2.environment.docVIP

Text 4　 Our disappearing wildlife Animal life first appeared on the earth about 400 million years ago. Through the passing millennia (millennium n. a period of 1,000 years), thousands of animal species have come and gone. Until recently, this process was gradual, the result of change in climate, in habitat (the natural home of a plant or animal ), or in the genes of the animals themselves, but the tremendous expansion of modern civilization now threatens to upset the natural balance, putting unprecedented (a. 无前例的) pressure on the survival of our wildlife.大约４０亿年前，地球上就有了动物。经过数千年，成千上万的物种繁衍灭绝。直到