the ups and downs of population growth

　　while the problem of the explosively-growing human population has become this century’s focus , the mas s media , during the r ecent decades , have been conveying another sensational is sue near ly to every household — the world’s wildlife extinction . take the u .s . alone for example . during the past one hu ndr ed-odd yea rs , especially f rom 1940 to 1990 , its population has been increasing so rapidly that it has now amounted to 250 million . howeve r , we have, at the same time , surprisingly discovered that the number of wildlife species has been propor tionally decreasing . this is enough to explain what effect“ the ups”of human population has brought to“ the downs”of wildlife population .

　　investigations so fa r made s how that the extinction of wild animals and c reatur es is att ributed to various r easons , the inc reasing h uman occupa tion of space and environmental pollution being the two impor tant factors obviously k nown to everyone . howeve r , in my mind , nowadays the cruelty of killing and eating wild animals is simply beyond conceivability .

　　mer ciles s hunters capture them and then sell them for a good price; greedy vintner s try to procur e the best recipes for dressing the meat to pe rfection and con sequently have their restaurants frequented by fine gentlemen; skillful cook s , who under - stand how to oblige the guests , cont rive to make it as expensive as they please; fashion designer s and tailors make the skin into admirable gloves , shoes , handbags , girdles for rich ladies . in this way , the wildlife cont ribute to the feeding , and partially to clothing , of many thousands .

　　for tunately , the world’s at tention has nowadays been shifted to ecological balance . most people have become aware of the danger of the extinction of wildlife . for the protection of wildlife the government is respon sible, the law is r esponsible, and i should , in the sincerity of my hear t , say eve ry human being is r esponsible .