INTRODUCTION Under certain conditions, natural selection will favor animals that use resources prudently, so that ecological prudence can be developed as an instinctive trait of some animal species, (see Gadgil 1985). These conditions embrace the following aspects: 1) Resources are scarce or their stock is perceivably limited. In such a situation, the maintenance phenotype of population will be favored instead of the dispersal phenotype by means of natural section (Geist 1978). 2) Resources are defensible. This means the prudent group will not be deprived of the product by invaders. 3) The animal group as a whole can benefit from the prudent behavior of each individual in the long run. This is self-evident if we keep in mind that individuals act as representatives of genes (Geist 1978); it is the gene that is selfish. Individuals will save as much of the resources as possible for the coming generations. 4) The group must be well organized and pure enough. That means the group can effectively kick out and control individuals who behave profligately towards the environment, and fight against invaders to protect their prudent products. It is reasonable to deduce that only when these four conditions are met simultaneously will animal species evolve adaptive prudent behavior as an instinctive trait. According to the dispersal theory (Geist 1978), traits of animals, especially mammals, evolve mainly during dispersal when resources are abundant, so profligacy will be more common among animals. Man as an animal was evolved with his first bold step into the Savanna rather than into the periglacial region characterized by rich resources, so the human lacks a system of physiological or neural controls over gratification (Bennet 1980) and ecological prudence can not be a trait of human beings. However, culture is just ways of adaptation, and much of the cultural behavior of human beings has adaptive value (Cavalli-Sforza and Feldman 1981; Plog and Bates 1980) . Thus when a certain culture develops under the conditions mentioned, ecological prudence may become a trait of the culture. In the following pages, we will see that the Chinese culture (of agriculture) , as adaptations to the basin environment, has developed a pattern of ecologically prudent behavior toward the natural environment. THE BASIN EXPERIENCE OF CHINESE CULTURE We are convinced, for the following verifiable reasons, that Chinese ways of coping with the environment are mainly adaptions to the basin environment that Chinese agriculture has long experienced. 1) From Homo erectus yuanmouensis dating back to around 1.7 million years ago to the dawn of agricultural civilization, Chinese Hominid ancestors were distributed among mountain basins and valleys along the edges bordering the three major physical geopraphic zones: the East Monsoon zone, The Northwest Arid Zone and The Tibetan Alpine Zone. 2) The multi-centred Neolithic cultures in China developed along with the distribution pattern of pre-Neolithic cultures, with their centres in basins surrounding the great north China plain, which was not yet stable for settlement during this period because of the floodprone Yellow River (The history of Chinese Civilization 1989) . 3) The Zhou people, which made the most important contribution to Chinese culture, evolved during the period in the Guanzhong Basin in mid Shanxi Province which was of optimum size. Actually, it was this magic basin that gave birth to the first written Ch，英语论文题目，英语毕业论文 |
