中英對照讀新聞》Half-a-million insect species face extinction：scientists 科學家：50萬種昆蟲面臨滅絕

科學家對人類提出警告說，地球100萬種動植物面臨滅絕，其中一半是昆蟲。（法新社檔案照）

◎陳成良

Half of the one million animal and plant species on Earth facing extinction are insects, and their disappearance could be catastrophic for humankind, scientists have said in a "warning to humanity".

科學家在一項「對人類的警告」中說，地球100萬種動植物面臨滅絕，其中一半是昆蟲，而牠們的消失可能帶給人類災難。

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"The current insect extinction crisis is deeply worrying," said Pedro Cardoso, a biologist at the Finnish Museum of Natural History and lead author of a review study published Monday.

「現今昆蟲的滅絕危機讓人極度憂心」，芬蘭自然史博物館生物學家、也是研究主要執筆人佩卓．卡多索在週一刊出的研究中說。

"Yet, what we know is only the tip of the iceberg," he told AFP.

他告訴法新社說：「然而，我們所知的僅是冰山一角。」

The disappearance of bugs that fly, crawl, burrow, jump and walk on water is part of a gathering mass extinction event, only the sixth in the last half-billion years.

可以飛行、爬行、挖洞、跳躍和在水上行走的昆蟲消失，是集體滅絕事件的一環，這是在過去5億年間僅僅第6次的滅絕事件。

The last one was 66 million years ago, when an errant space rock wiped out land-based dinosaurs and most other life forms.

上一次已是距今6600萬年前，當時一顆遊蕩的太空岩石消滅陸地的恐龍及大多數其他生命形式。

This time we are to blame.

而這次要怪罪的是人類。

"Human activity is responsible for almost all insect population declines and extinctions," Cardoso told AFP.

卡多索告訴法新社：「幾乎所有昆蟲數量減少與滅絕，都要歸因於人類活動。」

The main drivers are dwindling and degraded habitat, followed by pollutants － especially insecticides － and invasive species.

造成昆蟲滅絕的主要因素，是棲地的減少與退化，接著是污染，特別是殺蟲劑的污染及侵入的物種。

新聞辭典

catastrophic：形容詞，大災變的、毀滅性的。例句：In our business, a swing of 15% is catastrophic.（在我們這個行業，15%的變動就是災難。）

burrow：動詞，（尤指為居住）打洞，掘洞。例句：Rats had burrowed into the bank of the river.（老鼠在河岸上打了洞。）

dwindling：形容詞，正在減少的；動詞原形為dwindle，減少。例句︰Taiwan’s population is expected to dwindle after 2050.（台灣的總人口預計在2050年後開始減少。）

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