5-2個人段落翻譯

Mountains Play Important
Ecological Roles
Some of the world’s most spectacular environments are high on mountains, which cover about one-fourth of the earth’s land surface. Mountains are places where dramatic changes in altitude, climate, soil and vegetation take place over a very short distance.
About 17% of the world’s people live in mountains or on their edges, and 4 billion people (60% of the world’s population) depend on mountains for all or some of their water. Because of the steep slopes, mountains soils are easily eroded when the vegetation holding them in place is removed by natural disturbances (such as timber cutting and agriculture). Many freestanding mountains are islands of biodiversity surrounded by a sea of lower-elevation landscapes transformed by human activities.
Mountains play important ecological roles. They contain the majority of the world’s forests, which are habitats for much of the planet’s terrestrial biodiversity. They often are habitats for endemic species found nowhere else on earth. They also serve as sanctuaries for animal species driven from lowland areas.
Mountains also help regulate the earth’s climate. Mountaintops covered with ice and snow affect climate by reflecting solar radiation back into space. This helps cool the earth and offset global warming. However, many of the world’s mountain glaciers are melting mostly because of global warming. As the earth gets warmer, mountaintop glaciers and other land-based glaciers could melt and help raise sea levels.
Finally, mountains play a critical role in the hydrologic cycle by serving as major storehouses of water. In the warmer weather of spring and summer, much of their snow and ice melts and is released to streams for use by wildlife and by humans for drinking and irrigating crops. Despite their ecological, economic, and cultural importance, the fate of mountain ecosystems has not been a high priority of governments or for many environmental organizations.

翻譯 :

一些世界上壯觀壯麗的環境都分布在高山上面，他覆蓋了整個地球1/4的表面。
山是一個在高度、土地和植被很有戲劇性變化的地方。常發生在短距離之內。
大約17%的世界上的人口住在山上或是山的邊緣，還有40億的人口(大約是世界上60%的人口)依賴高山上的水。因為山坡很陡峭所以當因為自然因素而山坡地上的植物被擾亂或是被移除時(像是山崩或是雪崩)或是人為的因素也會使山地被侵蝕(像木材或是農地的砍伐)。許多海拔比較低而被海環繞的獨立式山脈，山的風景和多樣性就因為人類的活動而改變。山扮演了很重要的角色，他們包含了世界上各生物棲息地多數的森林，他們嘗試地方上的生物種類找不到其他地方棲息的的棲息地，他們也有像給動物們在低地運動或是當避難所的功能
高山亦幫忙控制地球的氣候。山頂上覆蓋著冰和白雪可以反射太陽發光罩成的輻射能回表面，這樣幫助寒冷的地球抵銷了溫室效應。然而，世界上許多山上的冰河因為溫室效應的影響而正在溶化，像地球暖化、山頂或是有根基的冰河溶化造成海平面上升，這些都是溫室效應造成的結果。
最後，山在水循環的方面扮演了很重要的角色，他儲存了主要的水，就像一做倉庫一樣，在溫暖的春天和夏天，很多的冰和雪就溶化成水，然後是放在小河裡給野生動物和人類灌溉和飲用，雖然山在生態經濟和種植上面很重要但是他們的命運並沒有被政府有關環境保護組織中優先考慮