The Greatest Invention综合英语

The Greatest Invention

Lord Dunsany

other countries wanted to do and their ability to do it. But it is all different now.

can carry in a bag a bomb that is more powerful than several battleships, it is hard to find out

what any country can do or will do next. I will give you an example.

I was on a ship in the tropics (Jorkens told us), and we put into a port. I was tired of looking

at the tropical sea, so I went ashore and walked into a tavern to see if they had any decent wines

in that country. As it turned out, they hadn't. But there was a man there with a black mustache

and a certain look in his eyes that made me wonder if he might not have something interesting to

tell. So I asked him if I might offer him a glass of wine. Well, he was good enough to accept, and I

called for a bottle of the strange local wine. When the bottle had been uncorked and the wine

poured

out,

like

liquid

tropical

sunlight,

I

watched

it

go

down

under

that

black

mustache.

And

when a certain amount had gone down, he began to talk.

we

are

a

little

country

we

could

not

have

succeeded.

War

is

no

longer

a

matter

of

armies;

it

depends on the intelligence of scientists. And we had a scientist who, as I have since seen proved,

had no rival west of the Atlantic.

I had another bottle of wine set before him, and I did hear.

And

I

had

not

thought

it,

for

he

was

not

at

all

what

one

would

regard

as

the

figure

of

a

soldier. But warfare, as he explained to me, has altered.

Minister,

he

said,

a

cavalry

officer

and

could

not

adapt

his

ideas

to

modern

science. He thought of war simply as an opportunity for cavalry charges and fine uniforms and

glory. We had to get rid of him in order to fulfill our just aspirations.

We are the people who have been born to it.

the

Minister

of

Warfare

was

gone,

he

went

on,

turned

our

minds

to modern

warfare,

and

we

began

to

make

great

progress.

Modern

warfare

gives

grand

opportunities

to

little countries. Once, if a nation had twelve battleships it was a Great Power, and we could only

obey. But what if we know how to let loose a plague capable of destroying whole nations? Must

we be silent then about our just aspirations? No. We shall speak.

and deadlier germ. And we had the man who could not only give us that, but a more effective

way

to

spread

it

—

his

name

was

Silvary

Carasierra. We

knew

that

we

had

marvelous

powers