时间:2019-02-25 作者:英语课 分类:双语有声阅读


英语课

 Population Growth


 
The growth of population during the past few centuries is no proof that population will continue to grow straight upward toward infinity 1 and doom 2. On the contrary, demographic history offers evidence that population growth has not been at all constant. According to paleoecologist Edward Deevey, the past million years show three momentous 3 changes. The first, a rapid increase in population around one million B. C., followed the innovations of tool making and tool using.But when the new power from the use of tools has been exploited,the rate of world population growth fell and became almost stable. The next rapid jump in population started perhaps 10,000 years ago, when mankind began to keep herds,plow and plant the earth. Once again when initial productivity gains had been absorbed, the rate of population growth abated 4. These two episodes suggest that the third great change, the present rapid growth, which began in the West between 250 and 350 years ago, may also slow down when, or if, technology begins to yield fewer innovations. Of course, the current knowledge revolution may continue without foreseeable end. Either way - contrary to popular belief in constant geometric growth - population can be expected in the long run to adjust to productivity. And when one takes this view, population growth is seen to represent economic progress and human triumph rather than social failure.
 

人口增长
 
以往几个世纪人口的增长并不能证明人口会无限地直线向上增长直到毁灭的地步。 相反地,人口统计史料证明人口的增长完全不是稳定的。 古生态学家爱德华 ·狄维认为,在过去 100 万年间出现过 3 次重大的变动。 第一次在公元前 100 万年左右,随着在工具的制作和使用上的革新而出现人口迅速增长。 但当工具的使用所产生的新动力被充分利用以后,世界人口增长率下降并且趋于稳定。 第二次人口剧增大约始于人类开始蓄畜、垦耕的 10,000 年前。 一旦最初的生产力增长被吸收殆尽,人口的增长再次衰落。 以上两段说明,若技术革新的成果开始减少,从250 到350 年前就在西方开始出现的并且目前还在继续的人口迅速增长可能也会放慢。 当然,当前的知识革命也许会持续下去而无法预见其末来。 无论如何,与那种认为人口以几何级数持续增长的观点相反,从长远的观点来说,人口可望受到生产力的调节。 接受了这一观点,人口的增长就可以被看成是经济进步和人类胜利的标志,而不是社会衰败的标志。


n.无限,无穷,大量
  • It is impossible to count up to infinity.不可能数到无穷大。
  • Theoretically,a line can extend into infinity.从理论上来说直线可以无限地延伸。
n.厄运,劫数;v.注定,命定
  • The report on our economic situation is full of doom and gloom.这份关于我们经济状况的报告充满了令人绝望和沮丧的调子。
  • The dictator met his doom after ten years of rule.独裁者统治了十年终于完蛋了。
adj.重要的,重大的
  • I am deeply honoured to be invited to this momentous occasion.能应邀出席如此重要的场合,我深感荣幸。
  • The momentous news was that war had begun.重大的新闻是战争已经开始。
减少( abate的过去式和过去分词 ); 减去; 降价; 撤消(诉讼)
  • The worker's concern about cuts in the welfare funding has not abated. 工人们对削减福利基金的关心并没有减少。
  • The heat has abated. 温度降低了。
学英语单词
Abdel
acceleration of ripening
additional advance
anecdotically
antiriot ammunition
apical bud
arecaceaes
augelli
average repair
Bankia spengler
bankruptcy administrator
basic lead sulphate
bilge logs
booster inoculation
bored shitless
boringly
chain and sprocket drive
Chalkedon
checking off symbol
CLMW
course-stability
cross rod
Curley
damper segment
declaratory judgments
deflection calculation
delivered free to destination
dietary-supplement
dress in
dust crops with an insecticide
emince
enterouterine anus
equitangential
faralatrioside
farbs
finely divided scale
folia vermis
heavy work
helius (helius) minusculus
Hose Connectors
hyperhomocysteinemic
intermolecular respiration
lava column
lead number
lends out
lenticel(le)
lywallzyme
macnee
magnitude spectrum
master screw
max sth out
mellower
memory error report analysis
movable appendage
naked-flame mine
nickel-vanadium steel
nominal ocular hazard area
oculometry
one pack
ordinary wheel
organizational climate index
over-grateful
over-indulged
overtowered
pattern representation
phenoxathin
phenylphosphine
pick-up attachment
pilot flame burner
pipeline stopcock
plash
pot-holder
preservative substance
pressure admission chamber
pressure of blast
Prohepes
pseudodiploidy
r.d
ramming up
rankine thermometric scale
riborg
righi-leduc effect
roricon
sclenchyma
self-illuminating sight
selfcontradictory
sniper
sousant
Subhanallah
sukhooei
Swap Curve
tahsildars
thermo anelasticity
three stages fluidized-bed dryer
toner concentration
unkissing
unvote
upright drill
visual agnosia
Wiener schnitzel
with a swing in it
worldless