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■ 研究生英语基础教程

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By STEPHEN HAWKING

Stephen Hawking is a British astrophysicists who has gone a long way to


explain theories about black holes and other mysteries of the universe. His articles

and books he says ,“were written in the belief that the universe is governed by an
order that we can perceive partially now and that we may understand fully in the
nottoodistant future. ”Completely paralyzed and unable to speak,Hawking has
nevertheless communicated his theories (with a computer and a voice synthesizer
with an American accent ) and written a bestseller, A Brief History of Time
(1988). The following selection,originally a speech given in Spain in 1989 on
receiving a prize award,has been updated and included in Black Holes and Baby
Universes (1993 ).

1 Whether we like it or not,the world we live in has changed a great deal in the
last hundred years,and it is likely to change even more in the next hundred. Some
people would like to stop these changes and go back to what they see as a purer and
simpler age. But as history shows,the past was not that wonderful. It was not so
5 bad for a privileged minority,even though they had to do without modern medicine,
and childbirth was highly risky for women. But for the vast majority of the
population,life was nasty,brutish and short.
Anyway,even if one wanted to,he couldnt put the clock back to an earlier
age. Knowledge and techniques cant just be forgotten. Nor can one prevent further
10 advances in the future. Even if all government money for research were cut off (and
the present government is doing its best),the force of competition would still bring
about advances in technology. Moreover,one cannot stop inquiring minds from
thinking about basic science,whether or not they are paid for it. The only way to
prevent further developments would be a global totalitarian state that suppressed

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anything new and human initiative and ingenuity are such that even this wouldnt 15
succeed. All it would do is slow down the rate of change.
If we accept that we cannot prevent science and technology from changing our

world we can at least try to ensure that the changes they make are in the right

directions. In a democratic society this means that the public needs to have a basic

understanding of science so that it can make informed decisions and not leave them 20

in the hands of experts. At the moment the public has a rather ambivalent attitude
toward science. It has come to expect the steady increase in the standard of living
that new developments in science and technology have brought to continue but it,
also distrusts science because it doesnt understand it. This distrust is evident in the
cartoon figure of the mad scientist working in his laboratory to produce a 25
Frankenstein. It is also an important element behind support for the Green parties.
But the public also has a great interest in science ,particularly astronomy,as is
shown by the large audiences for television series such as Cosmos and for science
fiction.
What can be done to harness this interest and give the public the scientific 30
background it needs to make informed decisions on subjects like acid rain ,the
greenhouse effect ,nuclear weapons,and genetic engineering?Clearly,the basis
must lie in what is taught in schools. But in schools,science is often presented in a
dry and uninteresting manner. Children learn it by rote to pass examinations,and
they dont see its relevance to the world around them. Moreover,science is often 35
taught in terms of equations. Although equations are a concise and accurate way of
describing mathematical ideas,they frighten most people. When I wrote a popular
book recently,I was advised that each equation I included would halve the sales. I
included one equation,Einsteins famous equation,E = MC . Maybe I would have

sold twice as many copies without it. 40


Scientists and engineers tend to express their ideas in the form of equations
because they need to know the precise values of quantities. But for the rest of us a ,

qualitative grasp of scientific concepts is sufficient and this can be conveyed by

words and diagrams without the use of equations.
The science people learn in school can provide the basic framework. But the 45
rate of scientific progress is now so rapid that there are always new developments
that have occurred since one was at school or university. I never learned about

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molecular biology or transistors at school but genetic engineering and computers are
two of the developments most likely to change the way we live in the future.
50 Popular books and magazine articles about science can help to put across new

developments but even the most successful popular book is read by only a small
proportion of the population. Only television can reach a truly mass audience. There

are some very good science programs on TV but others present scientific wonders
simply as magic , without explaining them or showing how they fit into the
55 framework of scientific ideas. Producers of television science programs should

realize that they have a responsibility to educate the public not just entertain it.
What are the sciencerelated issues that the public will have to make decisions
? ,
on in the near future By far the most urgent is that of nuclear weapons. Other
, ,
global problems such as food supply or the greenhouse effect are relatively slow
60 ,
acting but a nuclear war could mean the end of all human life on earth within days.
The relaxation of eastwest tensions brought about by the ending of the Cold War has
meant that the fear of nuclear war has receded from public consciousness. But the
danger is still there as long as there are enough weapons to kill the entire population
of the world many times over. In former Soviet states and in America ,nuclear
65 weapons are still poised to strike all the major cities in the Northern Hemisphere. It
would only take a computer error or a mutiny by some of those manning the
weapons to trigger a global war. It is even more worrying that relatively minor
powers are now acquiring nuclear weapons. The major powers have behaved in a

reasonably responsible way but one cannot have such confidence in minor powers
70 like Libya or Iraq,Pakistan,or even Azerbaijan. The danger is not so much in the
actual nuclear weapons that such powers may soon possess,which would be fairly
rudimentary,though they could still kill millions of people. Rather,the danger is
that a nuclear war between two minor powers could draw in the major powers with
their enormous arsenals.
75 It is very important that the public realize the danger and put pressure on all
governments to agree to large arms cuts. It is probably not practical to remove

nuclear weapons entirely but we can lessen the danger by reducing the number of
weapons.

If we manage to avoid a nuclear war there are still other dangers that could
80 destroy us all. Theres a sick joke that the reason we have not been contacted by an

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alien civilization is that civilizations tend to destroy themselves when they reach our
stage. But I have sufficient faith in the good sense of the public to believe that we
might prove this wrong.
 

New Words and Expressions

1. perceive / psiv / vt. to become conscious of or understand  意识到,理解


2. paralyze / prlaz / vt. to lose control of all or some of the body muscles 
使瘫痪(麻痹)
3. synthesizer / snsaz / n. an electrical instrument that can produce many
different sorts of sound  电子合成器
4. privilege / prvld / n. advantage possessed by a person or group because of
their wealth or social rank 特权
5. nasty / nst / a. dangerous and painful,severe  危险的, 造成痛苦的,严重的
6. brutish / brut / a. typical of animals rather than people,cruel  没有人性
的,残忍的
7. totalitarian / ttltern / n. a person who has the political power to
completely exercise control over all areas of life and does not allow opposition
极权主义者
parties to exist 
8. ambivalent / mbvlnt / a. having opposing feelings towards,or opinions,
about a person or thing  (对同一人或事)怀有矛盾心情(看法)的
9. distrust / dstrst / vt. to lack trust or confidence in  不信任,怀疑
10. astronomy / str?nm / n. the scientific study of the sun,the moon,stars
etc. 天文学
11. cosmos / k?zm?s / n. the whole universe considered as an ordered system
宇宙
12. harness / hns / vt. to use  利用
13. acid rain  酸雨
14. greenhouse effect  温室效应
15. genetic engineering  基因工程
16. concise / knsas / a. short and clear,expressing a lot in a few words  简明
的,简洁的,简要的
    ")
17. halve / hv / vt. to reduce by half  减半
18. qualitative / kw?lttv / a. of or about quality  定性的,性质(上)的
19. convey / knve / vt. to make (feelings,ideas,thoughts)known  传达, 表达
(感情、意见、思想等)
20. molecular / mlekjl / a. 分子的
21. transistor / trnzst / n. 晶体管,半导体
22. recede / rsid / v. to move back or away  逐渐模糊以至消失
23. rudimentary / rudmentr / a. at the simplest level or learnt first  初步的,
粗浅的
24. arsenal / snl / n. a store of weapons  一大批储备的武器
25. cut off  中断, 切断,停止
26. bring about  引起, 造成,带来
27. learn sth. by rote  死记硬背
 

Notes

:《时间简史》是霍金 1988 年出版的著作。


1. A Brief History of Time
2. Black Holes and Baby Universe:《黑洞和婴儿宇宙》是霍金 1976 —1992 年所
写的 13 篇文章和演讲稿结集而成。
3. Frankenstein:1818 年出版的英国女作家玛丽·雪莱小说的书名。书名指的
是科学家维克多·弗兰肯斯坦(Victor Frankenstein)。他本想利用部分死尸
的器官创造出一个完美的人,但却造出了一个怪物。这个怪物杀了维克多的
父亲和妻子。维克多发誓要杀掉自己创造的怪物,却在追捕过程中先于怪物
而死。该故事被多次拍成电影。自从 1931 年的电影版本发行后,人们开始
将那个怪物称作弗兰肯斯坦。此词后来演变为指 “人形怪物”和 “脱离创造
者的控制并最终毁灭其创造者的媒介”。此处可以理解为科学实验的不良
效应的代名词。
4. Green parties:绿党 ,其原则为环境保护主义 ,民主政治 ,非暴力及社会司
法公正。该政党认为这些问题都与生态平衡、社会及人类健康有密切
关系。
5. E = MC   是爱因斯坦的质能方程式 ,E 代表能量 ,M 表示质量 ,C 表示

光速 。
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