A Summer Day
By Charles Dickens
One day thirty years ago Marseilles lay in the burning sun.A blazing sun upon a fierce August day was no greater rarity in southern France then than at any other time before or since. Everything in Marseilles and about Marseilles had stared at the fevered sun， and been stared at in return， until a staring habit had become universal there. Strangers were stared out of countenance by staring white houses， staring white streets， staring tracts of arid road， staring hills from which verdure verdure was burnt away. The only things to be seen not fixedly staring and glaring were the vines drooping under their loads of grapes. These did occasionally wink a little， as the hot air barely moved their faint leaves.
The universal stare made the eyes ache. Towards the distant blue of the Italian coast， indeed， it was a little relieved by light clouds of mist slowly rising from the evaporation of the sea， but it softened nowhere else. Far away the staring roads， deep in dust， stared from the hillside， stared from the hollow， stared from the interminable plain. Far away the dusty vines overhanging wayside cottages， and the monotonous wayside avenues of parched trees without shade， dropped beneath the stare of earth and sky. So did the horses with drowsy bells， in long files of carts， creeping slowly towards the interior； so did their recumbent drivers， when they were awake， which rarely happened； so did the exhausted laborers in the fields. Everything that lived or grew was oppressed by the glare； except the lizard， passing swiftly over rough stone walls， and cicada， chirping its dry hot chirp， like a rattle. The very dust was scorched brown， and something quivered in the atmosphere as if the air itself were panting.
Blinds， shutters， curtains， awnings， were all closed and drawn to keep out the stare. Grant it but a chink or a keyhole， and it shot in like a white-hot arrow.
夏日
查尔斯·狄更斯
三十年前的一天，马赛躺在烈日之下。在法国南部，八月炎热的日子里赤日当空，在那时以前或以后都不是什么罕见的事。马赛范围内以及马赛周围的一切都凝视着灼热的太阳，而太阳反过来也凝视着这一切；久而久之，在马赛普遍形成一种耀眼的色彩。白色的房屋，白色的街道，一段段干旱的大路，草木晒得枯死的小山都十分耀眼像在瞪着眼瞧人似的，使初到此地的人们手足无措。能看到的惟一不是老瞪着眼使人眼花缭乱的，只有坠着串串葡萄的葡萄藤；热空气微微吹动着萎缩的藤叶时，葡萄确实也偶尔眨眨眼。
这种普遍的耀眼的色彩令人眼睛发痛。说实在的，要远到意大利沿海蔚蓝的天空，由于海水蒸发冉冉升起的缕缕薄雾，这耀眼的色彩才不致那么强烈，但是除此之外别的地方，它一点也不曾柔和下来。远处，耀眼的大路，上面积着很厚的尘土，沿着山坡盯着人看，穿过山谷盯着人看，横过一望无际的平原盯着人看。远处，悬挂在路旁小屋上蒙着尘土的葡萄藤，还有路旁单调的成行的晒焦了不能遮荫的树木，都在大地和天空的凝视下耷拉着脑袋。长长的大车队中，发出催人欲睡的铃铛声的马匹也耷拉着脑袋，慢慢地向内地爬行着；斜靠在车上的车夫们醒来时，也耷拉着脑袋，不过他们也难得醒，田野里精疲力尽的农夫们也耷拉着脑袋。一切动物和植物都受到这耀眼光芒的压抑；例外的只是在那凹凸不平的石墙上敏捷爬行的蜥蜴和拨浪鼓似的发出强烈鸣声的蝉儿。连那尘土都被炙烤成褐色了，大气中似乎也有什么东西在颤抖，仿佛空气本身也在气喘吁吁。
竹帘子、百叶窗、窗帘、遮篷全都拉拢了，把这耀眼的光芒挡在外面。哪怕只露出一条小缝或者一个钥匙孔，它就会像一支白热的箭直射进来。
The Balance of Nature
by Julain Huxley
The balance of nature is a very elaborateelaborate and very delicate system of checks and counter checks. It is continually being altered as climates change， as new organisms evolve， as animals or plants permeatepermeate to new areas. But the alterationsalteration have in the past， for the most part， been slow， whereas with the arrival of civilized man， their speed has been multiplied manyfold： from the revolutionary time scale， where change is measured by periods of ten or a hundred thousand years， they have been transferred to the human time-scale in which centuries and even decadesdecade countEverywhere man is altering the balance of nature. He is facilitating the spread of plants and animals into new regions， sometimes deliberatelydeliberately， sometimes unconsciously. He is covering huge areas with new kinds of plants， or with houses， factories， slag-heaps and other products of his civilization. He exterminatesexterminate some species on a large scale， but favours the multiplicationmultiplication of others. In brief， he has done more in five thousand years to alter the biological aspect of the planet than has nature in five millionMany of these changes which he has brought about have had unforeseen consequences. Who would have thought that the throwing away of a piece of Canadian waterweed would have caused half the waterways of Britain to be blocked for a decade， or that the provision of pot cacti for lonely settlers’ wives would have led to Eastern Australia being overrun with forests of Prickly Pear？ Who would have prophesied that the cutting down of forests on the Adriatic coasts， or in parts of Central Africa， could have reduced the land to a semidesert， with the very soil washed away from the bare rock？ Who would have thought that improved communications would have changed history by the spreading of disease-sleeping sickness into East Africa， measlesmeasle into Oceania， very possibly malaria into ancient Greece？
These are spectacular examples； but examples on a smaller scale are everywhere to be found. We make a nature sanctuarysanctuary for rare birds， prescribing absolute security for all species； and we may find that some common and hardy Rind of multiplies beyond measure and ousts the rare kinds in which we were particularly interested. We see， owing to some little change brought about by civilization， the starling spread over the English country-side in hordes. We improve the yielding capacities of our cattle； and find that now they exhaust the pasturespasture which sufficed for less exigentexigent stock. We gaily set about killing the carnivores that molest our domestic animals， the hawks that eat our fowls and game-birds； and find that in so doing we are also removing the brake that restrains the multiplication of mice and other little rodentsrodent that gnaw away the farmers‘ profits.
自然界的平衡
朱利安·赫胥黎
自然界的平衡是一种十分精密复杂而又敏感脆弱的抑制与反抑制体系，它总是随着气候条件的变化，随着新的生物体的形成，和随着动植物蔓延入新的地区而持续不断地变化着。可是，在过去，这些变化大部分是很缓慢的，而自从文明人出现以后，变化的速度便增大了很多倍。用以测量它们的时间标度，已经从适用于自然演化过程的、以一万年或十万年为计量单位的时间标度，转变成人类所使用的、以几百年甚至几十年为计量单位的时间标度。
人类到处都在改变着自然界的平衡。他帮助动植物进入新的地区，有时是有意的，有时是无意的。他正在用新的植物种类，或者用房屋、工厂、炉渣堆或其他的文明产物覆盖大片的土地。他使有些物种大批消亡，却造成有利条件使另外一些物种成倍地增加。总之，人类在五千年内比大自然在五百万年内做了更多的事来改变地球的生态。
