中国和印度让地球变得更绿

2019-08-19张恒

中学生英语·阅读与写作 2019年5期

张恒

A study by NASA has showed that China and India， the worlds two most populous1 countries， are primarily2 responsible for making the Earth greener over the past two decades.

美国国家航空航天局的一项研究表明，中国和印度——世界上人口最多的两个国家——在过去的二十年里，是让地球变得更绿的主力。

The study has found that since 2000 the Earths green leaf area has increased by 5 percent， or over 5 million square kilometers. Thats an area is the same as the total of the Amazon rainforests.

这项研究发现，自2000年以来，地球的绿叶面积增加了5%，即超过500万平方公里。这个面积相当于亚马逊雨林的总面积。

The effect is mainly from ambitious3 tree-planting programs in China and intensive4 agriculture in both countries， NASA said in a statement.

美國航天局在一份声明中表示，这个结果主要源于中国宏大的植树计划和两国的集约农业。

China is the source of a quarter of the planets increase in forest area， despite5 having only 6.6 percent of the worlds vegetated area. Forest protection and expansion6 programs account for 42 percent of the increase， and another 32 percent come from intensive agriculture of food crops， NASA said.

（研究表明）尽管中国仅占世界植被面积的6.6%，但中国是全球森林面积增长四分之一的来源。美国国家航空航天局表示，森林保护和扩张计划占增长量的42%，另外32%来自粮食作物的集约农业。

“Production of grains， vegetables， fruits and more have increased by about 35 to 40 percent since 2000 to feed their large populations，” NASA said.

美国国家航空航天局表示：“自2000年以来，（中印）粮食、蔬菜、水果等产量增加了约35%至40%，以供给其庞大人口的需求。”

Over the past decades， China has made great efforts to green the land.

在过去的几十年里，中国一直在努力进行土地绿化。

In 1978， the central government launched a national-level forestation7 project—the Three North Shelterbelt8 Forest Program.

1978年，中央政府启动了国家级造林工程——三北防护林工程。

By the end of 2017， the forest coverage9 rate among the regions in the project reached 13.57 percent. It was 5.05 percent 40 years ago.

到2017年底，该工程区域的森林覆盖率达到13.57%，40年前为5.05%。

Nationwide10， China has a forest cover of 21.6 percent， and it aims to increase the number to 23.04 percent by 2020 and 26 percent by 2050.

在全国范围内，中国森林覆盖率为21.6%，其目标是到2020年将森林覆盖率提高到23.04%，到2050年提高到26%。

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