新概念英語第四冊Lesson22：Knowledge-and-progress

新概念英語第四冊Lesson22：KnowledgeandprogressKnowledgeandprogress

學(xué)問和進步

Inwhattwoareashavepeoplemadeno”progress”atall?

Whydoestheideaofprogressloomsolargeinthemodernworld?Surelyprogressofaparticularkindisactuallytakingplacearoundusandisbecomingmoreandmoremanifest.Althoughmankindhasundergonenogeneralimprovementinintelligenceormorality,ithasmadeextraordinaryprogressintheaccumulationofknowledge.Knowledgebegantoincreaseassoonasthethoughtsofoneindividualcouldbecommunicatedtoanotherbymeansofspeech.Withtheinventionofwriting,agreatadvancewasmade,forknowledgecouldthenbenotonlycommunicatedbutalsostored.Librariesmadeeducationpossible,andeducationinitsturnaddedtolibraries:thegrowthofknowledgefollowedakindofcompoundinterestlaw,whichwasgreatlyenhancedbytheinventionofprinting.Allthiswascomparativelyslowuntil,withthecomingofscience,thetempowassuddenlyraised.Thenknowledgebegantobeaccumulatedaccordingtoasystematicplan.Thetricklebecameastream;thestreamhasnowbecomeatorrent.Moreover,assoonasnewknowledgeisacquired,itisnowturnedtopracticalaccount.Whatiscalled”moderncivilization”isnottheresultofabalanceddevelopmentofallman”snature.butofaccumulatedknowledgeappliedtopracticallife.Theproblemnowfacinghumanityis:Whatisgoingtobedonewithallthisknowledge?Asissooftenpointedout,knowledgeisatwo-edgedweaponwhichcanbeusedequallyforgoodorevil.Itisnowbeingusedindifferentlyforboth.Couldanyspectacle,forinstance,bemoregrimlywhimsicalthanthatofgunnersourselvesveryseriouslywhatwillhappenifthistwofolduseofknowledge,withitsever-increasingpower,continues.

G.N.M.TYRRELLThePersonalityofMan

Newwordsandexpressions生詞和短語

loom

v.赫然聳起

manifest

adj.明顯的

morality

n.道德

communicate

v.溝通，交際

compound

adj.復(fù)合的

enhance

v.增進

tempo

n.速率

trickle

n.涓涓細流

torrent

n.滔滔洪流

humanity

n.人類

indifferently

adv.不在乎地

grimly

adv.可怖地

whimsical

adj.怪誕的

shatter

v.毀壞

twofold

adj.雙重的

參考譯文

為什么進步這個概念在現(xiàn)代世界顯得如此突出?無疑是由于有一種特別的進步實際上正在我們四周發(fā)生，而且變得越來越明顯。雖然人類有智力和道德上沒有得到普遍提高，但在學(xué)問積存方面卻取得了巨大的進步。人一旦能用語言同別人溝通思想，學(xué)問的積存便開頭了。隨著書寫的創(chuàng)造，又邁進了一大步，由于這樣一來，學(xué)問不僅能溝通，而且能儲存了。藏書使訓(xùn)練成為可能，而訓(xùn)練反過來又豐富了藏書，由于學(xué)問的增長遵循著一種“滾雪球”的規(guī)律。印刷術(shù)的創(chuàng)造又大大提高了學(xué)問增長的速度。全部這些進展都比擬緩慢，而隨著科學(xué)的到來，增長的速度才突然加快。于是，學(xué)問便開頭有系統(tǒng)有打算地積存起來。涓涓細流匯成小溪，小溪現(xiàn)已變成了奔騰的江河。而且，新學(xué)問一旦獲得，便得到實際應(yīng)用。所謂“現(xiàn)代文明”并不是人的天性平衡進展的結(jié)果，而是積存起來的學(xué)問應(yīng)用到實際生活中的結(jié)果?，F(xiàn)在人類面臨的問題是：用這些學(xué)問去做什么?正像人們經(jīng)常指出的，學(xué)問是一把雙刃刀，可以用于造福，也可以