英文演講-我們?cè)撨x擇死亡嗎？-精編范文

英文演講:我們?cè)撨x擇死亡嗎？shallwechoosedeath?

bertrandrusselldecember30,1954iamspeakingnotasabriton,notasaeuropean,notasamemberofawesterndemocracy,butasahumanbeing,amemberofthespeciesman,whosecontinuedexistenceisindoubt.theworldisfullofconflicts:jewsandarabs;indiansandpakistanis;whitemenandnegroesinafrica;and,overshadowingallminorconflicts,thetitanicstrugglebetweencommunismandanticommunism.almosteverybodywhoispoliticallyconscioushasstrongfeelingsaboutoneormoreoftheseissues;butiwantyou,ifyoucan,tosetasidesuchfeelingsforthemomentandconsideryourselfonlyasamemberofabiologicalspecieswhichhashadaremarkablehistoryandwhosedisappearancenoneofuscandesire.ishalltrytosaynosinglewordwhichshouldappealtoonegroupratherthantoanother.all,equally,areinperil,and,iftheperilisunderstood,thereishopethattheymaycollectivelyavertit.wehavetolearntothinkinanewway.wehavetolearntoaskourselvesnotwhatstepscanbetakentogivemilitaryvictorytowhatevergroupweprefer,fortherenolongeraresuchsteps.thequestionwehavetoaskourselvesis:whatstepscanbetakentopreventamilitarycontestofwhichtheissuemustbedisastroustoallsides?thegeneralpublic,andevenmanymeninpositionsofauthority,havenotrealizedwhatwouldbeinvolvedinawarwithhydrogenbombs.thegeneralpublicstillthinksintermsoftheobliterationofcities.itisunderstoodthatthenewbombsaremorepowerfulthantheoldandthat,whileoneatomicbombcouldobliteratehiroshima,onehydrogenbombcouldobliteratethelargestcitiessuchaslondon,newyork,andmoscow.nodoubtinahydrogen-bombwargreatcitieswouldbeobliterated.butthisisoneoftheminordisastersthatwouldhavetobefaced.ifeverybodyinlondon,newyork,andmoscowwereexterminated,theworldmight,inthecourseofafewcenturies,recoverfromtheblow.butwenowknow,especiallysincethebikinitest,thathydrogenbombscangraduallyspreaddestructionoveramuchwiderareathanhadbeensupposed.itisstatedonverygoodauthoritythatabombcannowbemanufacturedwhichwillbe25,000timesaspowerfulasthatwhichdestroyedhiroshima.suchabomb,ifexplodednearthegroundorunderwater,sendsradioactiveparticlesintotheupperair.theysinkgraduallyandreachthesurfaceoftheearthintheformofadeadlydustorrain.itwasthisdustwhichinfectedthejapanesefishermenandtheircatchoffishalthoughtheywereoutsidewhatamericanexpertsbelievedtobethedangerzone.nooneknowshowwidelysuchlethalradioactiveparticlesmightbediffused,butthebestauthoritiesareunanimousinsayingthatawarwithhydrogenbombsisquitelikelytoputanendtothehumanrace.itisfearedthatifmanyhydrogenbombsareusedtherewillbeuniversaldeath-suddenonlyforafortunateminority,butforthemajorityaslowtortureofdiseaseanddisintegration...here,then,istheproblemwhichipresenttoyou,starkanddreadfulandinescapable:shallweputanendtothehumanrace1orshallmankindrenouncewar?peoplewillnotfacethisalternativebecauseitissodifficulttoabolishwar.theabolitionofwarwilldemanddistastefullimitationsofnationalsovereignty.butwhatperhapsimpedesunderstandingofthesituationmorethananythingelseisthattheterm'mankind'feelsvagueandabstract.peoplescarcelyrealizeinimaginationthatthedangeristothemselvesandtheirchildrenandtheirgrandchildren,andnotonlytoadimlyapprehendedhumanity'andsotheyhopethatperhapswarmaybeallowedtocontinueprovidedmodernweaponsareprohibited.iamafraidthishopeisillusory.whateveragreementsnottousehydrogenbombshadbeenreachedintimeofpeace,theywouldnolongerbeconsideredbindingintimeofwar,andbothsideswouldsettoworktomanufacturehydrogenbombsassoonaswarbrokeout,forifonesidemanufacturedthebombsandtheotherdidnot,thesidethatmanufacturedthemwouldinevitablybevictorious...asgeologicaltimeisreckoned,manhassofarexistedonlyforaveryshortperiodonemillionyearsatthemost.whathehasachieved,especiallyduringthelast6,000years,issomethingutterlynewinthehistoryofthecosmos,sofaratleastasweareacquaintedwithit.forcountlessagesthesunroseandset,themoonwaxedandwaned,thestarsshoneinthenight,butitwasonlywiththecomingofmanthatthesethingswereunderstood.inthegreatworldofastronomyandinthelittleworldoftheatom,manhasunveiledsecretswhichmighthavebeenthoughtundiscoverable.inartandliteratureandreligion,somemenhaveshownasublimityoffeelingwhichmakesthespeciesworthpreserving.isallthistoendintrivialhorrorbecausesofewareabletothinkofmanratherthanofthisorthatgroupofmen?isourracesodestituteofwisdom,soincapableofimpartiallove,soblindeventothesimplestdictatesofself-preservation,thatthelastproofofitssillyclevernessistobetheexterminationofalllifeonourplanet?-foritwillbenotonlymenwhowillperish,butalsotheanimals,whomnoonecanaccuseofcommunismoranticommunism.icannotbelievethatthisistobetheend.iwouldhavemenforgettheirquarrelsforamomentandreflectthat,iftheywillallowthemselvestosurvive,thereiseveryreasontoexpectthetriumphsofthefuturetoexceedimmeasurablythetriumphsofthepast.thereliesbeforeus,ifwechoose,continualprogressinhappiness,knowledge,andwisdom.shallwe,instead,choosedeath,becausewecannotforgetourquarrels?iappeal,asahumanbeingtohumanbeings:rememberyourhumanity,andforgettherest.ifyoucandoso,thewayliesopentoanewparadise;ifyoucannot,nothingliesbeforeyoubutuniversaldeath.我們?cè)撨x擇死亡嗎？伯特蘭·羅素1954年12月30日我不是作為一個(gè)英國(guó)人、一個(gè)歐洲人、一個(gè)西方民主國(guó)家的一員，而是作為一個(gè)人，作為不知是否還能繼續(xù)生存下去的人類的一員在講演。世界充滿了爭(zhēng)斗：猶太人和阿拉伯人；印度人和巴勒斯坦人；非洲的白人和黑人；以及使所有的小沖突都相形見(jiàn)絀的共產(chǎn)主義和反共產(chǎn)主義之間的大搏斗。差不多每個(gè)有政治意識(shí)的人都對(duì)這類問(wèn)題懷有強(qiáng)烈的感受；但是我希望你們，如果你們能夠的話，把這份感受暫擱一邊，并把自己只看作一種具有非凡歷史、誰(shuí)也不希望它滅亡的生物的一員?？赡軙?huì)迎合一群人而冷落另一群人的詞語(yǔ)，我將努力一個(gè)字都不說(shuō)。所有的人，不分彼此，都處在危險(xiǎn)之中；如果大家都看到了這種危險(xiǎn)，那么就有希望聯(lián)合起來(lái)避開(kāi)它。我們必須學(xué)習(xí)新的思想方法。我們必須學(xué)習(xí)不自問(wèn)能采取什么措施來(lái)使我們所喜歡的人群獲得軍事上的勝利，因?yàn)椴辉儆羞@樣的措施。我們必須自問(wèn)的問(wèn)題是：能采取什么措施來(lái)避免必然會(huì)給各方造成災(zāi)難的軍事競(jìng)賽？普通群眾，甚至許多當(dāng)權(quán)人士，不清楚一場(chǎng)氫彈戰(zhàn)所包含的會(huì)是什么。普通群眾仍舊從城市的毀滅上思考問(wèn)題。不言而喻，新炸彈比舊炸彈更具威力——一顆原彈能毀滅廣島，而一顆氫彈能毀滅像倫敦、紐約和菲斯科這樣的大都市。毫無(wú)疑問(wèn)，一場(chǎng)氫彈戰(zhàn)將會(huì)毀滅大城市。但這只是世界必須面對(duì)的小災(zāi)難中的一個(gè)。假如化敦人、紐約人和莫斯科人都滅絕了，世界可能要經(jīng)過(guò)幾個(gè)世紀(jì)才能從這場(chǎng)災(zāi)難中恢復(fù)過(guò)來(lái)。而我們現(xiàn)在，尤其是從比基尼核試驗(yàn)以來(lái)很清楚：氫彈能夠逐漸把破壞力擴(kuò)散到一個(gè)比預(yù)料要廣大得多的地區(qū)。據(jù)非常權(quán)威的人士說(shuō)，現(xiàn)在能夠制造出一種炸彈，其威力比毀滅廣島的炸彈大萬(wàn)倍。這種炸彈如果在近地或水下爆炸，會(huì)把放射性微粒送入高層大氣。這些微粒逐漸降落，呈有毒灰塵或毒雨的狀態(tài)到達(dá)地球表面。正是這種灰塵使日本漁民和他們所捕獲的魚(yú)受到了感染，盡管他們并不在美國(guó)專家所確認(rèn)的危險(xiǎn)區(qū)之內(nèi)。沒(méi)有人知道這種致命的放射性微粒怎么會(huì)傳播得這么廣，但是這個(gè)領(lǐng)域的最高權(quán)威一致表示：一場(chǎng)氫彈戰(zhàn)差不多就是滅絕人類的代名詞。如果許多氫彈被使用，死神恐怕就會(huì)降臨全球——只有少數(shù)幸運(yùn)者才會(huì)突然死亡，大多數(shù)人卻須忍受疾病和解體的慢性折磨……這里，我要向你提起一個(gè)直率的、令人不快而又無(wú)法回避的問(wèn)題：我們?cè)撓麥缛祟?，還是人類該拋棄戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)？人們不愿面對(duì)這個(gè)抉擇，因?yàn)橄麥鐟?zhàn)爭(zhēng)太難了。消滅戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)要求限制國(guó)家主權(quán)，這令人反感。然而“人類”這個(gè)專門名詞給人們的感覺(jué)是模糊、抽象的，它可能比任何其他東西都更容易妨礙認(rèn)識(shí)這種形勢(shì)。人們幾乎沒(méi)