高考英语 3500 词・语境速记【171】|和自然分享空间的城市 ——24 个高频词

🎧 建议跟读2遍，语速0.8倍

When most people think of a city, they think of concrete, glass, and steel. They think of traffic, noise, and crowds. They do not usually think of birds, butterflys, or wildflowers. But the truth is that cities are full of life, if you know where to look. A single tree in a park can support dozens of species. A rooftop garden can become a resting place for birds migrateing thousands of miles. This is urbanbiodiversity, and it matters more than most people realize.

The problem is that cities were not built with nature in mind. When a forest is cleared to make room for apartments, the animals that lived there do not simply move next door. Some die. Some disappear forever. The birds that used to sing in the morning fall silent. The insects that pollinated the flowers are gone. A city without nature is not just less beautiful. It is less healthy. Trees clean the air. Wetlands absorb floodwater. Bees and butterflies make it possible for plants to reproduce. Without them, the city becomes a harder place to live.

But cities can change. More and more planners are designing buildings with green roofs, where plants grow and birds can nest. They are leaving strips of wild land along rivers and railway lines. They are planting native trees instead of decorative ones that provide no food for local wildlife. A city that shares its space with nature does not have to be less modern. It just has to be more thoughtful.

The result is a city that feels different. You hear birds in the morning. You see butterflies in the park. You breathe cleaner air. And you realize that nature is not something that exists only in national parks, far away. It is right here, in the cracks of the sidewalk, in the tree outside your window, in the patch of grass between two buildings. A city that protects its biodiversity is a city that remembers where it came from — and that has a better chance of surviving where it is going.

大多数人想到城市，想到的是混凝土、玻璃和钢铁。他们想到交通、噪音和人群。他们通常不会想到鸟、蝴蝶或野花。但事实是城市里充满了生命，只要你知道往哪看。公园里的一棵树就能支撑几十种物种。屋顶花园可以成为迁徙数千英里的鸟类的休息地。这就是城市生物多样性，它比大多数人意识到的更重要。问题是城市在建设时没有考虑自然。当森林被 clearing 腾出地方建公寓时，住在那里的动物不会简单地搬到隔壁。有些死了。有些永远消失了。曾经在早晨唱歌的鸟沉默了。给花授粉的昆虫不见了。一个没有自然的城市不只是不那么美丽。它不那么健康。树木净化空气。湿地吸收洪水。蜜蜂和蝴蝶让植物能够繁殖。没有它们，城市变得更难居住。但城市可以改变。越来越多的规划者在设计带有绿色屋顶的建筑，植物在那里生长，鸟类可以筑巢。他们在河流和铁路沿线留出野生地带。他们种植本地树木，而不是不给当地野生动物提供食物的装饰性树木。一个和自然分享空间的城市不必不那么现代。它只需要更有思想。结果是一个感觉不同的城市。你在早晨听到鸟鸣。你在公园看到蝴蝶。你呼吸更干净的空气。你意识到自然不是只存在于遥远的国家公园里的东西。它就在这里，在人行道的裂缝里，在你窗外的树上，在两栋楼之间的那片草地上。一个保护生物多样性的城市，是一个记得自己从哪里来的城市——也是一个更有可能在去往的地方生存下来的城市。