I am not supportive of the idea that either takes priority. It is necessary and absolutely possible that economic development and environmental protection co-exist, in the sense that both of them are indispensable factors for the prosperity of society.
我不支持这两者任何一种要优先发展。经济发展和环境保护需要同时存在也是完全有可能的，在一定程度上这两者都是繁荣社会的不可缺少的因素。
Economic development is seemingly more important, due to the fact that it creates enormous job opportunities, improves living conditions and increases government revenues. Yet, the above goals can only really be reached on condition that the environment is well protected. And, interesting, it is the economic development per se that provides the money and personnel resources required for the protection of the environment. A well-preserved environment is the groundwork for the economy and in a way promotes economic growth. A fast-development and well-functioning economy calls for a good environment, which offers essential resources, e.g. wood, coal, water, and so on. Once the environment deteriorates, the production process is likely to be disturbed or even halted. What is worse, natural disaster that comes with the worsening environmental conditions might even paralyze the whole economy and pose a severe threat to human life. The pursuit of short-term economic profit is the destruction of our home and that of our posterity.
经济的发展似乎更重要，由于它创造了大量的就业机会，改善了生活条件以及增加了政府收入。然而，如果环境被保护了，以上的目标才算真正达到了，经济发展的本身提供了钱，这些资源要用于环境保护上。一个被保护得好的环境是经济基础也是提高经济的一种方式。快速发展和运转良好的经济呼吁良好的环境，它能够提供基本的能源，比如：木材，煤，水，等等。一旦环境恶化，产品进程很可能受到干扰或者甚至中断。更严重的是，自然灾害伴随而来的更为严重的环境问题可能会使整个经济瘫痪而且对人类生活形成严重的威胁。短期经济利益的追求会使我们的家和权益受到破坏。
So economic development and environmental protection are equally important. In this case, we are actually working on an environment-friendly economy.
因此，经济发展与环境保护同等重要。在这种情况下，我们实际上是工作在一个环境友好型经济中。