TED演讲:科学解释之新探(2)

 　　That all that, discovered in 40 years,  这40年中的所有发现

　　had not been in the previous hundred thousand,  是数千年来所未有的

　　was not for lack of thinking about stars, and all those other urgent problems they had. 而这可不能归结为古人思维懒惰，对星星啊，还有那些迫切的问题不闻不问

　　They even arrived at answers, such as myths, 他们不光思考了，还给出了答案，比如说神话

　　that dominated their lives,  可虽说神话统治了古人的生活，包罗万象

　　yet bore almost no resemblance to the truth. 却与真正的现实几乎搭不上边

　　The tragedy of that protracted¹ stagnation² isn't sufficiently³ recognized, I think. 这种长期认知停滞所造成的悲哀，我觉得，并没有被古人足够重视

　　These were people with brains of essentially⁴ the same design 古人们的大脑和我们的这些发现了种种新知识的大脑

　　that eventually did discover all those things.  实质上没有分别

　　But that ability to make progress remained almost unused, 但是其中那个用来产生进步的潜力始终几乎没有被利用

　　until the event that revolutionized the human condition and changed the universe. 直到有一件事彻底更新了人们的生活状态，改天换地

　　Or so we should hope.  至少我们希望情况是这样的

　　Because that event was the Scientific Revolution, 这个大事件就是科学革命

　　ever since which our knowledge of the physical world, 从那以后我们对于物质世界的认知

　　and of how to adapt it to our wishes, has been growing relentlessly⁵. 和对如何根据我们的意愿改造它的了解，就一个劲地增长着

　　Now, what had changed?  现在想想，到底是发生了什么变化呢？

　　What were people now doing for the first time that made that difference 当时人们究竟初次尝试了什么

　　between stagnation and rapid, open-ended discovery?  就打破了僵局，开始了快速而无休无止的发现之旅？

　　How to make that difference is surely the most important universal truth that it is possible to know. 这一僵局的打破肯定是一个极为重要的广泛真理，而我们是可以了解它的

　　Worryingly, there is no consensus⁶ about what it is.  让人担忧的是，对它究竟是怎么做到的人们众说纷纭

　　So, I'll tell you.  我这就来说说我的解释

　　But I'll have to backtrack a little first.  但先得稍稍回顾一下

　　Before the Scientific Revolution,  在科学革命发生之前

　　they believed that everything important, knowable, was already known, 古人相信一切重要而可知的事物都已经被了解了

　　enshrined in ancient writings, institutions,  这些知识被高高供起在古籍里，经院中

　　and in some genuinely useful rules of thumb 还在日常生活的惯用窍门中被深信不疑

　　which were, however, entrenched⁷ as dogmas, along with many falsehoods. 而这些窍门，和许多谬论一同都成了根深蒂固的教条

　　So they believed that knowledge came from authorities that actually knew very little. 那时人们相信知识来自权威，这些权威其实知道的不多

　　And therefore progress  所以知识的进步

　　depended on learning how to reject the authority of learned men, priests, traditions and rulers. 取决于学会如何摈弃学究，教士，传统习惯和统治者们的权威

　　Which is why the Scientific Revolution had to have a wider context. 这就是为什么科学革命必须有一个大背景

　　The Enlightenment, a revolution in how people sought knowledge, trying not to rely on authority. 那就是启蒙运动对于求知方法的一场革命，试着摆脱对权威的依赖

　　"Take no one's word for it." “切勿轻信人言”

　　But that can't be what made the difference.  可这还不够

　　Authorities had been rejected before, many times.  历史上摈弃权威的例子比比皆是

　　And that rarely, if ever, caused anything like the Scientific Revolution. 而这些事件的结果却很难，或根本不能，与科学革命同日而语

1 protracted   

adj.拖延的；延长的v.拖延“protract”的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The war was protracted for four years. 战争拖延了四年。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• We won victory through protracted struggle. 经过长期的斗争，我们取得了胜利。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 stagnation   

n. 停滞

参考例句：

• Poor economic policies led to a long period of stagnation and decline. 糟糕的经济政策道致了长时间的经济萧条和下滑。
• Motion is absolute while stagnation is relative. 运动是绝对的，而静止是相对的。

3 sufficiently   

adv.足够地，充分地

参考例句：

• It turned out he had not insured the house sufficiently.原来他没有给房屋投足保险。
• The new policy was sufficiently elastic to accommodate both views.新政策充分灵活地适用两种观点。

4 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

5 relentlessly   

adv.不屈不挠地；残酷地；不间断

参考例句：

• The African sun beat relentlessly down on his aching head. 非洲的太阳无情地照射在他那发痛的头上。
• He pursued her relentlessly, refusing to take 'no' for an answer. 他锲而不舍地追求她，拒不接受“不”的回答。

6 consensus   

n.(意见等的)一致，一致同意，共识

参考例句：

• Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗？
• What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么？

7 entrenched   

adj.确立的，不容易改的(风俗习惯)

参考例句：

• Television seems to be firmly entrenched as the number one medium for national advertising.电视看来要在全国广告媒介中牢固地占据头等位置。
• If the enemy dares to attack us in these entrenched positions,we will make short work of them.如果敌人胆敢进攻我们固守的阵地，我们就消灭他们。