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The history of life on earth has been a history of interaction between living things and their surroundings. To a large extent, the physical form and the habits of the earth's vegetation and its animal life have been molded by the environment. Considering the whole span of earthly time, the opposite effect, in which life actually modifies its surroundings, has been relatively slight. Only in the present century has one species—man—acquired significant power to alter the nature of his world.
地球生命的历史一直是生物体和它周围环境相互作用的历史。在很大程度上，地球上植物和动物的自然形态和习性都是由环境塑造的。就地球的整个历史而言，生命改造环境的反作用实际上是相对微小的。但在本世纪，一个物种——人类——获得了改造自然界的非凡能力。
During the past quarter century this power has not only become increasingly great but it has changed in character. The most alarming of all man's assaults upon the environment is the contamination of air, earth, rivers, and sea with dangerous and even lethal materials. This pollution is for the most part irrecoverable. In this now universal contamination of the environment, chemicals are the sinister partners of radiation in changing the very nature of the world—the very nature of its life. Chemicals sprayed on croplands or forests or gardens lie long in soil, entering into living organisms, passing from one to another in a chain of poisoning and death. Or they pass mysteriously by underground streams until they emerge and combine into new forms that kill vegetation, sicken cattle, and work unknown harm on those who drink from once pure wells. "Man can hardly even recognize the devils of his own creation." as a scientist has said.
在过去的25年里，这种能力不仅在不断地增长，而且性质也发生了变化。在所有人类对环境的亵渎行为中，最令人担忧的当属空气、土地、河流以及大海受到的危险的、甚至是致命物质的污染。这种污染在很大程度上是不可逆转的。在当前这种对环境的普遍污染中，化学物质变成了辐射的邪恶帮凶，它们改变着世界的本质——生命的本质。被洒在农田、森林或者花园里的化学物质将长期潜伏在土壤中，或进入生物体内部，并在中毒和死亡的连锁反应中不断传递迁移。它们或者随着地下水流神秘地转移，直到它们显现并结合成新的化学物质，毒害植物和家畜，并且使那些曾经饮用纯净井水的人们不知不觉遭受伤害。正如一个科学家所说，“人类甚至辨认不出自己制造的恶魔了”。
