Written by Linda Baxter
Read by Alexa
美式发音 适合泛读
Imagine the scene. You’re sitting in the hot sunshine beside the swimming pool of your international luxury hotel, drinking your imported 1)gin and tonic. In front of you is the beach, reserved for hotel guests with motor boats for hire. Behind you is an 18-hole golf course, which was cleared from the native forest and is kept green by hundreds of water 2)sprinklers. Around the hotel are familiar international restaurant chains and the same shops that you have at home. You’ve seen some local people—some of them sell local3)handicrafts outside the hotel. You bought a small wooden statue and after arguing for half an hour you paid only a quarter of what the man was asking. Really cheap!
想像一下这样一个场景:在烈日下,你坐在国际豪华酒店的游泳池旁,喝着进口的杜松子酒补剂。在你的眼前是给酒店的客人专用的海滩,当然,还有随时可供客人租用的汽艇。而在你身后则是一个18洞的高尔夫球场,场地上原有的天然植被早已被清除干净,现在有几百个水喷头把球场保养得翠绿诱人。那些你在家就已经熟悉的国际连锁餐厅和商店分布在酒店的周围。你在这里还见到一些当地人,他们有些人在酒店门外兜售当地的手工艺品。你挑了一个小木雕,在经过长达半个小时的讨价还价后,你只付了对方开价的四分之一的价钱。太便宜了!
Is this your idea of heaven or would you prefer something different?
这就是你理想中的天堂吗?或者说你有另一番期待?
Nowadays, many of us try to live in a way that will damage the environment as little as possible. We recycle our newspapers and bottles, we take public transport to get to work, we try to buy locally produced fruit and vegetables and we stopped using 4)aerosol sprays years ago. And we want to take these attitudes on holiday with us. This is why alternative forms of tourism are becoming more popular all over the world.
如今,许多人都力图以一种尽可能少破坏环境的方式生活。比如说,我们会回收报纸和瓶子,我们乘坐公共交通工具上下班,我们尽量购买当地生产的蔬果,还在多年前就停止使用喷雾剂等。而我们在度假时也应该采取同样的生活态度。因此,在世界各地,非传统的旅游方式越来越受欢迎。
But what is ecotourism?
可到底什么才是生态旅游呢?
There are lots of names for these new forms of tourism: responsible tourism, alternative tourism, sustainable tourism, nature tourism, adventure tourism, educational tourism and more. Ecotourism probably involves a little of all of them. Everyone has a different definition but most people agree that ecotourism must:
这些新型旅游有各种各样的名称:负责任的旅游、另类旅游、可持续旅游、自然旅游、冒险旅游、教育旅游等等。而生态旅游可能与以上的各种旅游都有点关系。每个人都对什么是生态旅游有着自己的看法,但大部分人都同意生态旅游必须包含以下几点:
5)conserve the wildlife and culture of the area;
benefit the local people and involve the local community;
be sustainable, that is make a profit without destroying natural resources;
provide an experience that tourists want to pay for.
保护旅游地区的野生动植物和文化;
使旅游地区的当地人受惠,并参与他们的活动;
保持可持续性,就是说在盈利的同时不要毁坏自然资源;
提供旅客愿意掏钱的旅游经历。
So, for example, in a true ecotourism project, a nature reserve allows a small number of tourists to visit its rare animals and uses the money that is generated to continue with important conservation work. The local people have jobs in the nature reserve as guides and 6)wardens, but also have a voice in how the project develops. Tourists stay in local houses with local people, not in specially built hotels. So they experience the local culture and do not take precious energy and water away from the local population. They travel on foot, by boat, bicycle or elephant so that there is no pollution. And they have a special experience that they will remember all of their lives. 
好了,举例说,在一个真正的生态旅游项目的操作管理之下,自然保护区只允许少量的游客去看稀有动物,用旅游收入继续进行重要的保护性工作。当地人可以在自然保护区当向导或看护人以维持生计,同时又对保护区的运作表达自己的意见。游客住在当地人的民居里,而不是专门为游客建造的酒店。这样,他们既能体验当地文化,又不会用去当地居民宝贵的能源与水资源。旅客的交通方式是步行、坐船、骑自行车或大象,这样就不会对环境造成污染,而且,他们还会因此有了一次终生难忘的特殊经历。
But before you get too enthusiastic, think about how you are going to get to your dream “eco” paradise. Flying is one of the biggest man-made sources of 7)carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. 8)Friends of the Earth say that one return flight from London to Miami puts as much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as the average British car driver produces in a year. So don’t forget that you don’t have to fly to exotic locations for your “eco” holiday. There are probably places of natural beauty and interest in your own country that you’ve never visited.
不过,在兴奋之余,想想你要怎样抵达你梦想中的“生态”天堂。飞机可是二氧化碳人为排放量最大的来源之一。地球之友称:从伦敦到迈阿密的一次往返飞行所排放的二氧化碳相当于普通的英国驾车者开车一年产生的排放量。所以,别忘了你不一定要飞到异国他乡去度“生态”假期,很可能在你自己的国家就有你从来没有见过的自然景色,以及你不曾踏足的有意思的地方。
原文来自：英国大使馆文教处英语学习网站“英语在线”http://www.englishonline.org.cn