自1960年代開始，每年有1300萬公頃的森林消失在煙霧中或是成為木材。世上最大的熱帶雨林亞馬遜森林面積已消失 20%，全球第四大島嶼婆羅洲曾布滿森林，十年內將完全消失，海地山坡上的樹林只剩下2％，復活節島的故事和島上居民的遭遇或許值得我們反思。
（高清視頻見底部連結）
【Line 1】 Since the 1960s, deforestation has constantly gathered pace. Every year, 13 million hectares of tropical forest, an area the size of Illinois - disappear in smoke and as lumber. 自1960年代開始，森林砍伐越來越快，每年，有1300萬公頃的熱帶森林，面積等於伊利諾斯州，消失在煙霧中或是成為木材。
★★★ deforestation n.森林砍伐
★★★ hectare n.公頃
★ tropical forest 熱帶雨林
★★ lumber n.木材
【Line 2】 The world's largest rain forest, the Amazon, has already been reduced by 20%. The forest gives way to cattle ranches or soybean farms. Ninety-five percent of these soybeans are used to feed livestock and poultry in Europe and Asia. 亞馬遜是世上最大的熱帶雨林，其面積已縮小20%，森林讓路給牛場和大豆田，95％的大豆用來餵飼歐亞兩洲的禽畜。
★★★ cattle ranch 養牛場
★★★ soybean n.大豆
★★★ livestock n.牲畜
★★★ poultry n.家禽
【Line 3】 When they burn, forests and their soils release huge quantities of carbon, accounting for 20% of the greenhouse gases emitted across the globe. Deforestation is one of the principal causes of global warming. 當它們焚燒時，森林及它們的土壤釋放出大量的碳，佔全球釋放的溫室氣體的20%，森林砍伐是全球變暖的主要原因之一。
★ account for 佔比
★ emit v.排放
★★★ deforestation n.森林砍伐
★ principal a.主要的
【Line 4】 Barely 20 years ago, Borneo, the fourth-largest island in the world was covered by a vast primary forest. At the current rate of deforestation, it will have totally disappeared within 10 years. Living matter bonds water, air, earth and the sun. In Borneo, this bond has been broken in what was one of the Earth's greatest reservoirs of biodiversity. 二十年前，全球第四大島嶼婆羅洲布滿了原始森林，以目前森林砍伐的速度，十年內它將會完全消失。生物把水、土、空氣、陽光結合，婆羅洲曾是全球最大生物品種的搖籃，如今這個鏈條斷裂了。
★ primary forest 原始森林
★★★ deforestation n.森林砍伐
★ bond n.紐帶
★★ reservoir n.儲藏
★★ biodiversity n.生物多樣性
【Line 5】 This catastrophe was provoked by the decision to produce palm oil, the most consumed oil in the world, on Borneo. Palm oil not only caters to our growing demand for food, but also cosmetics, detergents and, increasingly, alternative fuels. 在婆羅洲生產全世界銷量最高的棕櫚油引發了這場大災難，棕櫚油不僅滿足我們增長中的食品需求，還可用於生產化妝品、清潔劑和替代燃料。
★★ catastrophe n.大災難
★★ provoke vt.招致
★★★ palm oil 棕櫚油
★★ cater to 滿足…需要
★★★ cosmetic n.化妝品
★★★ detergent n.洗滌劑
★ increasingly ad.越來越
★ alternative fuel 替代燃料
【Line 6】 The forest diversity was replaced by a single species - the oil palm. Monoculture is easy, productive and rapid. For local people, it provides employment. It is an agricultural industry. 森林的多樣性被單一品種的棕櫚取代，棕櫚樹的單一栽培容易，產量高而且生長快。這為本地人提供工作崗位，這是一種農業產業。
★ diversity n.多樣性
★★★ monoculture n.單一栽培
★ productive a.多產的
【Line 7】 Soybeans, palm oil, eucalyptus trees - deforestation destroys the essential to produce the superfluous. But elsewhere, deforestation is a last resort to survive. 黃豆、棕櫚油、桉樹，森林砍伐是捨本逐末，但在其它地方森林砍伐是生存的最後手段。
★★★ soybean n.大豆
★★★ palm oil 棕櫚油
★ essential n.基礎
★★ superfluous a.過剩的
★ last resort 最後手段
【Line 8】 In Haiti, one of the world's poorest countries, charcoal is one of the population's main consumables. Once the pearl of the Caribbean, Haitican no longer feed its population without foreign aid. 海地，世界上最窮的國家之一，碳是最主要的消耗品之一，曾經是加勒比海明珠，如今卻要依賴外國援助才能養活人民。
★★★ charcoal n.木炭
★★★ consumable n.消費品
★ pearl n.珍珠
【Line 9】 On the hills of Haiti, only two percent of the forests are left. Stripped bare, the soil no longer absorbs the rainwater. With no vegetation and no roots to reinforce them, nothing holds the soils back. The rainwater washes them down the hillsides as far as the sea. Erosion impoverishes the quality of the soils, reducing their suitability for agriculture. 海地山坡上的樹林只剩下2％，裸露的土壤無法吸收雨水，沒有植物和根莖的加固，土壤被雨衝走，雨水把它們從山坡上衝進大海，雨水侵蝕令土壤貧瘠，不宜耕種。
★ strip v.剝
★ bare a.赤裸的
★ absorb v.吸收
★★ vegetation n.植被
★ reinforce vt.加強
★★ erosion n.侵蝕
★★★ impoverish v.使貧瘠
★★ suitability n.適宜性
【Line 10】 In some parts of Madagascar, the erosion is spectacular. Whole hillsides bear deep gashes hundreds of meters wide. Thin and fragile, soil is made by living matter. With erosion, the fine layer of humus, which took thousands of years to form, disappears. 在馬達加斯加雨水侵蝕景像非常壯觀，山坡布滿數百米寬的深坑，土壤由生命物質構成，薄而脆弱，經過數千年形成的一層腐植土因雨水侵蝕而消失。
★★ erosion n.侵蝕
★★ spectacular a.壯觀的
★ bear v.帶有（某種標記或特徵）
★ fragile a.脆弱的
★ layer n.層
★★★ humus n.腐質土壤
【Line 11】 Here’s one theory of the story of the Rapa Nui, the inhabitants of Easter Island, that could perhaps give us pause for thought. Living on the most isolated island in the world, the Rapa Nui exploited their resources until there was nothing left. Their civilization did not survive. On these lands stood the highest palm trees in the world, they have disappeared. The Rapa Nui chopped them all down for lumber. They then had to face widespread soil erosion. The Rapa Nui could no longer go fishing. There were no trees to build canoes. 復活節島的故事和島上居民的遭遇，或許值得我們反思。復活節島是世上最偏僻的島嶼，島上居民把資源開發殆盡，他們的文明已不存在。這裡曾矗立世上最高的棕櫚樹，如今蕩然無存。當地人把樹變木材導致大量水土流失，當地人無法再出海捕魚，因為已無樹木用來做獨木舟。
★ inhabitant n.居民
★ pause n.暫停
★ isolated a.偏遠的
★ chop down 砍倒
★ lumber n.木材
★ widespread a.廣泛的
★★ erosion n.侵蝕
★★★ canoe n.獨木舟
【Line 12】 And yet the Rapa Nui formed one of the most brilliant civilizations in the Pacific. Innovative farmers, sculptors, exceptional navigators, they were caught in a vise of overpopulation and dwindling resources. They experienced social unrest, revolts and famine. Many did not survive the cataclysm. 但復活島人曾建立太平洋最耀眼的文明，富有創造力的農夫，雕塑家和傑出的航海家，如今卻在人口過剩、資源減少的夾縫中掙扎，結果釀成社會動蕩，叛亂和饑荒，巨變中很少人倖存。
★ brilliant a.燦爛的
★★ innovative a.創新的
★★★ sculptor n.雕刻家
★ exceptional a.傑出的
★★★ navigator n.航海家
★★★ dwindle v.減少
★★★ unrest n.不安狀態，動蕩局面
★★ revolt n.叛亂
★ famine n.饑荒
★★★ cataclysm n.大災難
註：一星詞彙為四級難度，二星詞彙為六級、考研難度，三星詞彙為雅思、託福及以上難度，大家根據自己的考試要求選擇性學習，參考所列詞句自由做筆記，學單詞、漲知識。建議準備一個專門的本子，日積月累，這會是不小的收穫！
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