全新版大学英语综合教程-1-Unit3-课文正文电子书及翻译

2021年1月25日发(作者：丫)
Professor Hawking thinks it important to keep everybody in touch with what science is about. In
this article he explains why.







霍金教授认为使每个人都了解科学是干什么的非常重要。在 这篇文章中，他对其中
的缘由作了解释。


Public Attitudes Toward Science

Stephen Hawking

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 bad for a privileged minority, though even
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.

公众科学观

斯蒂芬·霍金







无 论我们是否愿意，我们生活的世界在过去一百年间已经变化了许多，而且在未来
的一百年里可能变化更多 。
有人想中止这种种变化，
回到那个他们认为更纯洁更朴素的时代。
但正如历史所表明 的，
过去并非那么美妙。
过去对享有特权的少数人不算太糟，
但即便他们
也无 从享受现代医疗，
而生育对妇女来说风险极大。
对占人口大多数的民众而言，
生活是艰
难、残忍而又短暂的。







2



Anyway,
even
if
one
wanted
to,
one
couldn't
put
the
clock
back
to
an
earlier
age.
Knowledge and techniques can't just be forgotten. Nor can one prevent further 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
state
that
suppressed
anything new, and human initiative and inventiveness are such that even this wouldn't succeed.
All it would do is slow down the rate of change.







不管怎样，即使有人想这么做，他也无法将时钟拨回到早先的时代。知识与技术不
可能说忘就忘了。
也没有人能阻止未来的进一步发展。
即使所有用于研究的政府资金都 被取
消

（现政府最擅此事）
，
竞争的力量仍将继续带来技术的发展 。
更何况，
没有人能阻止探究
求索之士去思索基础科学，
无论他们是否会为此 得到酬劳。
惟一能阻止进一步发展的办法或
许是一个压制任何新事物的全球政府，
但人 类的进取心与创造力如此旺盛，
即便这个政府也
不会成功。它所能做到的只是延缓变化的速度。






3



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 in the hands of experts. At the moment, the public
is in two minds about 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
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 The Sky at
Night and for science fiction.







如果 我们承认，我们无法阻止科学技术改变我们的世界，我们至少可以努力确保科
技带来的变化方向正确。在 一个民主社会里，这意味着公众需要对科学有一个基本的了解，
从而可以作出明达的决定，而不是把决定 留给专家去作。目前，公众对科学存有矛盾之心。
公众期望科技新发展带来的生活水准的稳定提高能继续 ，
但又怀疑科学，
因为他们不懂科学。
那个在实验室里设法制造弗兰肯斯泰因的疯狂的 科学家的卡通人物清楚地体现了公众的这
种怀疑。
这也是人们之所以支持各种绿色组织的一个重 要因素。
但公众同时也对科学深感兴
趣，尤其是对天文学，诸如《夜空》
之类的电视连 续剧观众不少以及科幻小说读者甚多就是
明证。






4



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 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
taught
in
terms
of
equations.
Although
equations
are
a
brief
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=mc2. Maybe I would have sold twice as many copies without it.







怎么样才能利用这种兴趣，向公众提供所需要的科学知识，以便其在酸雨、温室效
应、核武器以及基因工程等问题上作出明达的决定呢显然，必须把基础建立在学校课程上。
但在 学校里，
科学往往被教得枯燥乏味。
孩子们死记硬背应付考试，
他们看不出科学与他们
的周围世界的联系。
更有甚者，
科学常常是用公式来教的。
虽然公式是阐述数 学概念的一种
简单而精确的方式，
它们却使大多数人望而生畏。
前不久我写了一本通俗 读物，
当时有人告
诫我说，
我每使用一个公式就会使销量减半。
我只使用了一 个公式，
即爱因斯坦那个著名的
公式，
E=mc2
。如果不用这个公式的话， 也许我能多卖出一倍的书。







5



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.






科学家和工程师倾向于用公式阐述观点，因为他们需要知道 量的精确
值。
但对我们其余的人来说，
对科学概念有个质的认识就已足够，
这 可以用文字和图表来表
述，大可不必使用公式。




6



The
science
people
learn
in
school
can
provide
the
basic
framework.
But
the
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 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. 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
programmes
on
TV,
but
others
present
scientific
wonders
simply
as
magic, without explaining them or showing how they fit into the framework of scientific ideas.
Producers
of
television
science
programmes
should
realize
that
they
have
a
responsibility
to
educate the public, not just entertain it.







人们在学校学到的科学知 识可以提供一个基本的框架。但如今科学进步的速度如此
之快，
一个人离开学校或大学后新的发 展层出不穷。
我在学校从未学过分子生物学或晶体管，
但基因工程和计算机是极有可能改变我们 未来生活的两项发展。
有关科学的通俗读物和杂志
文章能帮助人们了解新发展，
但即使 是最畅销的科普读物也只有一小部分人阅读。
只有电视
能赢得真正广大的观众。
电视上 有一些相当优秀的科学节目，
但其他的节目把科学奇迹简单
地作为魔术播出，
既不加以 说明，
也不展现它们与科学观念的整体框架的关系。
电视科学节
目的制片人应该认识到 ，他们负有教育民众的重任，而不仅仅是为他们提供娱乐。





7



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
stage.
But
I
have
sufficient
faith
in
the
good
sense
of
the
public
to
believe
that
we
might prove this wrong.








当今世界充满危险，因此就有了那个令人毛骨悚然的玩笑， 说我们尚未受到外星文
明造访的原因在于：
但凡文明发展到我们目前的程度，
它们往往 就自我毁灭了。
然而我对公
众的明智充满信心，因而相信，我们将证明这一说法是错误的。
When scientific discoveries hit the news they are rarely as simple as the headlines suggest. They
usually do not mention the years of work that lie behind the discoveries. The reports also do little
to help us realize that science seldom provides answers that are final and beyond challenge.







科学发现成为新闻时，很少如新闻标题所显示的那么简单。新闻标题通常只字不提
科 学发现背后的长年努力。
新闻报道也很少帮助我们认识，
科学绝少提供最终的、
经得住 挑
战的答案。


How To Make Sense Out Of Science

David H. Levy

1




New Drugs Kill Cancer

如何理解科学


大卫·
H
·利维







新药灭癌





2



Devastation by El Nio
─

a Warning







厄尔·尼诺现象将带来毁灭

──

一则警告





3



6:30 . October 26, 2028: Could This Be the Deadline for the Apocalypse







2028
年
10
月
26
日下午
6:30
：世界末日的最后期限