減少對世界的衝擊
“May we live long and die out,” states the unusual motto of 75-year-old American man Les Knight’s Voluntary Human Extinction movement.
75歲的美國人奈特發起「人類自願滅絕運動」，「願我們長壽而滅絕」是這項運動非比尋常的口號。
die out 消失、滅絕motto (n.)座右銘、口號movement (n.)運動Sunflower Movement 太陽花學運civil rights movement 民權運動
For decades, Knight has been encouraging people to make the choice of not breeding as a means of combating the world’s growing overpopulation, increasing amount of pollution and overconsumption of resources.
數十年來，奈特一直鼓勵人們選擇不生育，以對抗全球不斷增加的人口、日益嚴重的污染和資源的過度消耗。
breed (v.)繁殖、生育means (n.)手段、方法combat (v.)打擊、對抗combat terrorism 打擊恐怖主義combat racism 打擊種族歧視combat inflation 打擊通貨膨脹overconsumption (n.)過度消耗
To avoid any misunderstandings, Knight emphasizes the “voluntary” aspect of his movement, meaning that people willingly choose to not have children in order to lessen the impact of humans on the world.
為了避免誤解，奈特強調這項運動的「自願性」，意味著人們自願選擇不生育，以減少人類對世界的衝擊。
aspect (n.)層面lessen (v.)減少、降低、減輕
Additionally, despite the use of the word “extinction,” Knight and his followers do not condone mass murder, suicide or forced birth control to reduce the number of humans; instead, his message stresses “great compassion” for the environment as well as all humans and living beings that already exist.
此外，儘管使用了「滅絕」一詞，但奈特和他追隨者並不支持大屠殺、自殺或強制節育以減少人口，他的訴求強調對環境以及所有已存在的人類和生物抱持「極大關懷」。
condone (v.)寬恕、縱容condone violence 縱容暴力condone cheating 縱容作弊compassion (n.)同情心、憐憫、惻隱之心
Growing up in America’s Pacific Northwest, Knight witnessed logging companies regularly chopping down the area’s forests.
奈特成長於美國太平洋西北地區，他目睹了伐木公司頻繁砍伐該區的森林。
witness (v.)目睹 (n.)目擊者、證人logging (n.)伐木
Therefore, many of his personal beliefs are “rooted in deep ecology,” which is a philosophy that challenges the dominance of the human species over plants and animals.
因此，他許多個人信念都「源自於深層生態學」，這是一種挑戰人類對植物和動物的支配地位的哲學。
be rooted in 源自於～dominance (n.)主導地位、支配地位
In Knight’s view, humans are the most “destructive of invasive species,” and with fewer people on Earth, more wildlife and ecological systems could be spared.
在奈特看來，人類是最具「破壞性的入侵物種」，而如果地球上的人口減少，更多的野生動物和生態系統就可以倖免於難。
invasive (adj.)侵襲的、侵入的invade (v.)入侵invasive plants 入侵植物spare (v.)不破壞、不傷害、放過
Although Earth’s population has doubled in the last 50 years and wildlife populations have declined by 70%, Knight is not upset.
儘管過去50年間地球人口翻倍，野生動物的數量卻減少了70％，但奈特並不感到沮喪。
In fact, in his own view, he never expected to succeed.
實際上，在他看來，他自己也從未期望能夠成功。
expect to 預期將會～
As his message gets out though, Knight has been able to raise awareness about the very real problems of resource scarcity and climate change affecting all living beings on Earth, while maybe changing some people’s minds about having kids along the way.
然而，隨著他的訴求流傳開來，奈特成功地提升人們對於資源匱乏和氣候變遷等現實問題的意識，這些問題影響著地球上所有生物，同時他也許在過程中改變了一些人對於生育的觀念。
raise awareness 提高意識scarcity (n.)缺乏、不足along the way 在這過程中、在這期間