《沙乡年鉴》序言

Foreword to A Sand County Almanac

[1]有些人没有野生物相伴也能生活,有些人则不能。本书中这些短文就记述了后者所感受的欢愉和身处的窘况。[2]在社会进程开始灭绝野生动植物之前,其存在被人视为自然常态,犹如风吹日落般天经地义。如今,我们却面对这样一个问题:为了一种更高的“生活水准”,是否就值得牺牲那些天生地养、自然蕃息的生物?对我们少数人而言,有机会看到大雁比观看电视更重要,而有幸找到一株老冠花则是一种权利,一种与言论自由一样不可剥夺的权利。

[1]There are some who can live without wild things,and some who cannot.These essays are the delights and dilemmas of one who cannot.[2]Like winds and sunsets,wild things were taken for granted until progress began to do away with them.Now we face the question whether a still higher"standard of living"is worth its cost in things natural,wild,and free.For us of the minority,the opportunity to see geese is more important than television,and the chance to find a pasque-flower is a right as inalienable as free speech.