知识和进步
课文学习台
Knowledge and Progress
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第1段
Why does the idea of progress loom so large in the modern world? Surely because progress of a particular kind is actually taking place around us and is becoming more and more manifest. Although mankind has undergone no general improvement in intelligence or morality, it has made extraordinary progress in the accumulation of knowledge.
为什么进步这个概念在当今世界如此突显？ 无疑是因为有一种特殊的进步正在我们周围真实地发生着，而且愈发明显。 人类虽然没有在智力和道德方面取得普遍进步，却在知识积累方面进步巨大。
第2段
Knowledge began to increase as soon as the thoughts of one individual could be communicated to another by means of speech. With the invention of writing, a great advance was made, for knowledge could then be not only communicated but also stored. Libraries made education possible, and education in its turn added to libraries: the growth of knowledge followed a kind of compound-interest law, which was greatly enhanced by the invention of printing. All this was comparatively slow until, with the coming of science, the tempo was suddenly raised. Then knowledge began to be accumulated according to a systematic plan. The trickle became a stream; the stream has now become a torrent. Moreover, as soon as new knowledge is acquired, it is now turned to practical account. What is called "modern civilization" is not the result of a balanced development of all man's nature, but of accumulated knowledge applied to practical life.
人一旦能用语言同别人交流思想，知识的积累便开始了。书写的发明，带来了巨大的进步，于是，知识不仅可以交流，还能储存。文献库使教育得以实现，而教育能反哺文献库。因为知识的增加遵循类似于复利的法则，文献库与教育的相互作用又非常得益于印刷术的发明。不过知识的增加相对来说还是偏慢了，直到科学的到来，知识增加的速率才急剧提升。于是，知识便开始有计划地积累起来。涓涓细流汇成小溪；小溪现已聚成激流。况且，一旦获得了新知识，现在便能转化成实际应用。所谓“现代文明”并非人类天性平衡发展之果，而是所积累的知识于实际生活中应用的结果。
第3段
The problem now facing humanity is: What is going to be done with all this knowledge? As is so often pointed out, knowledge is a two-edged weapon which can be used equally for good or evil. It is now being used indifferently for both. Could any spectacle, for instance, be more grimly whimsical than that of gunners using science to shatter men's bodies while, close at hand, surgeons use it to restore them? We have to ask ourselves very seriously what will happen if this twofold use of knowledge, with its ever-increasing power, continues.
人类目前所面临的问题是：这些知识可以用来做什么？ 正如人们常常指出的，知识是一把双刃剑，可以用于造福，亦或为害。 如今，人们不加分辨地把知识既用于行善，也用于作恶。举例来说，炮兵利用科学摧毁人的身体，而外科医生就在附近运用科学抢救被摧毁的身体，还有比这更可怕、更怪诞的奇景吗？我们不得不严肃地自问：随着知识的力量与日俱增，如果知识的善恶双重性得以持续运用，将会发生什么？
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译文与解析据吴应时整理资料及本站首轮审校稿；词伙与练习提示为本站学习设计。原PDF第88—91页，2022年2月第2版。