2015年河海大学研究生英语一Unit16TheRoleofScienceFiction.docVIP

Unit 16 The Role of Science Fiction The year 1972 was marked by this publication of a controversial book. The Limits to Growth. This study of the world’s future, done by a team of MIT scientists with the aid of computer “models” of the future of our society, forecast a planetwide disaster unless humankind sharply limits its population growth and consumption of natural resources. 1972年为世人所瞩目的一件事就是出版了一本颇有争议的书——《增长的极限》。这一有关世界前景的研究，是由麻省理工学院一组科学家借助模拟未来社会的电脑“模型”进行的，预言了人类若不大幅度限制人口增长和自然资源消耗，就会出现全球性的灾难。 Most people were caught by surprise when the book came out. Many refused to believe that disaster is possible, probable, inevitable---if we don’t change our mode of running Spaceship Earth. But science fiction people were neither surprised nor outraged. The study was really old news to them. They’d been making their own “models” of tomorrow and testing them all their lives. 该书问世时大多数人吃了一惊。许多人拒绝相信存在发生灾难的可能性、盖然性、必然性——倘使我们不改变对“地球飞船”的管理方式的话。但科幻小说家及其读者却既不惊讶，也不愤慨。事实上，这项研究对他们来说已不是什么新鲜事了。他们毕生都在制作自己的未来世界“模型”，并付诸试验。 For what the scientists attempted with their computer model is very much like the thing that science fiction writers and readers have been doing for decades. Instead of using a computer to “model” a future world society, science fiction writers have used their human imaginations. This gives the writers some enormous advantages. 因为科学家们试图用电脑模型实现的事与科幻小说作家及其读者数十年来所做的非常相象。科幻小说作家并不依靠电脑来“模拟”一个未来世界，而是凭借人类的想象力。这给了作家某些极为有利的条件。 One of the advantages is flexibility. 有利条件之一就是灵活性。 Science fiction writers are not in the business of predicting the future. They do something much more important. They try to show the many possible futures that lie open to us. 科幻小说作家的职责不在预言未来，他们做的比这重要得多。他们试图展现许多可能出现在我们面前的前景。 For there is not simply a future, a time to come that’s inevitable. Our future is built, bit by bit, minute by minute, by the actions of human beings. One vital role of science fiction is to show what kinds of future might result from certain kinds of human actions. 因为并非只有一种前途，一种时代会