大學(xué)英語自學(xué)教程(上冊) 課文及翻譯六篇
01-A. How to be a successful language learner?
“Learning a language is easy, even a child can do it!”
Most adults who are learning a second language would disagree with this statement. For them, learning a language is a very difficult task. They need hundreds of hours of study and practice, and even this will not guarantee success for every adult language learner.
Language learning is different from other kinds of learning. Some people who are very intelligent and successful in their fields find it difficult to succeed in language learning. Conversely, some people who are successful language learners find it difficult to succeed in other fields.
Language teachers often offer advice to language learners: “Read as much as you can in the new language.”“ Practice speaking the language every day. ”“Live with people who speak the language.”“Don’t translate-try to think in the new language.”“ Learn as a child would learn; play with the language.”
But what does a successful language learner do? Language learning research shows that successful language learners are similar in many ways.
First of all, successful language learners are independent learners. They do not depend on the book or the teacher; they discover their own way to learn the language. Instead of waiting for the teacher to explain, they try to find the patterns and the rules for themselves. They are good guessers who look for clues and form their own conclusions. When they guess wrong, they guess again. They try to learn from their mistakes.
Successful language learning is active learning. Therefore, successful learners do not wait for a chance to use the language; they look for such a chance. They find people who speak the language and they ask these people to correct them when they make a mistake. They will try anything to communicate. They are not afraid to repeat what they hear or to say strange things; they are willing to make mistakes and try again. When communication is difficult, they can accept information that is inexact or incomplete. It is more important for them to learn to think in the language than to know the meaning of every word.
Finally, successful language learners are learners with a purpose. They want to learn the language because they are interested in the language and the people who speak it. It is necessary for them to learn the language in order to communicate with these people and to learn from them. They find it easy to practice using the language regularly because they want to learn with it.
What kind of language learner are you? If you are a successful language learner, you have probably been learning independently, actively, and purposefully. On the other hand, if your language learning has been less than successful, you might do well to try some of the techniques outlined above.
【課文譯文】
怎樣成為一名成功的語言學(xué)習(xí)者
“學(xué)習(xí)一門語言很容易，即使小孩也能做得到�！�
大多數(shù)正在學(xué)習(xí)第二語言的成年人會不同意這種說法。對他們來說，學(xué)習(xí)一門語言是非常困難的事情。他們需要數(shù)百小時的學(xué)習(xí)與練習(xí)，即使這樣也不能保證每個成年語言學(xué)習(xí)者都能學(xué)好。
語言學(xué)習(xí)不同于其他學(xué)習(xí)。許多人很聰明，在自己的領(lǐng)域很成功，但他們發(fā)現(xiàn)很難學(xué)好一門語言。相反，一些人學(xué)習(xí)語言很成功，但卻發(fā)現(xiàn)很難在其他領(lǐng)域有所成就。
語言教師常常向語言學(xué)習(xí)者提出建議：“要用新的語言盡量多閱讀”，“每天練習(xí)說這種語言”，“與說這種語言的人住在一起”，“不要翻譯——盡量用這種新的語言去思考”，“要像孩子學(xué)語言一樣去學(xué)習(xí)新語言”，“放松地去學(xué)習(xí)語言�！�
然而，成功的語言學(xué)習(xí)者是怎樣做的呢?語言學(xué)習(xí)研究表明，成功的語言學(xué)習(xí)者在許多方面都有相似之處。
首先，成功的語言學(xué)習(xí)者獨立學(xué)習(xí)。他們不依賴書本和老師，而且能找到自己學(xué)習(xí)語言的方法。他們不是等待老師來解釋，而是自己盡力去找到語言的句式和規(guī)則。他們尋找線索并由自己得出結(jié)論，從而做出正確的猜測。如果猜錯，他們就再猜一遍。他們都努力從錯誤中學(xué)習(xí)。
成功的語言學(xué)習(xí)是一種主動的學(xué)習(xí)。因此，成功的語言學(xué)習(xí)者不是坐等時機而是主動尋找機會來使用語言。他們找到(說)這種語言的人進行練習(xí)，出錯時請這些人糾正。他們不失時機地進行交流，不怕重復(fù)所聽到的話，也不怕說出離奇的話，他們不在乎出錯，并樂于反復(fù)嘗試。當(dāng)交流困難時，他們可以接受不確切或不完整的信息。對他們來說，更重要的是學(xué)習(xí)用這種語言思考，而不是知道每個詞的意思。
最后，成功的語言學(xué)習(xí)者學(xué)習(xí)目的明確。他們想學(xué)習(xí)一門語言是因為他們對這門語言以及說這種語言的人感興趣。他們有必要學(xué)習(xí)這門語言去和那些人交流并向他們學(xué)習(xí)。他們發(fā)現(xiàn)經(jīng)常練習(xí)使用這種語言很容易，因為他們想利用這種語言來學(xué)習(xí)。
你是什么樣的語言學(xué)習(xí)者?如果你是一位成功的語言學(xué)習(xí)者，那么你大概一直在獨立地、主動地、目的明確地學(xué)習(xí)。另一方面,如果你的語言學(xué)習(xí)一直不太成功,你不妨試試上面提到的一些技巧。
大學(xué)英語自學(xué)教程(上冊) unit 02 稅、稅、還是稅
02-A. Taxes, Taxes, and More Taxes
Americans often say that there are only two things a person can be sure of in life: death and taxes, Americans do not have a corner on the "death" market, but many people feel that the United States leads the world with the worst taxes.
Taxes consist of the money which people pay to support their government. There are generally three levels of government in the United States: federal, state, and city; therefore, there are three types of taxes.
Salaried people who earn more than a few thousand dollars must pay a certain percentage of their salaries to the federal government. The percentage varies from person to person. It depends on their salaries. The federal government has a graduated income tax, that is, the percentage of the tax (14 to 70 percent) increases as a person's income increases. With the high cost of taxes, people are not very happy on April 15, when the federal taxes are due.
The second tax is for the state government: New York, California, North Dakota, or any of the other forty-seven states. Some states have an income tax similar to that of the federal government. Of course, the percentage for the state tax is lower. Other states have a sales tax, which is a percentage charged to any item which you buy in that state. For example, a person might want to buy a packet of cigarettes for twenty-five cents. If there is a sales tax of eight percent in that state, then the cost of the cigarettes is twenty-seven cents. This figure includes the sales tax. Some states use income tax in addition to sales tax to raise their revenues. The state tax laws are diverse and confusing.
The third tax is for the city. This tax comes in two forms: property tax (people who own a home have to pay taxes on it) and excise tax, which is charged on cars in a city. The cities use these funds for education, police and fire departments, public works and municipal buildings.
Since Americans pay such high taxes, they often feel that they are working one day each week just to pay their taxes. People always complain about taxes. They often protest that the government uses their tax dollars in the wrong way. They say that it spends too much on useless and impractical programs. Although Americans have different views on many issues, they tend to agree on one subject: taxes are too high.
【課文譯文】
稅、稅、還是稅
美國人常說，人的一生有兩件事可以肯定會發(fā)生：死亡和稅收。美國人并不壟斷死亡市場，但許多人卻感到美國以最重的賦稅領(lǐng)先于世界。
稅指人們?yōu)橹С终U納的資金。在美國通常有三級政府：聯(lián)邦政府，州政府及市政府，因此就存在三種稅。
收入超過幾千元的工薪人士必須向聯(lián)邦政府繳納一定比率的稅金。這一比率因人而異，取決于各人的工資數(shù)。聯(lián)邦政府實行累進收入所得稅制，也就是說，稅率(14%～70%)隨個人收入的增加而增加，由于高額稅收，人們在4月15日很不愉快，因為這一天是繳納稅款的日子。
第二種稅是繳納給州政府的，這些州包括紐約，加利福尼亞，北達科他以及其他47個州中的任何一個。一些州的收入所得稅的收取辦法同聯(lián)邦政府的相似，當(dāng)然其稅率要低一些。一些州設(shè)有銷售稅，即對你在該州所購買的任何商品所收的一定比率的稅金。比如，某人想買一包25美分的煙。如果該州收取8%的銷售稅，那么買這包煙要花27美分，這一錢數(shù)就包括銷售稅。一些州利用收入所得稅外加銷售稅的辦法來提高稅收，各州的稅收法規(guī)五花八門，令人費解。
第三種稅是向市政府繳納的。這種稅有兩種：一種是財產(chǎn)稅(擁有房屋的人都必須交稅)，另一種是本國消費稅，即對城市汽車所征收的稅金。城市將這些資金用于教育、警察和消防部門、公共設(shè)施及市政建設(shè)。
由于美國人須付高額稅金，所以他們經(jīng)常感到每周有一天純粹是在為繳稅而工作。人們總是在抱怨稅收太高。他們常�？棺h政府濫用他們的稅金。他們說政府將太多的錢花在無用且不符合實際的項目上了。盡管美國人在很多問題上有不同的看法，但他們在一個話題上的意見總是一致的：稅收太高。
大學(xué)英語自學(xué)教程(上冊) unit 03 大西洋
03-A. The Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is one of the oceans that separate the Old World from the New. For centuries it kept the Americas from being discovered by the people of Europe.
Many wrong ideas about the Atlantic made early sailors unwilling to sail far out into it. One idea was that it reached out to "the edge of the world." Sailors were afraid that they might sail right off the earth. Another idea was that at the equator the ocean would be boiling hot.
The Atlantic Ocean is only half as big as the Pacific, but it is still very large. It is more than 4,000 miles (6,000 km) wide where Columbus crossed it. Even at its narrowest it is about 2, 000 miles (3,200 km) wide. This narrowest place is between the bulge of south America and the bulge of Africa.
Two things make the Atlantic Ocean rather unusual. For so large an ocean it has very few islands. Also, it is the world's saltiest ocean.
There is so much water in the Atlantic that it is hard to imagine how much there is. But suppose no more rain fell into it and no more water was brought to it by rivers. It would take the ocean about 4,000 years to dry up. On the average the water is a little more than two miles (3.2 km) deep, but in places it is much deeper. The deepest spot is near Puerto Rico. This "deep" 30, 246 feet - almost six miles (9.6 km).
One of the longest mountain ranges of the world rises the floor of the Atlantic. This mountain range runs north and south down the middle of the ocean. The tops of a few of the mountains reach up above the sea and make islands. The Azores are the tops of peaks in the mid-Atlantic mountain range.
Several hundred miles eastward from Florida there is a part of the ocean called the Sargasso Sea. Here the water is quiet, for there is little wind. In the days of sailing vessels the crew were afraid they would be becalmed here. Sometimes they were.
Ocean currents are sometime called "rivers in the sea." One of these "river" in the Atlantic is called the Gulf Stream. It is a current of warm water. Another is the Labrador Current - cold water coming down from the Arctic. Ocean currents affect the climates of the lands near which they flow.
The Atlantic furnishes much food for the people on its shores. One of its most famous fishing regions, the Grand Banks, is near Newfoundland.
Today the Atlantic is a great highway. It is not, however, always a smooth and safe one. Storms sweep across it and pile up great waves. Icebergs float down from the Far North across the paths of ships.
We now have such fast ways of traveling that this big ocean seems to have grown smaller. Columbus sailed for more than two months to cross it. A fast modern steamship can make the trip in less than four days. Airplanes fly from New York to London in only eight hours and from South America to Africa in four!
【課文譯文】
大西洋
大西洋是將歐洲和美洲分隔開的海洋之一。它使南北美洲長達幾個世紀之久都未被人發(fā)現(xiàn)。
人們對大西洋有許多誤解，這使得早期的海員不愿意遠航駛?cè)氪笪餮�。一種想法是大西洋遠抵“世界的邊緣”，海員們擔(dān)心他們會一直航行到地球邊上掉落下去。另一個想法是在赤道處，大西洋的海水是滾燙的。
大西洋的面積只是太平洋的一半，但也非常遼闊。哥倫布穿越過的地方寬達4000多英里(6000公里)。即使最窄的地方寬度也有大約2000英里(3200公里)，這是一片位于南美洲最東端與非洲最西端之間的水域。
大西洋有兩點非同尋常。其一是在如此遼闊的海洋里少有島嶼。另外，大西洋是世界上含鹽量最高的海洋。
大西洋海水量很大，人們無法想像到底有多少水。但如果假設(shè)不再有降雨和河水注入，則需4000年大西洋才會干涸。大西洋平均水深有2英里(3.2公里)多一點，但有些地方要深得多。最深處在波多黎各島附近，深達30246英尺——約6英里(9.6公里)。
世界上最長的山脈之一從大西洋海底隆起，這條山脈沿海底中部向南北延伸，幾座山峰露出海面，形成島嶼。亞速爾群島就是大西洋中部山脈露出水面的幾座山峰。
佛羅里達州向東幾百英里有一處海域叫馬尾藻海，這里由于很少刮風(fēng)，海面很平靜。在使用帆船的時代，船員們擔(dān)心他們會因無風(fēng)而在此處無法航行。有時他們確實會遇到這種情況。
海流有時被稱作“海洋中的河流”。大西洋有一條這種“河流”，叫做墨西哥灣流，這是一股暖水流；另外一條是拉布拉多海流——這是來自北冰洋的冷水流。洋流對流域附近大陸的氣候有影響。
大西洋為兩岸的人們提供了豐富的食物。大淺灘是最著名的捕魚區(qū)之一，位于紐芬蘭附近。
今天，大西洋是一條重要的航路，這條航路并不總是風(fēng)平浪靜，毫無危險。暴風(fēng)雨會掠過洋面，堆起大浪。從北冰洋漂來的冰山也會橫穿航道。
我們現(xiàn)在有快捷的旅行方式，這個大洋似乎也變小了。哥倫布橫越大西洋用了兩個多月的時間，一艘現(xiàn)代化快輪不到4天就可完成這一航程，而乘飛機從紐約到倫敦只用8小時，從南美到非洲只用4小時。
大學(xué)英語自學(xué)教程(上冊) unit 04 改善你的記憶力
04-A. Improving Your Memory
Psychological research has focused on a number of basic principles that help memory: meaningfulness, organization, association, and visualization. It is useful to know how these principles work.
Meaningfulness affects memory at all levels. Information that does not make any sense to you is difficult to remember. There are several ways in which we can make material more meaningful. Many people, for instance, learn a rhyme to help them remember. Do you know the rhyme “Thirty days has September, April, June, and November…? ” It helps many people remember which months of the year have 30 days.
Organization also makes a difference in our ability to remember. How useful would a library be if the books were kept in random order? Material that is organized is better remembered than jumbled information. One example of organization is chunking. Chunking consists of grouping separate bits of information. For example, the number 4671363 is more easily remembered if it is chunked as 467,13,63. Categorizing is another means of organization. Suppose you are asked to remember the following list of words: man, bench, dog, desk, woman, horse, child, cat, chair. Many people will group the words into similar categories and remember them as follows: man, woman, child; cat, dog, horse; bench, chair, desk. Needless to say, the second list can be remembered more easily than the first one.
Association refers to taking the material we want to remember and relating it to something we remember accurately. In memorizing a number, you might try to associate it with familiar numbers or events. For example, the height of Mount Fuji in Japan - 12, 389 feet - might be remembered using the following associations: 12 is the number of months in the year, and 389 is the number of days in a year (365) added to the number of months twice (24).
The last principle is visualization. Research has shown striking improvements in many types of memory tasks when people are asked to visualize the items to be remembered. In one study, subjects in one group were asked to learn some words using imagery, while the second group used repetition to learn the words. Those using imagery remembered 80 to 90 percent of the words, compared with 30 to 40 percent of the words for those who memorized by repetition. Thus forming an integrated image with all the information placed in a single mental picture can help us to preserve a memory.
【課文譯文】
改善你的記憶力
心理研究集中在有助于記憶力的幾個基本原則，即富有意義、組織、聯(lián)想和想像。知道這些原則如何發(fā)揮作用是非常有益的。
富有意義從各個方面影響記記力。你很難記住對你毫無意義的信息，我們可以用幾種辦法使材料變得更有意義。例如，很多人學(xué)會用韻音來幫助他們記憶。你知道“九、四、六、十一有30天……”這首押韻詩嗎?它幫助人們記住一年中哪些月份有30天。
信息的.組織也對我們的記憶能力造成差異。圖書館的書如果陳列得雜亂無章對我們還會有什么幫助嗎?組織過的材料比混雜的信息更容易記住。組織信息的一個例子就是組塊。組塊是將一個個單獨的信息組織成信息塊。例如，4671363這組數(shù)字如果被組塊成467 13 63就更容易記住。分類是另一種組織方法。假定要求你記住一組詞：男人、凳子、狗、書桌、女人、馬、孩子、貓、椅子。很多人會將這些詞分成相似種類的幾組，即男人、女人、孩子；貓、狗、馬；凳子、椅子、書桌。不用說第二種排列比第一種排列更容易記憶。
聯(lián)想指將我們要記憶的材料和我們已準確記住的信息聯(lián)系起來。在記憶數(shù)字時，可以將這一數(shù)字與我們所熟悉的數(shù)字或事件聯(lián)系起來，例如，日本富士山的高度為12，389英尺，這一數(shù)字可以用下面的聯(lián)想法記�。�12是一年中的月份數(shù)，389是一年的天數(shù)(365)加月數(shù)的兩倍(24)。
最后一個基本原則是想像。研究表明，如果人們把需要記憶的東西進行想像，各種記憶能力都會有顯著的提高。在一項研究中，一組受試者被要求使用想像法學(xué)習(xí)一些生詞，而另外一組用重復(fù)法學(xué)習(xí)生詞。用想像法記憶單詞的一組記住了80%～90%的生詞，相比之下，用重復(fù)法記憶單詞的一組只記住了30%～40%的生詞。因此，將所有的信息放在一幅內(nèi)心的圖畫里，從而形成一個整體形象，可以幫助我們保存記憶。
大學(xué)英語自學(xué)教程(上冊) unit 05 對食物的錯誤看法
05-A. Fallacies about Food
Many primitive peoples believed that by eating an animal they could get some of the good qualities of that animal for themselves. They thought, for example, that eating deer would make them run as fast as the deer. Some savage tribes believed that eating enemies that had shown bravery in battle would make them brave. Man-eating may have started because people were eager to become as strong and brave as their enemies.
Among civilized people it was once thought that ginger root by some magical power could improve the memory. Eggs were thought to make the voice pretty. Tomatoes also were believed to have magical powers. They were called love apples and were supposed to make people who ate them fall in love.
Later another wrong idea about tomatoes grew up - the idea that they were poisonous. How surprised the people who thought tomatoes poisonous would be if they could know that millions of pounds of tomatoes were supplied to soldiers overseas during World War II.
Even today there are a great many wrong ideas about food. Some of them are very widespread.
One such idea is that fish is the best brain food. Fish is good brain food just as it is good muscle food and skin food and bone food. But no one has been able to prove that fish is any better for the brain than many other kinds of food.
Another such idea is that you should not drink water with meals. Washing food down with water as a substitute for chewing is not a good idea, but some water with meals has been found to be helpful. It makes the digestive juices flow more freely and helps to digest the food.
Many of the ideas which scientists tell us have no foundation have to do with mixtures of foods. A few years ago the belief became general that orange juice and milk should never be drunk at the same meal. The reason given was that the acid in the orange juice would make the milk curdle and become indigestible. As a matter of fact, milk always meets in the stomach a digestive juice which curdles it; the curdling of the milk is the first step in its digestion. A similar wrong idea is that fish and ice cream when eaten at the same meal form a poisonous combination.
Still another wrong idea about mixing foods is that proteins and carbohydrates should never be eaten at the same meal. Many people think of bread, for example, as a carbohydrate food. It is chiefly a carbohydrate food, but it also contains proteins. In the same way, milk, probably the best single food, contains both proteins and carbohydrates. It is just as foolish to say that one should never eat meat and potatoes together as it is to say that one should never eat bread or drink milk.
【課文譯文】
對食物的錯誤看法
很多原始民族認為吃某種動物可以使他們獲得這種動物的一些好的品質(zhì)。例如，他們認為吃鹿可以使他們跑得像鹿一樣快。一些野蠻部落相信，吃戰(zhàn)爭中表現(xiàn)勇敢的敵人會使他們勇敢。吃人現(xiàn)象開始發(fā)生可能是因為人們渴望變得像他們的敵人那樣強壯、勇敢。
一些文明人曾經(jīng)認為，姜根有某種魔力，能改善他們的記憶力。蛋能美化他們的聲音。也有人認為西紅柿有魔力。西紅柿被稱為愛的蘋果，他們認為吃西紅柿能使人墜入愛河。
后來又出現(xiàn)了另一個關(guān)于西紅柿的錯誤觀點——西紅柿有毒。如果認為西紅柿有毒的人知道二戰(zhàn)中數(shù)百萬磅的西紅柿提供給了在海外的戰(zhàn)士們，他們會多么吃驚!
甚至在今天也有很多關(guān)于食物的錯誤看法，其中一些看法很普遍。一種想法認為魚是最佳益腦食物。魚是有益于大腦的食物，就像它對肌肉、皮膚、骨骼一樣有益。但是沒有人能夠證明對于大腦來說魚比其他種類的食物更好。
另外一種想法認為，吃飯的時候不應(yīng)該喝水。雖然用水把食物沖下去來代替咀嚼不是個好主意，但是人們發(fā)現(xiàn)吃飯時喝點水是有益的。水能使消化液更自由地流動，有助于消化食物。
很多想法是關(guān)于食物混在一起吃的，而科學(xué)家告訴我們，這些想法毫無根據(jù)。幾年前有一種很普遍的看法，認為不能在同一餐中喝桔子汁和牛奶，其理由是桔子汁中的酸性物質(zhì)能使牛奶凝結(jié)而難以消化。事實上，牛奶在胃里總會遇到一種使它凝結(jié)的消化液，而這種凝結(jié)是消化的第一步。類似的一種錯誤想法認為在同一餐中吃魚和冰淇淋會形成一種有毒的化合物。
還有一種關(guān)于食物混在一起吃的錯誤想法，即不能在同一餐中吃蛋白質(zhì)食物和淀粉質(zhì)食物。例如，很多人認為面包是一種淀粉質(zhì)食物。雖然面包主要是一種淀粉質(zhì)食物，但它也含有蛋白質(zhì)。同樣，牛奶可能是最好的單一食物，但它也含有蛋白質(zhì)和淀粉。不要吃面包喝牛奶，這種說法是愚蠢的，就像說不要把肉類和土豆一起食用一樣。
大學(xué)英語自學(xué)教程(上冊) unit 19 動物瀕危，誰來關(guān)心
19-A. Animals at Risk: Who Cares?
An animal species becomes extinct when it fails to produce enough young in each generation to keep pace with the death-rate. We can tell from fossil evidence in rocks that many living species have become extinct over the millions of years since life began. It is a natural process and extinction is the fate of any animal that has specialized too far to change when its environment changes, or has to compete with a better-adapted and more powerful animal. Because of remarkable technical developments during the past few centuries, man has destroyed or nearly destroyed some species by killing them at such a rate that they couldn't produce enough offspring, or by completely changing their natural environment at surprising speed.
A number of examples can be given of the way in which natural environments are being rapidly changed - Amazonia, for instance. There is every likelihood that many species of animals will be made extinct because of these and similar clearances of natural vegetation. Large numbers of animals have been hunted and killed for food. The North American buffalo is a case of the near-extinction of a species through hunting. Often the numbers are so great the hunters may not realize the danger. But even when the danger is widely publicized, the financial rewards for the hunters may be so great that they choose to ignore the threat to the species. Attitudes like this have led to hunters killing animals for furs, for ivory or merely for ornaments. A slight variation on this is when tourists hunt animals for trophies. Magnificent creatures such as lions and tigers have been hunted out of existence in some parts of the world. It is important to realize, though, that animals are sometimes killed out of fear. Big cats are killed in this way. And animals are sometimes killed out of a wish to reduce numbers to help the species to survive. The killing of the Canadian seals is claimed to be for this purpose, and the use of their skins for furs is only a by-product.
Many people are concerned about animals and wildlife conservation. One way to preserve species under threat of extinction - whatever the cause - is to remove them to zoos and parks and breed them there. There is always the chance that enough offspring will be born to return them one day to their natural environment - provided it still exists, and that hunters don't kill them again! Another method is to protect the animals in their natural environment by creating wildlife reserves and parks and using game wardens to look after them. But the parks are large, the wardens few and the determination of hunters very great. Early in 1980 wardens and hunters clashed in East Africa. The hunters were armed with modern weapons and several people were killed.
There is great pleasure in watching wildlife in natural or near-natural environments, and tourism can add to the income of countries. The animals are still resources - but in a very different form.
【課文譯文】
動物瀕危，誰來關(guān)心
當(dāng)一種動物不能在每一代都繁殖出足夠的后代而與其死亡率保持一致時，它就會逐漸滅絕了。我們可根據(jù)巖石里的化石得出結(jié)論：自生命開始數(shù)百萬年以來，許多物種已經(jīng)滅絕了。這是一個自然過程，任何一種過于特化而不能隨環(huán)境改變而改變的動物，或者任何一種與適應(yīng)性更強、更厲害的動物來競爭的動物，滅絕都是其必然的命運。由于近幾個世紀技術(shù)的迅猛發(fā)展，人類大量捕殺動物以致其繁殖不出足夠多的后代，或者以驚人的速度改變它們生存的自然環(huán)境，結(jié)果一些動物被毀滅或幾乎被毀滅了。
很多例子都可以說明自然環(huán)境是如何迅速被改變的，亞馬遜尼亞國家公園就是一個例子。很有可能，許多種動物將由于自然植物在這些或類似的地方被砍伐殆盡而瀕于滅絕。大量的動物被捕殺用作食物。北美野牛就是一個因捕獵而近于滅絕的例子。
動物的數(shù)量常常很大，因而捕獵者可能意識不到它們存在滅絕的危險。但即使這種危險被廣而告之，捕獵者為獲取巨大經(jīng)濟利益，可能會無視動物的存亡。這種思想使獵人為獲取毛皮、象牙或僅僅為了做一些裝飾品而捕殺動物。與此略有不同的是旅游者為了留個紀念而追殺動物。獅子、老虎之類的大型動物在世界一些地方已被殺光。但有時人捕殺動物是由于害怕動物，認識這一點非常重要，大型的貓科動物就是這樣被捕殺的。有時為了幫助動物生存要捕殺一些以減少其數(shù)量。據(jù)說加拿大殺海豹就是出于這個目的，而用海豹皮制革只是附帶的。
許多人關(guān)心動物及野生動物的保護。不管動物瀕危的原因是什么，保護方法其一就是把它們遷移到動物園和公園，在那兒喂養(yǎng)它們。完全有可能等它們繁殖出足夠數(shù)量的后代以后，將來有一天放它們回歸自然，其條件是它們還存活而且獵人不再捕殺。另一種方法是在動物生存的自然環(huán)境里創(chuàng)建野生動物保護區(qū)，由管理人員負責(zé)照料它們。然而保護區(qū)面積很大，管理人員少，但獵人捕殺動物的決心卻很大。1980年初，在東部非洲，管理員與獵人發(fā)生過沖突。獵人持有現(xiàn)代化武器，有數(shù)人死亡。
在自然環(huán)境或接近自然環(huán)境里觀賞野生動物是很有趣的，旅游業(yè)也可以給國家增加收入。動物仍然是資源，但它們是另一種形式的資源。
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