翻译练习：Global Soils Underpin Life But Future Looks 'Bleak'（2）

土壤微生物扮演着至关重要的角色

"Soil organisms play a crucial role in our everyday life by working to sustain life on Earth," said Ronald Vargas, of the FAO and the secretary of the Global Soil Partnership.

“土壤微生物扮演着关键的角色，在我们的日常生活中维持着地球上的生命，”FAO下设的世界土壤伙伴关系的秘书长罗纳德・巴尔加斯这样说。

Prof Richard Bardgett, of the University of Manchester, who was a lead author of the report, said:"There is a vast reservoir of biopersity living in the soil that is out of sight and is generally out of mind. But few things matter more to humans because we rely on the soil to produce food. There's now pretty strong evidence that a large proportion of the Earth's surface has been degraded as a result of human activities."

教授理查德・巴杰特，曼彻斯特大学，他是这份报告的主要作者。他说：“土壤里蕴藏着巨大的生物多样性宝藏，我们看不到，通常也意识不到。但是没什么事比土壤对人类来说更重要了，因为我们依赖土壤来生产粮食。现在已经有足够的证据来证明大部分的地球表面退化均是人类活动导致的结果”

Since the Industrial Revolution, about 135bn tonnes of soil has been lost from farmland, according to Prof Rattan Lal, the 2020 winner of the World Food prize.

根据2020年世界粮食奖获得者拉坦拉尔教授的说法，自从工业革命以来，大概1350亿吨的土壤已经从家田中流失。

土壤林是由水土流失造成的

People should be worried, said Bardgett. "If things carry on as they are, the outlook is bleak, unquestionably. But I think it's not too late to introduce measures now."

巴杰特还说，人们应该感到担心。“如果事情象这样发展下去，前景无疑是暗淡的。不过我想现在采取措施还不算晚。”

Prof Nico Eisenhauer, of Leipzig University, another lead author of the report, said:"It is a major issue that we are dependent on this thin layer that is sometimes just a couple of centimetres, sometimes several metres, but a very vulnerable, living skin."

报告的另一个主要作者，莱比锡大学的尼克艾森豪威尔教授说：“主要的问题是，我们赖以生存的土壤层有时只有几厘米厚，有时有几米，但是却是非常脆弱的，具有生命的皮肤。”

保护土壤，人人有责

Soils simultaneously produce food, store carbon and purify water, he said, so they are "at least as important" as the climate and above-ground biopersity crises. "If you're losing the top soil through bad treatment and then erosion, then it takes thousands of years until the soil is produced again."

土壤同时生产食物，储存碳，净化水，他说，所以土壤至少与气候和地面生物多样性危机“同样严重”。“如果你因为处理不当或水土流失而失去了地球表层土壤，那么要经过上千年土壤才能再生。”