Book 1 Unit 3 Public Attitudes Toward ScienceBook 1 Unit 3 Public Attitudes Toward Science.docVIP

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 couldnt put the clock back to an earlier age. Knowledge and techniques cant 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 wouldnt 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 inf