Nature Is Our Mother

　　Nature Is Our Mother

　　By Tan Ying(譚英 湖南大學)

　　專家點評:文章開頭較有新意，全文貫穿環(huán)保意識，主題鮮明、有強烈的時代感。

　　Let me begin my speech with a replay of scenes familiar to most, if not all, of those present here today.

　　"Mum, I'm sorry, but I need 3,000 yuan for my tuition this year."

　　"Mum, it is my friend's birthday tomorrow, I must buy her a present."

　　"Mum, this jacket was out of fashion long ago, would you do me a favor? "

　　Take. Take. Take. The relationship between a mother and a child always seems to follow such a pattern. I know my mother is always there for me, providing me with everything I need; from food to clothing, from tuition to pocket money. I never thought twice about all she did until one day she said, "Will there be a time that you'll say you have taken enough from me? "

　　Like a child endlessly asking, we humans, throughout history, have been continually demanding what we desire from nature. We enjoy the comfort and beauty of our furniture, yet we never bother to think about the serious soil erosion caused by deforestation. We take it for granted that we must warm ourselves in winter times, yet we seldom realize the burning away of precious natural resources. We appreciate all the prosperity from the development of modern industry, yet few would give the slightest consideration to the global air and water pollution caused by industrial wastes. Our ruthless exploitation has permanently impaired our mother earth. As we tragically learned from last summer's floods. we cannot continue our carelessness.

　　Finally, standing here at the threshold of the 21st century, we cannot help thinking of our posterity. Nature is not only the mother of the present generation, but also the mother of the generations to come. How severely our descendents will criticize us if we leave them a barren and lifeless mother? How much more they will appreciate us if we give them a world of harmony to inherit? Let us start respecting and caring for nature from now on. Let us start the campaign of creating a mutually beneficial relationship between people and nature right from this moment. With this new start, I firmly believe, that our children, and our children's children will live in a brand new age of green trees, clean air, crystal water, blue sky and an even more promising world!

　　譯文:自然是我們的母親

　　請允許我用一個我們今天在座的大部分人，就算不是全部，都很熟悉的場景來展開我的演講。

　　“媽媽，不好意思，今年的學費要三千元。”

　　“媽媽，明天是我朋友的生日，我要給她買份禮物�！�

　　“媽媽，這件衣服早過時了，幫我買件新的，好嗎?”

　　索取，索取，再索取。母親和孩子的關(guān)系似乎永遠都是這一種形式。我知道母親總是我的靠山，給我一切需要的東西，從食物到衣服，從學費到零用錢。我覺得她所做的一切都是理所當然的，直到有一天，她說:“會不會有這么一天你對我說我已經(jīng)索取夠了?’’

　　就像孩子無止境的要求一樣，我們?nèi)祟悾瑥墓诺浇�，也一直在向自然索求以滿足欲望。我們享受家具的美麗與舒適，但我們從來就不愿去想一想由于采伐樹林而引起的嚴重的土壤侵蝕問題。我們認為冬天要取暖是理所當然的事情，卻未曾意識到寶貴的自然資源就這樣被燒掉。我們高興地看到現(xiàn)代工業(yè)發(fā)展帶來了繁榮，但很少人會對由于工業(yè)廢物導(dǎo)致的全球空氣和水質(zhì)污染問題稍加考慮。我們無情的剝削已經(jīng)永遠地傷害了地球母親。我們從去年夏天的洪災(zāi)悲劇中已經(jīng)認識到，我們不能再繼續(xù)漠不關(guān)心下去了。