TED演讲:如何用创新来克服危机?(1)

The first half of the 20th century was an absolute disaster in human affairs, a cataclysm¹.

20世纪的上半叶是人类历史上一个彻底失败的阶段，那是一场浩劫。

We had the First World War, the Great Depression, the Second World War and the rise of the communist nations.

我们经历了第一次世界大战，大萧条，第二次世界大战，以及共产主义国家的兴起。

And each one of these forces split the world, tore the world apart, divided the world.

这其中的每一个势力都將世界隔离开来，分化世界，分裂世界。

And they threw up walls, political walls, trade walls, transportation walls, communication walls, iron curtains which divided peoples and nations.

这些势力制造了很多壁垒，政治壁垒，贸易壁垒，运输壁垒，通信壁垒，以及种种阻碍交流的无形屏障，它们分裂了人民，也分裂了国家。

It was only in the second half of the 20th century that we slowly began to pull ourselves out of this abyss.

直到二十世纪下半叶，我们才慢慢开始从这个深渊里爬出来。

Trade walls began to come tumbling down. Here are some data on tariffs²: starting at 40 percent, coming down to less than 5 percent.

贸易壁垒开始轰然倒塌。这里是一些关税数据：从开始的百分之四十，一直降到百分之五以下。

We globalized the world. And what does that mean? It means that we extended cooperation across national boundaries; we made the world more cooperative.

我们实现了全球化。这意味着什么呢？这意味着人类的合作已经跨越国界。我们使世界变得更合作。

Transportation walls came tumbling down. You know in 1950 the typical ship carried 5,000 to 10,000 tons worth of goods.

运输壁垒也倒塌了。1950年，一艘典型的货船可装载五千至一万吨货物。

Today a container ship can carry 150,000 tons; it can be manned with a smaller crew; and unloaded faster than ever before.

今天，一艘集装箱船的载重量达到十五万吨。运作它需要的船员队伍比之前还小，而且卸载也比以往更快。

1 cataclysm   

n.洪水，剧变，大灾难

参考例句：

• The extinct volcano's eruption would mean a cataclysm for the city.死火山又重新喷发，对这座城市来说意味着大难临头。
• The cataclysm flooded the entire valley.洪水淹没了整个山谷。

2 tariffs   

关税制度； 关税( tariff的名词复数 )； 关税表； （旅馆或饭店等的）收费表； 量刑标准

参考例句：

• British industry was sheltered from foreign competition by protective tariffs. 保护性关税使英国工业免受国际竞争影响。
• The new tariffs have put a stranglehold on trade. 新的关税制对开展贸易极为不利。