【課文】
First listen and then answer the following question.
聽錄音，然后回答以下問題。
What is the most influential factor in any human society?
In man's early days. competition with other creatures must have been critical. But this phase of our development is now finished. Indeed, we lack practice and experience nowadays in dealing with primitive conditions. I am sure that, without modern weapons, I would make a very poor show of disputing the ownership of a cave with a bear, and in this I do not think that I stand alone. The last creature to compete with man was the mosquito. But even the mosquito has been subdued by attention to drainage and by chemical sprays.
Competition between our selves, person against person, community against community, still persists, however; and it is as fierce as it ever was.
But the competition of man against man is not the simple process envisioned in biology. It is not a simple competition for a fixed amount of food determined by the physical environment, because the environment that determines our evolution is no longer essentially physical. Our environment is chiefly conditoned by the things we believe. Morocco and California are bits of the Earth in very similar latitudes, both on the west coasts of continents with similar climates, and probably with rather similar natural resources. Yet their present development is wholly different, not so much because of different people even, but because of the different thoughts that exist in the minds of their inhabitants. This is the point I wish to emphasize. The most important factor in our environment is the state of our own minds.
It is well known that where the white man has invaded a primitive culture, the most destructive effects have come not from physical weapons but from ideas. Ideas are dangerous. The Holy Office knew this full well when it caused heretics to be burned in days gone by. Indeed, the concept of free speech only exists in our modern society because when you are inside a community, you are conditioned by the conventions of the community to such a degree that it is very difficult to conceive of anything really destructive. It is only someone looking on from outside that can inject the dangerous thoughts. I do not doubt that it would be possible to inject ideas into the modern world that would utterly destroy us. I would like to give you an example, but fortunately I cannot do so. Perhaps it will suffice to mention the nuclear bomb. Imagine the effect on a reasonably advanced technological society, one that still does not possess the bomb, of making it aware of the possibility, of supplying sufficient details to enable the thing to be constructed. Twenty or thirty pages of information handed to any of the major world powers around the year 1925 would have been sufficient to change the course of world history. It is a strange thought, but I believe a correct one, that twenty or thirty pages of ideas and information would be capable of turning the present-day world upside down, or even destroying it. I have often tried to conceive of what those pages might contain, but of course I cannot do so because I am a prisoner of the present-day world, just as all of you are. We cannot think outside the particular patterns that our brains are conditioned to, or, to be more accurate, we can think only a very little way outside, and then only if we are very original.
FRED HOYLE Of Men and Galaxies
【New words and expressions 生詞和短語】
dispute v. 爭奪
mosquito n. 蚊子
subdue v. 征服
drainage n. 下水系統(tǒng)
envision n. 預(yù)想
Morocco n. 摩洛哥
latitude n. 緯度
heretic n. 異教徒，異端邪說
conceive v. 想像
suffice v. 足夠
nuclear adj. 原子彈的
original adj.有獨到見解的
【課文注釋】
1.make a very poor show 出丑
2.dispute
v.
① 爭論
例句：The couple disputed where to spend the holiday.
夫妻倆為上哪兒度假而發(fā)生爭論。
②爭議
例句：Now there was just one point on the boundary left to dispute.
邊界上有一點引起爭議。
The land near the border is disputed ground.
靠近邊界的土地是有爭議的地區(qū)。
③質(zhì)疑
例句：The family wanted to dispute the will.
家屬想對遺囑提出質(zhì)疑。
n. 爭論，爭端，爭吵
【詞義辨析】
argue, quarrel, debate, dispute, discuss, reason這些動詞均含“辯論，爭論，說理”之意。
argue: 指提出理由或證據(jù)為自己或自己一方的看法或立場辯護(hù)，著重說理、論證和企圖說服。
quarrel: 指兩人之間或兩個團(tuán)體之間不友好的、吵吵嚷嚷地大聲爭論某事，尤指“吵嘴、吵架”。
debate: 側(cè)重指意見等對立的雙方之間正式或公開的爭辯。
dispute: 側(cè)重對分歧進(jìn)行激烈或熱烈的爭論或爭辯，帶一定感情色彩，常隱含“各持已見”或“爭論不休”意味。
discuss: 常用詞，指就某一或某些問題表明觀點、看法等，以便統(tǒng)一認(rèn)識，解決問題。
reason: 指據(jù)理力爭以說服對方或求得對問題作更深入的研究。
controversy, argument, conflict, debate, dispute, quarrel, strife這組名詞均有“爭執(zhí)、不和”之意。
controversy: 側(cè)重指深刻的意見分歧，多指對引起廣泛興趣或非常重要的問題的辨論。
argument: 指辯論雙方均以事實或理由來說服對方的辨論。
conflict: 指雙方堅持已見、互不妥協(xié)，懷有敵意的爭論，多暗示分歧極為嚴(yán)重，有時用語言無法解決，只得訴諸武力。
debate: 通常指經(jīng)過仔細(xì)組織和計劃的個人或團(tuán)體之間的辯論。
dispute: 普通用詞，側(cè)重指長時間，言詞激烈，針鋒相對的爭辯。
quarrel: 普通用詞，既可指言詞激烈的爭吵，也可指溫和的言詞上的不和。
strife: 指因不可緩和的矛盾而引起的爭吵或斗毆。
3.I stand alone 僅我一人
4.The last creature to compete with man 其中的last有“極不可能的”的意思。
5.subdue v. 使服從，壓制，減弱
例句：No one has been able to subdue these areas.
從沒有人能夠壓制這一地區(qū)。
Soames made a tour of the room, to subdue his rising anger.
索米斯在屋內(nèi)兜了一圈，壓制一下心頭升起的怒火。
【詞義辨析】
conquer, overcome, overthrow, defeat, beat, subdue 這些動詞均含“征服，戰(zhàn)勝”之意。
conquer: 側(cè)重戰(zhàn)勝和控制。書面用詞。
overcome: 多指戰(zhàn)勝或克服非物質(zhì)的東西，如困難和不良習(xí)慣等。語氣較弱也可指在斗爭或競爭中戰(zhàn)勝或壓倒對方。
overthrow: 指徹底擊敗對手，使其喪失力量和地位。
defeat: 普通用詞，多指在戰(zhàn)爭、比賽、競選或辯論中戰(zhàn)勝對手，側(cè)重勝利的暫時性。
beat: 口筆語均可用，可與defeat換用。
subdue: 正式用詞，與conquer同義，但強(qiáng)調(diào)失敗后的臣服狀態(tài);也可用作借喻，表克制、壓抑感情、欲望等。
6.envision vt. 想象，設(shè)想
例句：I can't envision him doing such a terrible thing.
我不敢想象他能做出這種可怕的事。
I cannot envision him as president.
我無法想像他是總統(tǒng)。
They didn't envision any problems with the new building.
他們沒想到這棟新樓會有什么問題。
7.The Holy Office knew this full well when it caused heretics to be burned in days gone by. the Holy Office是指羅馬天主教的宗教法庭;full well 中的full是副詞，有very的意思;gone by 作days的定語，整個詞組的意思是“過去的日子”。
8.inject v.
①注射
例句：The nurse injected penicillin into her arm.
護(hù)士給她的胳膊注射了青霉素。
His medicine is a drug that can be injected or taken by mouth.
他的藥可以注射或口服。
②注入
例句：His appointment may inject some new life into the committee.
他的任命可能給這委員會注入新生命。
③引入
例句：He injected new ideas into the discussion.
他把新的概念引入討論中。
9. suffice v. 足夠
例句：Two meals a day suffice an old man.
老人一天二餐就足夠了。
The rations will suffice until next week.
這些口糧足夠吃到下星期。
An hour should suffice for the journey.
這點路程一小時足夠了。
The rules will suffice for all ordinary needs.
這些規(guī)定將能滿足所有一般場合的需要。
【參考譯文】
在人類早期，人類與其他生物的競爭一定是必不可少的。但這個發(fā)展階段已經(jīng)結(jié)束。確實，我們今天缺乏對付原始環(huán)境的實踐和經(jīng)驗。我斷定，如果沒有現(xiàn)代化的武器，要我和一只熊去爭洞穴，我會出洋相的;我也相信，出洋相者并非我一人。能與競爭的生物后只有蚊子，然而即使蚊子，也由于我們注意清理污水和噴灑化學(xué)藥品就被制服了。
然而人類之間的戰(zhàn)爭，人與人，團(tuán)體與團(tuán)體，依然在進(jìn)行著，而且和以前一樣激烈。
但是，人與人的競爭并不像生物學(xué)中想像的那樣是一個簡單過程。它已不是為爭得物質(zhì)環(huán)境所決定的東西所決定。摩洛哥和加利福尼亞是地球上緯度極其相似的兩個地方，都在各自大陸的西海岸，氣候相似，自然資源也可能相似。但是，這兩個地方目前的發(fā)展程度完全不一樣。這倒不是因為人民不同，而是由于居民頭腦中的思想不同。 這是我要強(qiáng)調(diào)的論點。我們環(huán)境中重要的因素就是我們的思想狀況。
眾所周知，凡是白人侵入原始文化的地方，破壞作用大的不是殺人的武器，而是思想。思想是危險的。宗教法庭對此是非常清楚的，因此從前它總是把異教徒燒死。的確，言論自由的概念只存在于我們現(xiàn)代社會中，因為當(dāng)你生活在一個社團(tuán)中時，社團(tuán)的風(fēng)俗習(xí)慣會嚴(yán)格地制約你，使你很難有破壞性的想法。只有外部的旁觀者才能灌輸危險的思想。向現(xiàn)代世界灌輸一種思想以便摧毀我們?nèi)祟愂强赡艿氖?，對此我并不懷疑。我愿為你舉個例子，但幸虧我舉不出。也許提一下核彈就足以證明了。對一個尚未擁有核彈、但科技相當(dāng)發(fā)達(dá)的社會，如果告訴它制造核彈的可能性，而且向它提供制造核彈的細(xì)節(jié)，那么可以設(shè)想，這將對這個社會產(chǎn)生何等的影響。如果把二三十頁的情報交給1952年前后的任何一個世界強(qiáng)國，就足以改變世界歷史的進(jìn)程。二三十頁材料中的思想和情報會將當(dāng)今的世界翻天覆地，甚至毀滅這個世界。這是個離奇的想法。不過我認(rèn)為這個想法是正確的。我常常試圖想像這些紙上所寫的東西，不過我是做不到的，因為我和你們大家一樣，是當(dāng)今世界上的凡人。我們不能脫離我們大腦所限定的模式去思考問題，我們只能稍微離開一點兒，就這也需要我們有獨創(chuàng)的思想。
First listen and then answer the following question.
聽錄音，然后回答以下問題。
What is the most influential factor in any human society?
In man's early days. competition with other creatures must have been critical. But this phase of our development is now finished. Indeed, we lack practice and experience nowadays in dealing with primitive conditions. I am sure that, without modern weapons, I would make a very poor show of disputing the ownership of a cave with a bear, and in this I do not think that I stand alone. The last creature to compete with man was the mosquito. But even the mosquito has been subdued by attention to drainage and by chemical sprays.
Competition between our selves, person against person, community against community, still persists, however; and it is as fierce as it ever was.
But the competition of man against man is not the simple process envisioned in biology. It is not a simple competition for a fixed amount of food determined by the physical environment, because the environment that determines our evolution is no longer essentially physical. Our environment is chiefly conditoned by the things we believe. Morocco and California are bits of the Earth in very similar latitudes, both on the west coasts of continents with similar climates, and probably with rather similar natural resources. Yet their present development is wholly different, not so much because of different people even, but because of the different thoughts that exist in the minds of their inhabitants. This is the point I wish to emphasize. The most important factor in our environment is the state of our own minds.
It is well known that where the white man has invaded a primitive culture, the most destructive effects have come not from physical weapons but from ideas. Ideas are dangerous. The Holy Office knew this full well when it caused heretics to be burned in days gone by. Indeed, the concept of free speech only exists in our modern society because when you are inside a community, you are conditioned by the conventions of the community to such a degree that it is very difficult to conceive of anything really destructive. It is only someone looking on from outside that can inject the dangerous thoughts. I do not doubt that it would be possible to inject ideas into the modern world that would utterly destroy us. I would like to give you an example, but fortunately I cannot do so. Perhaps it will suffice to mention the nuclear bomb. Imagine the effect on a reasonably advanced technological society, one that still does not possess the bomb, of making it aware of the possibility, of supplying sufficient details to enable the thing to be constructed. Twenty or thirty pages of information handed to any of the major world powers around the year 1925 would have been sufficient to change the course of world history. It is a strange thought, but I believe a correct one, that twenty or thirty pages of ideas and information would be capable of turning the present-day world upside down, or even destroying it. I have often tried to conceive of what those pages might contain, but of course I cannot do so because I am a prisoner of the present-day world, just as all of you are. We cannot think outside the particular patterns that our brains are conditioned to, or, to be more accurate, we can think only a very little way outside, and then only if we are very original.
FRED HOYLE Of Men and Galaxies
【New words and expressions 生詞和短語】
dispute v. 爭奪
mosquito n. 蚊子
subdue v. 征服
drainage n. 下水系統(tǒng)
envision n. 預(yù)想
Morocco n. 摩洛哥
latitude n. 緯度
heretic n. 異教徒，異端邪說
conceive v. 想像
suffice v. 足夠
nuclear adj. 原子彈的
original adj.有獨到見解的
【課文注釋】
1.make a very poor show 出丑
2.dispute
v.
① 爭論
例句：The couple disputed where to spend the holiday.
夫妻倆為上哪兒度假而發(fā)生爭論。
②爭議
例句：Now there was just one point on the boundary left to dispute.
邊界上有一點引起爭議。
The land near the border is disputed ground.
靠近邊界的土地是有爭議的地區(qū)。
③質(zhì)疑
例句：The family wanted to dispute the will.
家屬想對遺囑提出質(zhì)疑。
n. 爭論，爭端，爭吵
【詞義辨析】
argue, quarrel, debate, dispute, discuss, reason這些動詞均含“辯論，爭論，說理”之意。
argue: 指提出理由或證據(jù)為自己或自己一方的看法或立場辯護(hù)，著重說理、論證和企圖說服。
quarrel: 指兩人之間或兩個團(tuán)體之間不友好的、吵吵嚷嚷地大聲爭論某事，尤指“吵嘴、吵架”。
debate: 側(cè)重指意見等對立的雙方之間正式或公開的爭辯。
dispute: 側(cè)重對分歧進(jìn)行激烈或熱烈的爭論或爭辯，帶一定感情色彩，常隱含“各持已見”或“爭論不休”意味。
discuss: 常用詞，指就某一或某些問題表明觀點、看法等，以便統(tǒng)一認(rèn)識，解決問題。
reason: 指據(jù)理力爭以說服對方或求得對問題作更深入的研究。
controversy, argument, conflict, debate, dispute, quarrel, strife這組名詞均有“爭執(zhí)、不和”之意。
controversy: 側(cè)重指深刻的意見分歧，多指對引起廣泛興趣或非常重要的問題的辨論。
argument: 指辯論雙方均以事實或理由來說服對方的辨論。
conflict: 指雙方堅持已見、互不妥協(xié)，懷有敵意的爭論，多暗示分歧極為嚴(yán)重，有時用語言無法解決，只得訴諸武力。
debate: 通常指經(jīng)過仔細(xì)組織和計劃的個人或團(tuán)體之間的辯論。
dispute: 普通用詞，側(cè)重指長時間，言詞激烈，針鋒相對的爭辯。
quarrel: 普通用詞，既可指言詞激烈的爭吵，也可指溫和的言詞上的不和。
strife: 指因不可緩和的矛盾而引起的爭吵或斗毆。
3.I stand alone 僅我一人
4.The last creature to compete with man 其中的last有“極不可能的”的意思。
5.subdue v. 使服從，壓制，減弱
例句：No one has been able to subdue these areas.
從沒有人能夠壓制這一地區(qū)。
Soames made a tour of the room, to subdue his rising anger.
索米斯在屋內(nèi)兜了一圈，壓制一下心頭升起的怒火。
【詞義辨析】
conquer, overcome, overthrow, defeat, beat, subdue 這些動詞均含“征服，戰(zhàn)勝”之意。
conquer: 側(cè)重戰(zhàn)勝和控制。書面用詞。
overcome: 多指戰(zhàn)勝或克服非物質(zhì)的東西，如困難和不良習(xí)慣等。語氣較弱也可指在斗爭或競爭中戰(zhàn)勝或壓倒對方。
overthrow: 指徹底擊敗對手，使其喪失力量和地位。
defeat: 普通用詞，多指在戰(zhàn)爭、比賽、競選或辯論中戰(zhàn)勝對手，側(cè)重勝利的暫時性。
beat: 口筆語均可用，可與defeat換用。
subdue: 正式用詞，與conquer同義，但強(qiáng)調(diào)失敗后的臣服狀態(tài);也可用作借喻，表克制、壓抑感情、欲望等。
6.envision vt. 想象，設(shè)想
例句：I can't envision him doing such a terrible thing.
我不敢想象他能做出這種可怕的事。
I cannot envision him as president.
我無法想像他是總統(tǒng)。
They didn't envision any problems with the new building.
他們沒想到這棟新樓會有什么問題。
7.The Holy Office knew this full well when it caused heretics to be burned in days gone by. the Holy Office是指羅馬天主教的宗教法庭;full well 中的full是副詞，有very的意思;gone by 作days的定語，整個詞組的意思是“過去的日子”。
8.inject v.
①注射
例句：The nurse injected penicillin into her arm.
護(hù)士給她的胳膊注射了青霉素。
His medicine is a drug that can be injected or taken by mouth.
他的藥可以注射或口服。
②注入
例句：His appointment may inject some new life into the committee.
他的任命可能給這委員會注入新生命。
③引入
例句：He injected new ideas into the discussion.
他把新的概念引入討論中。
9. suffice v. 足夠
例句：Two meals a day suffice an old man.
老人一天二餐就足夠了。
The rations will suffice until next week.
這些口糧足夠吃到下星期。
An hour should suffice for the journey.
這點路程一小時足夠了。
The rules will suffice for all ordinary needs.
這些規(guī)定將能滿足所有一般場合的需要。
【參考譯文】
在人類早期，人類與其他生物的競爭一定是必不可少的。但這個發(fā)展階段已經(jīng)結(jié)束。確實，我們今天缺乏對付原始環(huán)境的實踐和經(jīng)驗。我斷定，如果沒有現(xiàn)代化的武器，要我和一只熊去爭洞穴，我會出洋相的;我也相信，出洋相者并非我一人。能與競爭的生物后只有蚊子，然而即使蚊子，也由于我們注意清理污水和噴灑化學(xué)藥品就被制服了。
然而人類之間的戰(zhàn)爭，人與人，團(tuán)體與團(tuán)體，依然在進(jìn)行著，而且和以前一樣激烈。
但是，人與人的競爭并不像生物學(xué)中想像的那樣是一個簡單過程。它已不是為爭得物質(zhì)環(huán)境所決定的東西所決定。摩洛哥和加利福尼亞是地球上緯度極其相似的兩個地方，都在各自大陸的西海岸，氣候相似，自然資源也可能相似。但是，這兩個地方目前的發(fā)展程度完全不一樣。這倒不是因為人民不同，而是由于居民頭腦中的思想不同。 這是我要強(qiáng)調(diào)的論點。我們環(huán)境中重要的因素就是我們的思想狀況。
眾所周知，凡是白人侵入原始文化的地方，破壞作用大的不是殺人的武器，而是思想。思想是危險的。宗教法庭對此是非常清楚的，因此從前它總是把異教徒燒死。的確，言論自由的概念只存在于我們現(xiàn)代社會中，因為當(dāng)你生活在一個社團(tuán)中時，社團(tuán)的風(fēng)俗習(xí)慣會嚴(yán)格地制約你，使你很難有破壞性的想法。只有外部的旁觀者才能灌輸危險的思想。向現(xiàn)代世界灌輸一種思想以便摧毀我們?nèi)祟愂强赡艿氖?，對此我并不懷疑。我愿為你舉個例子，但幸虧我舉不出。也許提一下核彈就足以證明了。對一個尚未擁有核彈、但科技相當(dāng)發(fā)達(dá)的社會，如果告訴它制造核彈的可能性，而且向它提供制造核彈的細(xì)節(jié)，那么可以設(shè)想，這將對這個社會產(chǎn)生何等的影響。如果把二三十頁的情報交給1952年前后的任何一個世界強(qiáng)國，就足以改變世界歷史的進(jìn)程。二三十頁材料中的思想和情報會將當(dāng)今的世界翻天覆地，甚至毀滅這個世界。這是個離奇的想法。不過我認(rèn)為這個想法是正確的。我常常試圖想像這些紙上所寫的東西，不過我是做不到的，因為我和你們大家一樣，是當(dāng)今世界上的凡人。我們不能脫離我們大腦所限定的模式去思考問題，我們只能稍微離開一點兒，就這也需要我們有獨創(chuàng)的思想。