Science for University Students. Part II. Translations. Сологуб Л.И. - 59 стр.

UptoLike

ВУЗ: 

СГАУ | Самара

Составители: 

Рубрика: 

less complex species. But ecological studies also reveal that species adapt to
threats to their own survival, and symbiosis is one of nature’s prize stratagems.
Our great brains have allowed us to reproduce somewhat unchecked, but
they should also allow us to modify behavior more than other species. The
relentless extinction of species by destruction of their habitats is no longer a
triumph for our species but a decisive warning to change our ways. Whether the
greenhouse warming has really begun or is still hundreds of years in the future is
almost irrelevant. It is bound to come, as has the destruction of arable soil by
pollutants, and the drop in the quality of the air we breathe; these will worsen if
we do not learn more respect for the ecosystem.
This issue of Science has a few articles, assembled with the help of Martha
Coleman and Roger Lewin, on the forefront of one aspect of the vast subject of
ecology. They emphasize the importance of understanding the value of species
diversity, species interdependence, and species reproductive efficiency. Most
species struggle to overcome poverty of resources and occupy niches that allow
a critical number to survive in competition with other species. Modern
civilization has upset that process so that many (although certainly not all)
humans are living far beyond a survival level. The brain that allowed that
situation needs now to curb a primordial instinct to increased replication of our
own species at the expense of others because the global ecology is threatened.
So ask not whether the bell tolls for the owl or the whale or the rhinoceros-; it
tolls for us.
Daniel E. Koshland, Jr.
I. Read the editorial text to grasp the main idea and contents
II. Choose the right answer:
1) The problem which is raised in the text is the problem of
a. the nature survival
b. our Homo sapiens survival
c. some species protection
2) The basic thought expressed in the text is
a. Understanding the behaviour of species and their survival
strategies is very essential
b. The ecology world is one in whick there is only one standard
of ethics: survival.
c. The Bell tolls for us, people.
3) The author also suggests that
a. the population of the globe has lost proportion
b. ecology is the stuby of the delicate balance between species
in the environment
58

Страницы