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Listen to part of a lecture in an Environmental Science class.
請聽環境科學課上的部分內容。
Roads, paved roads are everywhere and sometimes seem like part of the natural landscape.
道路和人行道隨處可見，有時候它們就像自然風景中不可分割的一部分。
But, of course, roads are not part of nature and, in fact, road construction can have harmful effects on the environment and seriously impact both animal life and plant life.
不過，當然啦，道路并不是自然的一部分，而且事實上，道路建設對環境會產生有害影響，對動植物生命都會構成嚴重威脅。
One harmful environmental effect of roads is that they contribute to the movement of plant species from one area to another.
道路對環境的其中一個有害影響就是：它們會導致植物種群從一個地區遷移到另一個地區。
This causes problem for existing plants, plants already growing in that area because when a new plant species gets introduce into an area where it wasn't growing before, the new plants compete for resources with existing plant life.
這會給已經存在的植物，即已經生長在該地區的植物帶來麻煩，因為當一個新的植物品種被引入某個新地區時，這個新品種的植物便會和現有植物搶奪資源。
For example, this happened in California with a weed called the yellow star thistle.
比如這種生長在加利福尼亞州的植物---黃色矢車菊。
What happened was the star thistle's seeds got stuck to the tires of cars driving down the road and the seeds were distributed to new areas.
事情是這樣的：車輛駛過道路時，車胎上粘著了矢車菊的種子，而這些種子便隨著汽車被傳播到了新的地區。
This put the star thistle in competition for natural resources, like water, with the original plant life of the area.
這就使得矢車菊和當地原生植物競爭起了自然資源，比如水資源。
That made it harder for the native plants to survive.
當地植物的生存也隨之變得更加困難。
Also roads, especially major highways, can act as barriers and divide up an animal's habitat into smaller ones where there is not enough food to support the population.
另外，道路尤其是主要的高速公路，可能會充當屏障把動物棲息地分割成小片區域，而在這些小片區域里動物難以獲得足夠食物。
These busy highways, with cars speeding past day and night, act like boundaries that animals are afraid to cross.
這些高速公路大多十分繁忙，車輛不分日夜地快速駛過，就像動物們害怕穿過的邊界線一樣。
So they sometimes get shut in on a small piece of land where there isn't enough food to support them.
所以它們有時便被困在那小片區域里，根本找不到充足的食物。
This is a serious problem for animals that need access to large expanse of land to look for food.
對于需要進入廣闊區域尋找食物的動物來說，問題十分嚴峻。
For example, there are these foxes called Kit foxes that live in the southwestern United States, They hunt small animals like mice and squirrels which are spread out over large areas of open grasslands.
比如，在美國西南部生活著一種名為墨西哥狐的狐貍，它們以老鼠和松鼠等小型動物為食，而這些小型動物多分布在空曠草地的廣闊區域。
And now, because of these roads, the Kit fox population has declined significantly because now they don't get enough food.
而現在，由于這些道路的影響，墨西哥狐的數量急劇減少，因為它們現在無法獲得足夠的食物。
