TED演讲:哪个国家对世界最有益(2)

 　　So in a nutshell, that's the challenge that we all face today at this interesting point in history. 所以简单来说，这就是我们所有人今天面临的挑战，在这个有意思的历史时期。

　　That's clearly what we've got to do next. 这很明显是我们接下来要做的。

　　We've somehow got to get our act together and we've got to figure out how to globalize the solutions better 我们要设法共同行动起来，我们要想办法如何更好的解决全球化的问题，

　　so that we don't simply become a species¹ which is the victim of the globalization of problems. 以至于我们不会沦为全球化问题中受害的一个种群。

　　Why are we so slow at achieving these advances? What's the reason for it? 为什么我们取得进展的速度如此缓慢？原因是什么？

　　Well, there are, of course, a number of reasons, but perhaps the primary reason is 当然，这有许多原因，但也许最首要的原因是，

　　because we're still organized as a species in the same way that we were organized 200 or 300 years ago. 我们这个物种的机构组成与200或300年前的还是一样。

　　There's one superpower left on the planet² and that is the seven billion people, 目前世界上只有一个超能力那就是这7亿人口，

　　the seven billion of us who cause all these problems, the same seven billion, by the way, who will resolve³ them all. 我们这7亿人，造成了所有这些问题，但同样的7亿人，也要解决这些问题。

　　But how are those seven billion organized? 但这7亿人是怎么组织起来的呢？

　　They're still organized in 200 or so nation-states, 他们还是由200多个国家或者多民族国家组成，

　　and the nations have governments that make rules and cause us to behave in certain ways. 国家都有政府颁布法律，并要求我们遵守一定的准则。

　　And that's a pretty efficient system, but the problem is that the way that those laws are made 这是一个相当有效的体制，但问题是这些法律的形成，

　　and the way those governments think is absolutely wrong for the solution of global problems, because it all looks inwards.  以及政府思考问题的方式，在解决全球问题上是完全错误的，因为它只看到国内。

　　The politicians that we elect and the politicians we don't elect, on the whole, have minds that microscope. 我们选举出来的政治家还有我们没选的政治家，总体来说，他们的思维方式都是显微镜式的。

　　They don't have minds that telescope. They look in. 他们没有望远镜式的思维。他们只看国内。

　　They pretend, they behave, as if they believed that every country was an island 当他们行作起来的时候，就假装他们在相信好像每个国家都是一座岛屿，

　　that existed quite happily, independently of all the others on its own little planet in its own little solar system. 独立而快乐地存在于自己的小星球，于他国不无相干，而是在自己的太阳系里。

　　This is the problem: countries competing against each other, countries fighting against each other. 这就是问题所在：国家间互相竞争，国家间互相征战。

　　This week, as any week you care to look at, 这周，或任何一周，如果你认真看的话，

　　you'll find people actually trying to kill each other from country to country, 你会发现一个国家和另一个国家的人民在互相残杀，

　　but even when that's not going on, there's competition between countries, each one trying to shaft⁴ the next. 就算没有战争，国家之间也在互相竞争，每个国家都试图把别国挤下去。

1 species   

n.物种，种群

参考例句：

• Are we the only thinking species in the whole of creation?我们是万物中惟一有思想的物种吗？
• This species of bird now exists only in Africa.这种鸟现在只存在于非洲。

2 planet   

n.行星

参考例句：

• Neptune is the furthest planet from the sun. 海王星是离太阳最远的行星。
• Rubbish, however, is only part of the problem of polluting our planet. 然而, 垃圾只是我们这个星球的污染问题的一个方面。

3 resolve   

vt.解决，解除；决定，决心

参考例句：

• It's up to him to resolve this problem.这个问题应由他来解决。
• This did not shake his resolve.这事并未动摇他的决心。

4 shaft   

n.(工具的)柄，杆状物

参考例句：

• He was wounded by a shaft.他被箭击中受伤。
• This is the shaft of a steam engine.这是一个蒸汽机主轴。