【正文】 was not so bad for a privileged minority, though even they had to do without modern medicine, and childbirth was highly risky for for the vast majority of the population, life was nasty, brutish, and 斯蒂芬霍金無(wú)論我們是否愿意，我們生活的世界在過(guò)去一百年間已經(jīng)變化了許多，而且在未來(lái)的一百年里可能變化更多。有人想中止這種種變化，回到那個(gè)他們認(rèn)為更純潔更樸素的時(shí)代。但正如歷史所表明的，過(guò)去并非那么美妙。過(guò)去對(duì)享有特權(quán)的少數(shù)人不算太糟，但即便他們也無(wú)從享受現(xiàn)代醫(yī)療，而生育對(duì)婦女來(lái)說(shuō)風(fēng)險(xiǎn)極大。對(duì)占人口大多數(shù)的民眾而言，生活是艱難、殘忍而又短暫的。Anyway, even if one wanted to, one couldn39。t put the clock back to an earlier and techniques can39。t just be can one prevent further advances in the if all government money for research were cut off(and the present government is doing its best), the force of petition would still bring about advances in , one cannot stop inquiring minds from thinking about basic science, whether or not they are paid for only way to prevent further developments would be a global state that suppressed anything new,and human initiative and inventiveness are such that even this wouldn39。t it would do is slow down the rate of ，即使有人想這么做，他也無(wú)法將時(shí)鐘撥回到早先的時(shí)代。知識(shí)與技術(shù)不可能說(shuō)忘就忘了。也沒(méi)有人能阻止未來(lái)的進(jìn)一步發(fā)展。即使所有用于研究的政府資金都被取消（現(xiàn)政府最擅此事），競(jìng)爭(zhēng)的力量仍將繼續(xù)帶來(lái)技術(shù)的發(fā)展。更何況，沒(méi)有人能阻止探究求索之士去思索基礎(chǔ)科學(xué)，無(wú)論他們是否會(huì)為此得到酬勞。惟一能阻止進(jìn)一步發(fā)展的辦法或許是一個(gè)壓制任何新事物的全球政府，但人類(lèi)的進(jìn)取心與創(chuàng)造力如此旺盛，即便這個(gè)政府也不會(huì)成功。它所能做到的只是延緩變化的速度。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 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 in the hands of the moment, the public is in two minds about has e 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 doesn39。t understand distrust is evident in the cartoon figure of the mad scientist working in his laboratory to produce a is also an important element behind support for the Green the public also has a great interest in science, particularly astronomy, as is shown by the large audiences for television series such as The Sky at Night and for science ，我們無(wú)法阻止科學(xué)技術(shù)改變我們的世界，我們至少可以努力確?？萍紟?lái)的變化方向正確。在一個(gè)民主社會(huì)里，這意味著公眾需要對(duì)科學(xué)有一個(gè)基本的了解，從而可以作出明達(dá)的決定，而不是把決定留給專家去作。目前，公眾對(duì)科學(xué)存有矛盾之心。公眾期望科技新發(fā)展帶來(lái)的生活水準(zhǔn)的穩(wěn)定提高能繼續(xù)，但又懷疑科學(xué)，因?yàn)樗麄儾欢茖W(xué)。那個(gè)在實(shí)驗(yàn)室里設(shè)法制造弗蘭肯斯泰因的瘋狂的科學(xué)家的卡通人物清楚地體現(xiàn)了公眾的這種懷疑。這也是人們之所以支持各種綠色組織的一個(gè)重要因素。但公眾同時(shí)也對(duì)科學(xué)深感興趣，尤其是對(duì)天文學(xué)，諸如《夜空》之類(lèi)的電視系列節(jié)目觀眾不少以及科幻小說(shuō)讀者甚多就是明證。What can be done to harness this interest and give the public the scientific 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 in schools science is often presented in a dry and uninteresting learn it by rote to pass examinations, and they don39。t see its relevance to the world around , science is often taught in terms of equations are a brief and accurate way of describing mathematical ideas, they frighten most I wrote a popular book recently, I was advised that each equation I included would halve the included one equation, Einstein39。s famous equation, E= I would have sold twice as many copies without ，向公眾提供所需要的科學(xué)知識(shí)，以便其在酸雨、溫室效應(yīng)、核武器以及基因工程等問(wèn)題上作出明達(dá)的決定呢？顯然，必須把基礎(chǔ)建立在學(xué)校課程上。但在學(xué)校里，科學(xué)往往被教得枯燥乏味。孩子們死記硬背應(yīng)付考試，他們看不出科學(xué)與他們的周?chē)澜绲穆?lián)系。更有甚者，科學(xué)常常是用公式來(lái)教的。雖然公式是闡述數(shù)學(xué)概念的一種簡(jiǎn)單而精確的方式，它們卻使大多數(shù)人望而生畏。前不久我寫(xiě)了一本通俗讀物，當(dāng)時(shí)有人告誡我說(shuō)，我每使用一個(gè)公式就會(huì)使銷(xiāo)量減半。我只使用了一個(gè)公式，即愛(ài)因斯坦那個(gè)著名的公式，E=mc2。如果不用這個(gè)公式的話，也許我能多賣(mài)出一倍的書(shū)。Scientists and engineers tend to express their ideas in the form of equations because they need to know the precise values of 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 ，因?yàn)樗麄冃枰懒康木_值。但對(duì)我們其余的人來(lái)說(shuō)，對(duì)科學(xué)概念有個(gè)質(zhì)的認(rèn)識(shí)就已足夠，這可以用文字和圖表來(lái)表述，大可不必使用公式。6 The science people learn in school can provide the basic the rate of scientific progress is now so rapid that there are always new developments that have occurred since one was at school or never learned about molecular biology or transistors at school, but genetic engineering and puters are two of the developments most likely to change the way we live in the 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 television can reach a truly mass are some very good science programmes on TV, but others present scientific wonders simply as magic, without explaining them or showing how they fit into the framework of scientific of television science programmes should realize that they have a responsibility to educate the public, not just entertain 。但如今科學(xué)進(jìn)步的速度如此之快，一個(gè)人離開(kāi)學(xué)校或大學(xué)后新的發(fā)展層出不窮。我在學(xué)校從未學(xué)過(guò)分子生物學(xué)或晶體管，但基因工程和計(jì)算機(jī)是極有可能改變我們未來(lái)生活的兩項(xiàng)發(fā)展。有關(guān)科學(xué)的通俗讀物和雜志文章能幫助人們了解新發(fā)展，但即使是最暢銷(xiāo)的科普讀物也只有一小部分人閱讀。只有電視能贏得真正廣大的觀眾。電視上有一些相當(dāng)優(yōu)秀的科學(xué)節(jié)目，但其他的節(jié)目把科學(xué)奇跡簡(jiǎn)單地作為魔術(shù)播出，既不加以說(shuō)明，也不展現(xiàn)它們與科學(xué)觀念的整體框架的關(guān)系。電視科學(xué)節(jié)目的制片人應(yīng)該認(rèn)識(shí)到，他們負(fù)有教育民眾的重任，而不僅僅是為他們提供娛樂(lè)。The world today is filled with dangers, hence the sick joke that the reason we have not been contacted by an alien civilization is that civilizations tend to destroy themselves when they reach our I have sufficient faith in the good sense of the public to believe that we might prove this ，因此就有了那個(gè)令人毛骨悚然的玩笑，說(shuō)我們尚未受到外星文明造訪的原因在于：但凡文明發(fā)展到我們目前的程度，它們往往就自我毀滅了。然而我對(duì)公眾的明智充滿信心，因而相信，我們將證明這一說(shuō)法是錯(cuò)誤的?！钡谒钠盒率兰o(jì)大學(xué)英語(yǔ)閱讀教程2課文翻譯新世紀(jì)大學(xué)英語(yǔ)閱讀教程翻譯Unit 1塞克哈爾覺(jué)得，事實(shí)就像太陽(yáng)一樣。大概沒(méi)有誰(shuí)能直視太陽(yáng)而不眨眼，不覺(jué)眩暈。他發(fā)覺(jué)人際關(guān)系的精髓在于時(shí)時(shí)刻刻調(diào)和事實(shí)，避免沖突。他設(shè)定了一個(gè)特殊的日子——一年中至少有一天無(wú)論如何必須說(shuō)實(shí)話。否則生命還有什么意義。他對(duì)這一天充滿無(wú)數(shù)期待，也沒(méi)有告訴任何人要做這個(gè)實(shí)驗(yàn)。這是個(gè)秘密的決定，一件永遠(yuǎn)不為人知的事。首次嘗試便從妻子準(zhǔn)備的早餐開(kāi)始。他對(duì)一道美味舉筷不定，這可是妻子自認(rèn)為的廚中之冠?！霸趺蠢?？不好吃嗎？”她問(wèn)道。要是往常，為了照顧她的情緒，他肯定說(shuō)：“沒(méi)有，我吃飽了而已。”可今天他卻說(shuō)：“不好吃。我咽不下去?！笨吹狡拮用碱^緊鎖，他對(duì)自己說(shuō)：“沒(méi)辦法，事實(shí)就像太陽(yáng)一樣?！钡诙螄L試是在教師休息室，一個(gè)同事走過(guò)來(lái)說(shuō)：“某某死了聽(tīng)說(shuō)了嗎？覺(jué)得很遺憾吧。”“不覺(jué)得，”賽克哈爾回答?！八拇_是個(gè)好人??”另一個(gè)還沒(méi)說(shuō)完。塞克哈爾就搶過(guò)來(lái)說(shuō)：“好什么啊，對(duì)我他可是個(gè)刻薄、自私的家伙?！比斯柦o三年級(jí)A班上最后一節(jié)地理課時(shí)，收到校長(zhǎng)遞來(lái)的便條：回家前請(qǐng)過(guò)來(lái)一趟。他自言自語(yǔ)道：“肯定是那些可怕的試卷。一百多份字跡潦草的男生的試卷；他已經(jīng)消極怠工幾個(gè)禮拜了，感覺(jué)頭頂像是懸了一把利劍，隨時(shí)都有刺下來(lái)的可能。”下課鈴響起，孩子們潮水般涌出教室。塞克哈爾在校長(zhǎng)門(mén)口停了會(huì)兒，扣好上衣扣子；扣子也是校長(zhǎng)經(jīng)常訓(xùn)誡的目標(biāo)。他進(jìn)了門(mén)，彬彬有禮地說(shuō)了句：“晚上好，校長(zhǎng)?！?校長(zhǎng)抬起頭看著他，十分友善地問(wèn)道：“今晚有空嗎？” 塞克哈爾回答：“答應(yīng)過(guò)家里的孩子要出去??” “那，可以改天再帶他們出去?，F(xiàn)在跟我回家?！薄班??好的，校長(zhǎng)，當(dāng)然沒(méi)問(wèn)題??”然后怯生生地問(wèn)：“有什么要緊事嗎，校長(zhǎng)？” “是的，”校長(zhǎng)回答，像是在對(duì)自己笑??“你真的不知道我缺乏音樂(lè)天賦嗎