# 第四册 Lesson 45 Of men and galaxies 人和星系

## 一、课文原文

In man's early days, competition with other creatures must have been critical. But this phase of our development is now finished. 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 ourselves, person against person, community against community, still persists, however; and it is as 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 for a 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 conditioned 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 not from 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*

## 二、重点词汇详解

| 单词 | 音标 | 词性 | 释义 | 用法说明 |
|------|------|------|------|----------|
| subdue | /səbˈdjuː/ | v. | 征服，制服 | subdued by 被……征服 |
| drainage | /ˈdreɪnɪdʒ/ | n. | 排水系统 | attention to drainage 注意排水 |
| envision | /ɪnˈvɪʒn/ | v. | 想象，预见 | envisioned in biology 生物学中所设想的 |
| condition | /kənˈdɪʃn/ | v. | 制约，决定 | conditioned by 被……制约 |
| latitude | /ˈlætɪtjuːd/ | n. | 纬度 | similar latitudes 相似纬度 |
| destructive | /dɪˈstrʌktɪv/ | adj. | 破坏性的 | destructive effects 破坏性影响 |
| heretic | /ˈherətɪk/ | n. | 异教徒，异端者 | burned as heretics 作为异端被烧死 |
| inject | /ɪnˈdʒekt/ | v. | 注入，注射 | inject ideas 注入思想 |
| suffice | /səˈfaɪs/ | v. | 足够 | suffice to mention 提到……就足够了 |
| conceive | /kənˈsiːv/ | v. | 想象，构思 | conceive of 想象 |
| original | /əˈrɪdʒənl/ | adj. | 有创见的，独创的 | very original 很有创见 |

**固定搭配：**
- **make a poor show of**：表现很差
- **stand alone**：孤立无援
- **not so much because of...but because of**：与其说是因为……不如说是因为
- **to be more accurate**：更准确地说

## 三、语法知识点

### 1. 虚拟语气

> I am sure that, **without modern weapons**, I **would make** a very poor show of disputing the ownership of a cave with a bear

- without = if I had not，隐含虚拟条件
- would make 与现在事实相反

### 2. not...but... 对比结构

> the most destructive effects have come **not from** physical weapons **but from** ideas

- 不是……而是……
- 强调"思想"比"武器"更具破坏力

### 3. to such a degree that 结果状语

> you are conditioned by the conventions of the community **to such a degree that** it is very difficult to conceive of anything really destructive

- to such a degree that = 如此……以至于

### 4. It is...that... 强调句

> **It is only someone looking on from outside that** can inject the dangerous thoughts

强调主语 someone looking on from outside。

## 四、重点句型分析

### 句型1：对比论证（Morocco vs California）

> Morocco and California are bits of the Earth in very similar latitudes...Yet their present development is **wholly different**, **not so much because of different people**, **but because of the different thoughts** that exist in the minds of their inhabitants

- 物质条件相似→发展截然不同
- 原因：思想不同
- 核心论点：环境主要由思想决定

### 句型2：虚拟推论

> 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**

- 虚拟推测：如果1925年给某大国20-30页核弹资料
- would have been 与过去事实相反

### 句型3：自我限制

> 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**

- 我们受思维模式束缚
- 退一步承认：极少数有创见的人能稍微突破

## 五、课文翻译

在人类早期，与其他生物的竞争一定是非常关键的。但我们发展的这个阶段已经结束了。确实，我们今天缺乏处理原始条件的实践和经验。我确信，如果没有现代武器，我在和一头熊争夺洞穴所有权时一定会表现很差，而且我认为并不只有我一个人这样。最后一个与人类竞争的生物是蚊子。但即使是蚊子也已被排水系统的改善和化学喷雾所制服。

然而，我们自己之间的竞争——个人对个人、社区对社区——仍然存在；而且和以前一样激烈。

但人与人的竞争不是生物学中所设想的简单过程。它不是对由物理环境决定的固定数量食物的简单竞争，因为决定我们进化的环境不再是本质上物理的。我们的环境主要由我们信仰的东西所制约。摩洛哥和加利福尼亚是地球上纬度非常相似的两个地方，都在大陆西海岸，气候相似，自然资源可能也相当相似。然而它们目前的发展完全不同，甚至不太是因为不同的人，而是因为它们居民头脑中存在不同的思想。这是我想强调的要点。我们环境中最重要的因素是我们自己心灵的状态。

众所周知，在白人入侵原始文化的地方，最具破坏性的影响不是来自物理武器，而是来自思想。思想是危险的。宗教裁判所当年烧死异端时就深知这一点。确实，言论自由的概念只存在于我们现代社会中，因为当你处在一个社区内部时，你被社区的惯例制约到如此程度，以至于很难想象出真正具有破坏性的东西。只有从外部旁观的人才能注入危险的思想。我不怀疑，把能够彻底毁灭我们的思想注入现代世界是可能的。我想给你们一个例子，但幸运的是我做不到。也许提到核弹就足够了。想象一下，对一个相当先进的技术社会——一个还没有核弹的社会——让它意识到这种可能性，向它提供足够的细节使其能够制造出来，这会产生什么效果。在1925年前后，把20或30页信息交给任何一个世界大国，就足以改变世界历史的进程。这是一个奇怪的想法，但我相信是正确的：20或30页的思想和信息就能把当今世界搅得天翻地覆，甚至毁灭它。我经常试图想象那些页面可能包含什么内容，但我当然做不到，因为我是当今世界的囚徒，就像你们所有人一样。我们无法在我们大脑被制约的特定模式之外思考，或者更准确地说，我们只能在模式之外思考很小一段距离，而且只有在我们非常有创见的时候。

## 六、语言点精讲

### 1. 写作手法：层层递进

- 人与动物的竞争→人与人之间的竞争→思想的竞争
- 从具体到抽象，从物理到精神

### 2. 逻辑结构

| 段落 | 主题 | 论证方式 |
|------|------|----------|
| 第一段 | 人与动物的竞争已结束 | 自嘲+事实 |
| 第二段 | 人与人竞争仍然激烈 | 过渡 |
| 第三段 | 思想决定环境 | Morocco vs California 对比 |
| 第四段 | 思想的危险性 | 核弹推论 |

### 3. 文化背景

- Fred Hoyle（1915-2001）：英国天文学家，稳态宇宙论提出者
- "The Holy Office"即宗教裁判所（Inquisition）
- 核弹原理在1925年尚未被发现，但在1945年已变为现实

### 4. 修辞分析

- "make a very poor show"——自嘲
- "prisoner of the present-day world"——隐喻
- "twenty or thirty pages"——具体数字增强说服力

## 七、课后练习要点

1. **词汇练习**：掌握 subdue、envision、condition、heretic、conceive 等核心词
2. **语法练习**：虚拟语气；not...but... 对比结构；强调句
3. **翻译练习**：注意 not so much...but... 的翻译；虚拟推论的处理
4. **写作练习**：模仿对比论证法，讨论物质环境与思想的关系

## 八、本课小结

本课论述思想对人类社会的决定性作用。核心观点：**决定人类环境的最重要因素不是物质条件，而是人们头脑中的思想**。作者通过摩洛哥与加利福尼亚的对比论证，并用核弹推论说明思想的危险性。最后指出人类受思维模式束缚，难以跳出框框思考。语法重点为虚拟语气和 not...but... 对比结构。