Script for the recording：

     On the walls of the US vice president's office, you might expect to see photos of political giants past and present. Amidst his collection, however, Al Gore, the US vice president from 1993-2001, cherishes a picture of a biologist from Western Pennsylvania — Rachel Carson, author of Silent Spring. Why does an ordinary scientist lay claim to this space? "For me personally," says Gore in his introduction to the 1992 edition of her book, "Silent Spring had a profound impact ... Indeed, Rachel Carson was one of the reasons that I became so conscious of the environment and so involved with environmental issues. "
    Since the 1962 publication of Silent Spring — in which Carson described the effects of pesticides on plants, animals, and humans — she has been praised and criticized liberally. Scientists, politicians, policy makers, garden clubs, and the media have alternately attacked her science and her questioning of the "irresponsibility of an industrialized, technological society toward the natural world."
    Despite attempts by the chemical industry to dismiss Carson's science, her work is credited with beginning the American environmental movement and the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency. The immediate response to Silent Spring was enormous. On publication day, September 27, 1962, the advance sales of Silent Spring totaled 40,000 copies. Carson's book educated many people about the dangers of indiscriminate pesticide use, and challenged them to become informed and to act. One grateful reader told Carson in a note, "I must thank you for making us readers understand our place in the world so much better ... I know that your great quiet eloquence will open many eyes and close many bottles."
    Many view Silent Spring as instrumental in the United States' decision to ban DDT. "Many birds might have disappeared from the America sky had it not been for a book that forever changed the way we look at pesticides," reported the Chapel Hill Herald on the twenty fifth anniversary of the book's publication.

1. Rachel Carson is a {biologist} who wrote a famous book entitled {Silent Spring}, for which Al Gore wrote a(n) {introduction}.

2. In her book, Rachel Carson alerted people to the dangers of the {indiscriminate} use of pesticides, and questioned the {irresponsibility} of an industrialized, technological society toward the {natural} world.

3. Silent Spring was published in {September 1962} and {has been well received} by readers ever since.

4. Many people think that Carson's book {played a role / was instrumental} in the United States' ban on DDT and the creation of {the Environmental Protection Agency}.