雅思例文：人口与环境

　　A rise in the world's population is having serious, negative effects on theenvironment. Some scientists believe that the only way to solve the problem isto set up a colony on the Moon. Others argue that the cost would be far toogreat and other solutions should be sought.

　　What is your opinion?

　　The environment is, of course, under serious threat, but the extent towhich population growth is responsible may not be as great as some people claim.In fact there are many other factors such as the growth in big cities, pollutionfrom traffic and manufacturing, and the destruction of rainforest that probablyplay a bigger role. It is questionable, therefore, how far a colony on the Moonwould help solve the problem.

　　One of the most serious threats to the global ecosystem is the destructionof the rainforests with an area the size of Europe disappearing every year. Andthis is largely due to large companies in their pursuit of profit. Indeed,whilst international logging companies claim to use on average 10 percent of thespecies of trees that make up the rainforest, that 10 percent of speciesconstitute about 90 percent of the volume.

　　Naturally, if the world's population was not as large, the demand for woodwould be considerably reduced, which would support setting up a colony on theMoon. But even if the colony was set up how many people in reality, wouldrelocate? Even if the number ran into tens of thousands the actual effect on theworld's population would be minimal. Indeed, we only need to consider how manypeople were killed during the two world wars, which ran into millions, tosupport this claim. Instead, the cost should be transferred into the developmentof sustainable economies.

　　Take, for instance, the growth of big cities that consume land at anenormous rate, and that rely on transport and essential services that devastatethe environment. If people were to revert to living in small semi self-containedcommunities, many of the problems experienced by big cities could be avoided. Itwould even be beneficial for the economy because it would promote thedevelopment of small, family run businesses.

　　At the end of the day, to claim that setting up a colony on the Moon wouldhelp to solve the issue of environmental damage is to close our eyes to thecauses of the damage. In short, it could potentially turn out to be a verycostly exercise with few real benefits. (364 words)

　　说明:词数略微多了些,但由于是供大家学习参考,所以也无妨。