新概念英语第四册课文翻译及学习笔记：Lesson45

【课⽂】

First listen and then answer the following question.

听录⾳，然后回答以下问题。

What is the most influential factor in any human society?

In man's early days. competition with other creatures must have been critical. But this phase of our development is nowfinished. Indeed, we lack practice and experience nowadays in dealing with primitive conditions. I am sure that, without

modern weapons, I would make a very poor show of disputing the ownership of a cave with a bear, and in this I do not think

that I stand alone. The last creature to compete with man was the mosquito. But even the mosquito has been subdued by

attention to drainage and by chemical sprays.

Competition between our selves, person against person, community against community, still persists, however; and it isas fierce as it ever was.

But the competition of man against man is not the simple process envisioned in biology. It is not a simple competition fora fixed amount of food determined by the physical environment, because the environment that determines our evolution is no

longer essentially physical. Our environment is chiefly conditoned by the things we believe. Morocco and California are bits

of the Earth in very similar latitudes, both on the west coasts of continents with similar climates, and probably with rather

similar natural resources. Yet their present development is wholly different, not so much because of different people even, but

because of the different thoughts that exist in the minds of their inhabitants. This is the point I wish to emphasize. The most

important factor in our environment is the state of our own minds.

It is well known that where the white man has invaded a primitive culture, the most destructive effects have come notfrom physical weapons but from ideas. Ideas are dangerous. The Holy Office knew this full well when it caused heretics to be

burned in days gone by. Indeed, the concept of free speech only exists in our modern society because when you are inside a

community, you are conditioned by the conventions of the community to such a degree that it is very difficult to conceive of

anything really destructive. It is only someone looking on from outside that can inject the dangerous thoughts. I do not doubt

that it would be possible to inject ideas into the modern world that would utterly destroy us. I would like to give you an

example, but fortunately I cannot do so. Perhaps it will suffice to mention the nuclear bomb. Imagine the effect on a

reasonably advanced technological society, one that still does not possess the bomb, of making it aware of the possibility, of

supplying sufficient details to enable the thing to be constructed. Twenty or thirty pages of information handed to any of the

major world powers around the year 1925 would have been sufficient to change the course of world history. It is a strange

thought, but I believe a correct one, that twenty or thirty pages of ideas and information would be capable of turning the

present-day world upside down, or even destroying it. I have often tried to conceive of what those pages might contain, but of

course I cannot do so because I am a prisoner of the present-day world, just as all of you are. We cannot think outside the

particular patterns that our brains are conditioned to, or, to be more accurate, we can think only a very little way outside, and

then only if we are very original.

FRED HOYLE Of Men and Galaxies

【New words and expressions ⽣词和短语】

dispute v. 争夺

mosquito n. 蚊⼦

subdue v. 征服

drainage n. 下⽔系统

envision n. 预想

Morocco n. 摩洛哥

latitude n. 纬度

heretic n. 异教徒，异端邪说

conceive v. 想像

suffice v. ⾜够

nuclear adj. 原⼦弹的

original adj.有独到见解的

【课⽂注释】

1.make a very poor show 出丑

2.dispute

v.

① 争论

例句：The couple disputed where to spend the holiday.

夫妻俩为上哪⼉度假⽽发⽣争论。

②争议

例句：Now there was just one point on the boundary left to dispute.

边界上有⼀点引起争议。

The land near the border is disputed ground.

靠近边界的⼟地是有争议的地区。

③质疑

例句：The family wanted to dispute the will. 家属想对遗嘱提出质疑。

n. 争论，争端，争吵

【词义辨析】

argue, quarrel, debate, dispute, discuss, reason这些动词均含“辩论，争论，说理”之意。

argue: 指提出理由或证据为⾃⼰或⾃⼰⼀⽅的看法或⽴场辩护，着重说理、论证和企图说服。

quarrel: 指两⼈之间或两个团体之间不友好的、吵吵嚷嚷地⼤声争论某事，尤指“吵嘴、吵架”。

debate: 侧重指意见等对⽴的双⽅之间正式或公开的争辩。

dispute: 侧重对分歧进⾏激烈或热烈的争论或争辩，带⼀定感情⾊彩，常隐含“各持已见”或“争论不休”意味。

discuss: 最常⽤词，指就某⼀或某些问题表明观点、看法等，以便统⼀认识，解决问题。

reason: 指据理⼒争以说服对⽅或求得对问题作更深⼊的研究。

controversy, argument, conflict, debate, dispute, quarrel, strife这组名词均有“争执、不和”之意。

controversy: 侧重指深刻的意见分歧，多指对引起⼴泛兴趣或⾮常重要的问题的辨论。

argument: 指辩论双⽅均以事实或理由来说服对⽅的辨论。

conflict: 指双⽅坚持已见、互不妥协，怀有敌意的争论，多暗⽰分歧极为严重，有时⽤语⾔⽆法解决，只得诉诸武⼒。

debate: 通常指经过仔细组织和计划的个⼈或团体之间的辩论。

dispute: 普通⽤词，侧重指长时间，⾔词激烈，针锋相对的争辩。

quarrel: 普通⽤词，既可指⾔词激烈的争吵，也可指温和的⾔词上的不和。