TED十佳演讲之面对灾难:如何在核袭击中生存(2)

 　　Chapter one is 1949 to 1991, when the Soviet¹ Union broke up, 第一个时期从1949年到1991年苏联解体

　　and what we were dealing² with, at that point and through those years, was a superpowers' nuclear arms race. 我们要关注的是在这些年间有一场超级大国之间的核军备竞赛

　　It was characterized by a nation-versus-nation, very fragile standoff. 这场核军备竞赛最主要的特点就是，国家之间的对立导致核战争一触即发

　　And basically, we lived for all those years, and some might argue that we still do, 基本上可以毫不夸张地说，我们那些年，有些人认为直至今日情况仍然是

　　in a situation of being on the brink³, literally⁴, of an apocalyptic⁵, planetary calamity⁶. 就像走在世界末日的悬崖边，

　　It's incredible that we actually lived through all that.  我们能活到现在简直是难以置信

　　We were totally dependent during those years on this amazing acronym⁷, which is MAD. 这些年我们（之所以能活下来）完全是依赖于这个神奇的叫做MAD的东西

　　It stands for mutually assured destruction.  它是“确保相互毁灭”的缩写

　　So it meant if you attacked us, we would attack you virtually simultaneously⁸, 它的意思是，如果...如果你袭击我，我也会袭击你，双方几乎同时发动袭击

　　and the end result would be a destruction of your country and mine. 这样做的结果就是你我两国同时被摧毁

　　So the threat of my own destruction kept me from launching a nuclear attack on you. That's the way we lived. 因此由于担心我自己被毁灭，我不会发射（核武器）来对你进行核打击。这就是我们为什么能活下来

　　And the danger of that, of course, is that a misreading of a radar⁹ screen could actually cause a counter-launch, 不过这么做的危险就是，雷达的一次误报就可能引发一次反击

　　even though the first country had not actually launched anything.  即使另一个国家事实上根本没有发射任何东西

　　During this chapter one,  在这个时期

　　there was a high level of public awareness¹⁰ about the potential of nuclear catastrophe¹¹, 民众很清楚地意识到确实可能发生潜在的核灾难

　　and an indelible image was implanted in our collective minds  一个难以抹掉的画面出现在每个人的脑海中

　　that, in fact, a nuclear holocaust¹² would be absolutely globally destructive 那就是一次核灾难将带来全球性的毁灭

　　and could, in some ways, mean the end of civilization as we know it.  而且，从某个角度来说，这也意味着人类文明将走到尽头

　　So this was chapter one.  这就是第一个时期

　　Now the odd thing is that even though we knew that there would be that kind of civilization obliteration¹³, 不过奇怪的是，即使我们知道可能会发生这种文明灭绝

　　we engaged in America in a series -- and in fact, in the Soviet Union -- in a series of response planning. 我们美国人正忙于一系列--事实上苏联也一样--一系列应对措施

　　It was absolutely incredible.  这简直让人难以置信

　　So premise¹⁴ one is we'd be destroying the world, and then premise two is, why don't we get prepared for it? 一方面是我们随时都可能毁灭世界，另一方面我们却在考虑如何为此做好准备？

　　So what we offered ourselves was a collection of things. 所以，我们提出了一堆方案。

　　I'm just going to go skim through a few things, just to jog your memories. 我将只回顾其中的几个，只是为了唤起你们的回忆

　　If you're born after 1950, this is just -- consider this entertainment, otherwise it's memory lane. 如果你是1950年之后出生的，你可以把这些当作娱乐，或者是怀旧

1 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

2 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

3 brink   

n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿

参考例句：

• The tree grew on the brink of the cliff.那棵树生长在峭壁的边缘。
• The two countries were poised on the brink of war.这两个国家处于交战的边缘。

4 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

5 apocalyptic   

adj.预示灾祸的，启示的

参考例句：

• The air is chill and stagnant,the language apocalyptic.空气寒冷而污浊，语言则是《启示录》式的。
• Parts of the ocean there look just absolutely apocalyptic.海洋的很多区域看上去完全像是世界末日。

6 calamity   

n.灾害，祸患，不幸事件

参考例句：

• Even a greater natural calamity cannot daunt us. 再大的自然灾害也压不垮我们。
• The attack on Pearl Harbor was a crushing calamity.偷袭珍珠港(对美军来说)是一场毁灭性的灾难。

7 acronym   

n.首字母简略词，简称

参考例句：

• That's a mouthful of an acronym for a very simple technology.对于一项非常简单的技术来说，这是一个很绕口的缩写词。
• TSDF is an acronym for Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facilities.TSDF是处理，储存和处置设施的一个缩写。

8 simultaneously   

adv.同时发生地，同时进行地

参考例句：

• The radar beam can track a number of targets almost simultaneously.雷达波几乎可以同时追着多个目标。
• The Windows allow a computer user to execute multiple programs simultaneously.Windows允许计算机用户同时运行多个程序。

9 radar   

n.雷达，无线电探测器

参考例句：

• They are following the flight of an aircraft by radar.他们正在用雷达追踪一架飞机的飞行。
• Enemy ships were detected on the radar.敌舰的影像已显现在雷达上。

10 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

11 catastrophe   

n.大灾难，大祸

参考例句：

• I owe it to you that I survived the catastrophe.亏得你我才大难不死。
• This is a catastrophe beyond human control.这是一场人类无法控制的灾难。

12 holocaust   

n.大破坏；大屠杀

参考例句：

• The Auschwitz concentration camp always remind the world of the holocaust.奥辛威茨集中营总是让世人想起大屠杀。
• Ahmadinejad is denying the holocaust because he's as brutal as Hitler was.内贾德否认大屠杀，因为他像希特勒一样残忍。

13 obliteration   

n.涂去，删除；管腔闭合

参考例句：

• The policy is obliteration, openly acknowledged. 政策是彻底毁灭，公开承认的政策。 来自演讲部分
• "Obliteration is not a justifiable act of war" “彻底消灭并不是有理的战争行为” 来自演讲部分

14 premise   

n.前提；v.提论，预述

参考例句：

• Let me premise my argument with a bit of history.让我引述一些史实作为我立论的前提。
• We can deduce a conclusion from the premise.我们可以从这个前提推出结论。