2020年12月四级第2套仔细阅读 Passage 2 原文翻译及答案解析

Forests in countries like Brazil and the Congo get a lot of attention from environmentalists, and it is easy to see why. South America and sub-Saharan Africa are experiencing deforestation on an enormous scale: every year almost 5 million hectares are lost. But forests are also changing in rich Western countries. They are growing larger, both in the sense that they occupy more land and that the trees in them are bigger. What is going on?

像巴西和刚果这样的国家的森林受到了环保人士的广泛关注，原因显而易见。南美洲和撒哈拉以南非洲正在经历大规模的森林砍伐：每年损失近500万公顷。但富裕的西方国家的森林也在发生变化。它们变得更大，不仅占地面积增加，而且树木也更高大。这是怎么回事？

Forests are spreading in almost all Western countries, with the fastest growth in places that historically had rather few trees. In 1990 28% of Spain was forested; now the proportion is 37%. In both Greece and Italy, the growth was from 26% to 32% over the same period. Forests are gradually taking more land in America and Australia. Perhaps most astonishing is the trend in Ireland. Roughly 1% of that country was forested when it became independent in 1922. Now forests cover 11% of the land, and the government wants to push the proportion to 18% by the 2040s.

森林在几乎所有西方国家都在扩张，历史上树木较少的地方增长最快。1990年，西班牙28%的土地被森林覆盖；现在这一比例为37%。在希腊和意大利，同期从26%增长到32%。在美国和澳大利亚，森林逐渐占据了更多土地。也许最令人惊讶的是爱尔兰的趋势。1922年独立时，该国大约1%的土地被森林覆盖。现在森林覆盖了11%的土地，政府希望在2040年代将这一比例提高到18%。

Two things are fertilising this growth. The first is the abandonment of farmland, especially in high, dry places where nothing grows terribly well. When farmers give up trying to earn a living from farming or herding, trees simply move in. The second is government policy and subsidy. Throughout history, governments have protected and promoted forests for diverse reasons, ranging from the need for wooden warships to a desire to promote suburban house-building. Nowadays forests are increasingly welcome because they suck in carbon pollution from the air. The justifications change; the desire for more trees remains constant.

有两个因素在促进这种增长。第一个是农田的废弃，尤其是在高地和干燥地区，那里作物生长不佳。当农民放弃以耕种或放牧谋生时，树木就会自然生长。第二个是政府政策和补贴。历史上，政府出于各种原因保护和推广森林，从需要木制战舰到促进郊区住宅建设。如今，森林越来越受欢迎，因为它们吸收空气中的碳污染。理由在变，但对更多树木的渴望始终如一。

The greening of the West does not delight everyone. Farmers complain that land is being taken out of use by generously subsidised tree plantations. Parts of Spain and Portugal suffer from terrible forest fires. Others simply dislike the appearance of forests planted in neat rows. They will have to get used to the trees, however. The growth of Western forests seems almost as unstoppable as deforestation elsewhere.

西方的绿化并不让所有人高兴。农民抱怨说，土地被慷慨补贴的树木种植园占用。西班牙和葡萄牙部分地区遭受严重的森林火灾。其他人只是不喜欢整齐排列的森林外观。然而，他们将不得不习惯这些树木。西方森林的增长似乎几乎和其他地方的森林砍伐一样不可阻挡。