晨读英语美文100篇 Passage 7. Knowledge and Progress
 音频下载[点击右键另存为][00:00.42]Passage 7. Knowledge and Progress[00:03.71]Why does the idea of progress loom so large in the modern world? [00:09.18]Surely because progress of a particular kind is actually taking place around us [00:14.76]and is becoming more and more manifest. [00:17.49]Although mankind has undergone no general improvement in intelligence or morality, [00:23.40]it has made extraordinary progress in the accumulation of knowledge. [00:28.11]Knowledge began to increase as soon as the thoughts of one individual [00:34.23]could be communicated to another by means of speech. [00:37.85]With the invention of writing， a great advance was made, [00:41.89]for knowledge could then be not only communicated but also stored. [00:47.15]Libraries made education possible, and education in its turn added to libraries: [00:54.36]the growth of knowledge followed a kind of compound interest law, [00:58.09]which was greatly enhanced by the invention of printing. [01:01.37]All this was comparatively slow until, with the coming of science, [01:06.40]the tempo was suddenly raised. [01:08.26]Then knowledge began to be accumulated according to a systematic plan. [01:13.29]The trickle became a stream; [01:16.14]the stream has now become a torrent. [01:18.33]Moreover, as soon as new knowledge is acquired, it is now turned to practical account. [01:24.89]What is called “modern civilization” is not the result of a balanced development of all man's nature, [01:31.78]but of accumulated knowledge applied to practical life. [01:35.72]The problem now facing humanity is: [01:39.00]What is going to be done with all this knowledge? [01:41.85]As is so often pointed out, knowledge is a two-edged weapon [01:46.77]which can be used equally for good or evil. [01:50.05]It is now being used indifferently for both. [01:53.23]Could any spectacle, for instance, be more grimly weird [01:56.95]than that of gunners using science to shatter men's bodies while, close at hand, [02:01.87]surgeons use it to restore them? [02:03.95]We have to ask ourselves very seriously what will happen if this twofold use of knowledge, [02:10.29]with its ever-increasing power, continues. |
