书城英文图书美国学生世界历史
16965000000090

第90章 昨天、今天、明天

THERE is a candy shp near where I live.n its sign it says, "Made Fresh Every Hur." Histry is being made every day. It is being made fresh every hur. We read abut it in the newspapers and the magazines,r hear abut itn the radir televisin.

Up t this time, histry has been marked by the stryfne war after anther-sme big, sme small, sme shrt, sme lng. Almst always a fight has been gingn smewhere. It has been War, War, War-Fight, Fight, Fight. Children scratch, kick, and bite. But thelder we get, the less d we useur fists and feet t settle quarrels. Fighting seems t be a signf childhd-that we are kids-andur fights, that we call wars, a signf hw yung the wrld really is and we really are-a sign that the wrld is still but a minuter twld.

Nw we admire and praise as heres Hratius, Lenidas, Janf Arc, General Eisenhwer, and thse wh have defended their cuntries against the attacksf the enemy, as we wuld admire a man wh stps a burglarr a murderer wh attacks his family in the night. But thse, whether kings, generals,r princes, wh d the attacking and take life with nther excuse than t add t their pwerr wealthr glry, are n better than burglars, wh g frth with a gun and a blackjack t waylay, rb, and murder fr the same purpse. War kills, war destrys, war csts millinsf lives and billinsf dllars-mney that culd be used t make us happy, t make the wrld a better place, insteadf causing bitterness, suffering, misery, and unhappiness, widws, andrphans. Nne is betterff, nt even the winner. War is a terrible game, in which even the winner lses.

This is certain: If wars d nt end, they will be fught with weapns s deadly that all the peplef a cuntryr evenf a cntinent may be killed. Already atmic bmbs explde with such a blast thatne bmb can blw a whle city t smithereens. Perhaps, if wars cntinue, there wn"t be anyne left alive in the whle wide wrld; and that will be the endf human histry.

Perhaps wars can be stpped. Many peple everywhere gn trying and hping t end the dangerf anther war. It isn"t easy t prevent wars, but if the United Natins can act like a fire department t putut wars like fires befrethey get burning t fiercely, then the wrld can gn with yearsf peace. Newinventins will be used fr peace insteadf war.

Already man"s inventins seem mre magical than magic itself. Airplanes and helicpters and spaceships take the placef flying carpets. They"re much better, t, than flying carpets fr there really are airplanes, but magic carpets never flew except in man"s imaginatin. Whatever yu can imagine, n matter hw wild yur imaginatin is, will prbably smeday be invented-if wars can be prevented. Yu can imagine an inventin t prevent all wars and yu can be pretty sure it will smeday be in use-if anther war desn"t spil everything first.

Inventins are nt quite the same as discveries. If a thing was there all the time but peple didn"t knw abut it, it became a discvery, nt an inventin.

Discveries and inventins! Discveries have been just as imprtant as inventins in the last hundred years and seem just as magical.f curse there are n mre cntinents t discver, but there are still wnderful discveries being made all the time.

Smef the mst imprtant discveries have been abut diseases and hw t prevent them. These discveries have lng names like:

Vaccinatin! Smallpx used t be everywhere. It was a deadly disease. The discveryf hw t prevent it by vaccinatin has saved maybe as many lives as war has taken.

Pasteurizatinf milk! D yu knw what that is? It was named fr the Frenchman wh discvered hw t kill deadly germs. Yu can guess his name. Yes, it was Pasteur.

Inculatin! D yu knw what that is? Has the dctr ever given yu an injectin frm a needle t prtect yu frm tetanusr typhid?

Anesthetics! D yu knw what that is? Anesthetics put yu t sleep if yu have t have anperatin. Thinkf the suffering the discveryf anesthetics has prevented.

Penicillin! D yu knw what this is? It was discvered just in time t save the livesf many wunded men in Wrld War II.

I wish I culd tell yu abut inventins like the electric eye and radar and jet prpulsin. I wish I culd tell yu abut famus scientists like Charles Steinmetz and Albert Einstein. I wish I culd tell yu abut all the inventins and discveries-frm vacuum cleaners t cycltrns, frm air cnditiners t electrn micrscpes, frm dynams t lasers and quasars and human- heart transplants. And bld plasma-an African American, Charles Drew, figuredut hw t stre this in bld banks s it, t, culd be used t save the wunded fighting men. Yu see, scientists can be war heres just as much as thesldiers! I wish I culd tell yu abut allf them, but I can"t. There isn"t rm in this bk fr the stryf these and dzensfther wnderful things; and besides, I"d never catch up, fr new discveries and inventins are being made all the time-"Made Fresh Every Hur."This stry ends here, butnly fr the mment, fr histry is a cntinuing stry and keeps gingn andn. Even while yu are reading this line, scientists are wrkingn inventins and discveries that may be in the histry bksf the future.

If yu were living in the year 10,000 A.D., as sme byr girl will be, yur histry wuldnly be just begun when yu had reached where we are nw. Even Wrld War II wuld then seem as lng ag as the fightsf the Stne Age men seem t us. Yu might thinkf us and allur wnderful inventins in the same way that we nw thinkf the discveryf cpper and brnze.

Perhaps then peple will n lnger use trains, bats, autmbiles,r even airplanes, but g frm place t place asn sme magic carpet, simply by wishing. Perhaps then they will n lnger use letters, telephnes, radi, televisin,r even cmputers, but read eachther"s thughts at any distance.

Perhaps by then peple will knw hw t build factries that dn"t pisn the air and water and t use earth"s resurces wisely s we dn"t runut. And perhaps peple will have learned t share, s that everyne in the whle wide wrld has enugh fd t eat and a decent place t live. Perhaps, bestf all, peple by then will knw hw t settle their prblems withut fighting wars.

And sn-Wrld withut end-AMEN!

【中文阅读】

我住的地方附近有家糖果烟杂店。店铺的招牌上写着:"每小时都有新货。"历史 每天都创造。每小时都在更新。我们在报纸和杂志上读到历史,或者在收音机或电 视上听到历史。

直到现在为止,历史都是以一个接一个的战争故事作为标志的--有些战争规 模大,有些规模小,有些时间短,有些时间长。世界上总有某个地方在打仗。历史 就是战争、战争、战争--打啊、打啊、打啊。小孩子们在一起,动不动就挠呀, 踢呀,咬呀。但是随着年龄增长,我们就越来越不愿意用拳打脚踢来解决争端。打 架似乎是童年的标志--表示我们是"小孩子"--我们人类的打斗,现在叫做战 争,表示这个世界是多么年幼,而且我们人类也确实如此--战争就是一个标志, 表示这个世界出生才一两分钟。

我们钦佩和赞颂贺雷修斯、列奥尼达、圣女贞德、艾森豪威尔将军和那些保卫 国家抵御敌人袭击的人,把他们誉为英雄,就像有个人拦住一个深夜闯进自己家里的盗贼或杀人犯,使自己的家人免受伤害,我们当然会钦佩这样的人。但是有些人 没有任何理由,只是为了增加自己的权力、财富或荣誉就去攻击别人,夺人性命, 这些人,无论他们是国王、将军,还是王子,实际上和那些为了同样的目的带着枪 和金属短棍前去伏击、抢劫和谋杀的强盗没有任何区别。战争引起死亡,战争造成 破坏,战争牺牲了千百万人的生命,耗费了数十亿美元--这些钱原可以用来使我 们生活幸福,把这个世界建设得更美好,而不是用来制造仇恨、痛苦、苦难、不幸、 寡妇和孤儿。没有人因为战争而更幸运,甚至胜利者同样如此。战争是场可怕的游 戏,在这场游戏中甚至赢家也是输者。

有一点是肯定的:如果战争不结束,毁灭性武器就会使用到战争中来,那么整 个国家的人,乃至整个大陆的人都可能被杀光。原子弹爆炸了,已经证明它的威力 可以将整座城市炸得粉碎。也许,如果战争不断继续下去,整个世界都将没有人幸 存下来,那将是人类历史的终结。

也许战争可以被阻止。世界各地有许多人都在不断努力,希望从此不再有战争 的威胁。预防战争是不容易的,但是如果联合国可以起到消防署那样的作用,在战 火还没猛烈燃烧起来时,就扑灭它,那么这个世界就可以过上几年太平日子。新的 发明将用于和平建设而不是用于战争破坏。

人类的发明似乎已经比魔法还要有魔力了。飞机、直升机和宇宙飞船取代了神 话中的飞毯,而且也比飞毯要好多了,因为飞机是真实存在的,而魔毯只在人类的 想象中飞行。无论你的想象力有多么天马行空,凡是你能想象出来的东西有可能在 将来的某一天被发明出来--只要可以防止战争。你可以想象有个发明能防止所有 的战争,而且你能非常确信有一天它会派上用场--只要在这之前另一场战争还没 有把一切都毁掉。

发明和发现不完全相同。如果有个事物始终存在但是人们对它并不了解,有人 知道了它的存在,那么这就成了发现,而不是发明。

发现和发明!在过去的一百年中,发现和发明同样重要,也似乎有同样的魔力。 当然不再有新大陆等待人们去发现了,但是令人惊讶的新发现还是一直层出不穷。

有些最重要的发现是有关疾病和如何预防疾病的。这些发现都有很长的英文名 字。比如:

接种疫苗!过去天花到处流行。它是一种致命的疾病。自从有人发现通过接 种疫苗预防天花的方法以后,无数人的生命被挽救了,其人数可抵战争夺去生命的 人数。

巴斯德氏消毒法!你知道那是什么吗?那是一种杀死致命细菌的方法,这个方 法是一个法国人发现的,所以以他的名字命名。你能猜出他的名字。对,他的名字 就是巴斯德。

预防注射!你知道那是什么吗?医生曾经给你注射过破伤风预防针或者伤寒预 防针吗?

麻醉剂!你知道那是什么吗?如果你动手术,麻醉剂可以让你沉睡。你想想看, 麻醉药的发现可以让人避免经受多么大的痛苦。

青霉素!你知道那是什么吗?青霉素的及时发现挽救了第二次世界大战中许多 伤员的生命。

我希望我还可以给你讲一讲一些发明,比如电子眼、雷达和喷气推进器。我希 望我可以介绍一些著名科学家,比如查尔斯 施泰因梅茨和阿尔伯特 爱因斯坦。我 希望我可以把所有的发明和发现都介绍一遍--从真空吸尘器到回旋加速器,从空 调到电子显微镜,从发电机到激光、类星体和人的心脏移植。还有血浆--一位美 国黑人,查尔斯 德鲁,研究出在血库里储存血浆的方法,这样血浆也可以用来救助 受伤的战士。你看,科学家也能像和士兵一样成为战斗英雄!我希望我可以告诉你 有关他们的一切,但是我不能!这本书已没有地方再写这些人的故事和许多其他神 奇的事物了;况且,我也跟不上现在科学发展的形式,因为新发现和新发明层出不 穷--"每小时都有新货"。

这本世界历史的故事到这里就要结束了,但这只是暂时的,因为历史是持续不 断的故事,它继续向前,向前……甚至在你读这一行字的时候,科学家们正致力于 新发明和新发现,这些新的科学成果也许会写进未来的历史书中。

如果你像未来某个男孩和女孩那样生活在公元 10000 年,那么当你读到我们现 在的历史,你的历史故事书才刚开始。甚至连第二次世界大战在那时看来也是久远 以前的事,就像石器时代人们的争斗在我们看来是久远以前的事一样。也许那时你 对我们和我们所有奇妙的发明的想法,就同我们现在对以前铜和青铜的发现的想法 一样。

也许那时人们不再使用火车、轮船、汽车,甚至飞机,而是只要心里动一下念 头就可以从一个地方到另一个地方,就像坐在魔毯上。也许那时他们不再使用信件、 电话、收音机、电视,甚至电脑,而是直接看出彼此的心思,无论彼此相距多远。

也许到那时人们知道了怎样建造不会污染空气和水的工厂,和怎样合理使用地 球上的资源,这样我们就不会把资源耗尽了。也许那时人们已经学会了分享,这样 全世界的每一个人都有足够的食物吃,有舒适的地方住。也许,最好的事情就是: 人们到那时知道如何不用发动战争就能解决问题。

照这样类推下去--世界永不止息--阿门!