時(shí)差N小時(shí):農(nóng)夫和樹(shù)

Dear Don and Yale: For a long time now, decadesprobably, I've been hearing about deforestation.But who, exactly, is cutting down all the trees?

親愛(ài)的唐和雅艾爾：長(zhǎng)久以來(lái)，或許幾十年以來(lái)，關(guān)于濫砍濫伐的事情我聽(tīng)得太多了。但到底是誰(shuí)在砍伐這些樹(shù)木呢?

Yale: If I had to guess, I'd say it's farmers clearingland for planting crops. Am I right?

雅艾爾：要我猜的話(huà)，我覺(jué)得是農(nóng)民們?cè)陂_(kāi)荒墾植。我猜對(duì)了嗎?

Don: That would seem to make sense. Farmers do need to clear space to plant their fields. Butactually, farmers around the world have just as much to do with planting trees as they do withchopping them down. A study using satellite pictures looked at around 2.5 billion acres offarmland around the world. It found that about ten-percent of it is covered by trees. That's anarea twice as large as the Amazon rain forest.

唐：聽(tīng)起來(lái)似乎有道理。農(nóng)民們確實(shí)需要開(kāi)荒墾植。但事實(shí)上，世界各地的農(nóng)民既砍樹(shù)也植樹(shù)。一項(xiàng)研究采用衛(wèi)星照片觀察了世界各地約25億公頃的農(nóng)田。研究發(fā)現(xiàn)大約有十分之一的農(nóng)田周?chē)N有樹(shù)木。且其總面積是亞馬遜熱帶雨林的兩倍。

Yale: That's pretty surprising. I mean why would farmers want so many trees taking up space?Don't they want their fields to be as large as possible?

雅艾爾：這實(shí)在令人驚奇。我的意思是為什么農(nóng)民們會(huì)種植占用這么多土地的樹(shù)木?難道他們不希望盡可能多地耕種土地嗎?

Don: Yes, generally. But other studies have found that trees are very useful for farmers. Theyhelp keep soil healthy. And they can be harvested to feed animals, provide timber and wood forburning, and produce fruit. Trees also help prevent soil erosion and improve groundwaterquality.

唐：一般來(lái)說(shuō)，是的。但另一項(xiàng)研究顯示樹(shù)木對(duì)農(nóng)民用處非常大。樹(shù)木能保持土壤健康，能用來(lái)喂牲口，樹(shù)干和樹(shù)枝可用來(lái)燒柴，此外樹(shù)還能結(jié)果。同時(shí)，樹(shù)能防止水土流失，改善地下水水質(zhì)。

Yale: So farmers grow trees because they're profitable.

雅艾爾：所以農(nóng)民們種樹(shù)是因?yàn)闃?shù)木用處大。

Don: Basically farmers have to make a living, and if trees made it harder to make a profit thenfarmers wouldn't keep them around. Of course, deforestation is still a big problem. Manyfarmers, especially in the Brazilian rain forest, cut down thousands of trees to make way forfields. But in many other places, farms and forests work together.

唐：從根本上來(lái)說(shuō)，農(nóng)民需要謀生。如果農(nóng)民們很難依靠樹(shù)木獲利，他們是不會(huì)四處種植樹(shù)木的。當(dāng)然，濫砍濫伐仍是一個(gè)大問(wèn)題。許多地區(qū)，尤其是在巴西雨林中，成千上萬(wàn)的樹(shù)被砍伐，為耕地騰地方。但是在其它許多地方，農(nóng)民和森林是相互依存的。