can use technology to locate and drill for water, or build pipelines to bring in water from outside. Thousands of years ago the residents of Xinjiang province dug underground tunnels hundreds of kilometers long to carry water to oasis towns like Turpan. Because humans are thus flexible while many animals are not, humans should make an effort to use up all available space before encroaching upon the habitats of endangered animals.
One of the important reasons to protect endangered animals is that the delicate ecological balance of an area might be irreparably harmed by their extinction. For example, if humans chop down forests and use the land to grow corn, they might simultaneously destroy the habitats of a kind of bird that eats locusts. The next year because the locust population can grow unchecked, locusts might destroy the entire nearby corn crop. Not only do the birds lose their homes, but humans are also harmed. The ecological balance of many natural habitats is still not well understood and humans interfere in it at their peril.
Finally, humans have much to learn from endangered species. One example is in the field of medicine. By observing a particular species of endangered monkeys in South America, scientists have discovered that monkeys eat a certain kind of plant when they get sick. Through research the scientists discovered that this plant also has medicinal value for humans. If the monkey's habitat had been destroyed to create more farmland, not only would we lose the plants and the monkeys, we would also lose life-saving medicines and the potential for medical research.
41. 土地用于人类需求还是濒危动物
在我们做用地决定的时候，有些人认为在所有情况下人类的需求都应该置于动物的需求之上。我同意人类的需求应该首先得到考虑，但是人类有保护濒危动物的家园特殊的责任。
动物对于环境的突然变化适应得非常慢。很多濒危动物只能生活在一个地方或某一类地方。另一方面，人类有特殊的能力很快适应变化和敌对的环境。例如，如果人类需要住在十分干燥的环境中，他们就会利用技术定位并钻探取水，或建设管道从外边引水。几千年前新疆的居民就会挖长达几百公里的地下坑道，把水引到绿洲城镇如吐鲁番。因为人类是十分灵活的而许多动物却不是，所以人类在占据濒危动物的栖居地之前应该先用完所有可用之地。
另一个保护濒危动物的重要原因就是脆弱的生态平衡会因它们的灭绝而受到无法修复的破坏。例如，如果人类砍倒森林并用之来种植谷物，他们就可能同时破坏了一种吃蝗虫的鸟的栖息地。下一年因为蝗虫的数量可以无限制地增长，蝗虫就可以破坏掉所有临近的谷地。不仅鸟类失去了它们的家，而且人类也受到了伤害。人们还没有很好地理解很多自然栖息地的生态平衡，人类对其的干扰将有损于人类自身。
最后，人类有很多可以从濒危物种中学到的东西。医学领域就是一个例子。通过观察南美洲一种濒危的猴子，科学家们发现当猴子得病的时候它们会去吃某一种植物。通过研究，科学家们发现这种植物对人类也有医学价值。如果为了扩大农田而破坏猴子的栖息地，不仅我们会失去这种植物和猴子，我们也会失去救命的药物和医学研究的潜力。
- primary ［ˈpraiˌmeri］ adj. 第一位的，主要的
- endangered ［enˈdeindʒəd］ adj. 濒临灭绝的
- hostile ［ˈha:stəl］ adj. 敌对的，敌方的
- pipeline ［ˈpaipˌlain］ n. 管道
- locate ［ləuˈkeit］ v. 定位，位于
- flexible ［ˈfleksəbəl］ adj. 灵活的
- encroach ［enˈkrəutʃ］ vi. (逐步或暗中) 侵占，蚕食
- delicate ［ˈdelikit］ adj. 脆弱的，微妙的
- ecological ［ˌekəˈla:dʒikəl］ adj. 生态的
- irreparably ［iˈrepərəbəli］ adv. 不能挽回地
- habitat［ ˈhæbiˌtæt］ n. (动植物的)生活环境，栖息地