名校励志英语演讲 35:如何解决这个世界上最严重的不平等?

 　　Thirty years after Marshall made his address, which was thirty years ago, as my class graduated without me, technology was emerging that would make the world smaller, more open, more visible, less distant.

　　马歇尔发表这个演讲三十年后，也就是三十年前，我那一届学生毕业，当然我不在其中。那时，新技术刚刚开始萌芽，它们将使得这个世界变得更小、更开放、更容易看到、距离更近。

　　The emergence¹ of low-cost personal computers gave rise to a powerful network that has transformed opportunities for learning and communicating.

　　低成本的个人电脑的出现，使得一个强大的互联网诞生，它为学习和交流提供了巨大的机会。

　　The magical thing about this network is not just that it collapses³ distance and makes everyone your neighbor. It also dramatically increases the number of brilliant minds we can bring in and work together on the same problem—and that scales up the rate of innovation to a staggering degree.

　　网络的神奇之处，不仅仅是它缩短了物理距离，使得天涯若比邻。它还极大地增加了怀有共同想法的人们聚集在一起的机会，我们可以为了解决同一个问题，一起共同工作。这就大大加快了革新的进程，发展速度简直让人震惊。

　　At the same time, for every person in the world who has access to this technology, five people don't. That means many creative minds are left out of this discussion—smart people with practical intelligence and relevant experience who don't have the technology to hone their talents or contribute their ideas to the world.

　　与此同时，世界上有条件上网的人只是全部人口的六分之一。这意味着，许多有创造性思想的人们，没有加入到我们的讨论中来。那些有着实际的智力水平和相关经验的人才，却没有技术来帮助他们，将他们的天赋或者想法与全世界分享。

　　We need as many people as possible to gain access to this technology, because these advances are triggering a revolution in what human beings can do for one another. They are making it possible not just for national governments, but for universities, corporations, smaller organizations, and even individuals to see problems, see approaches, and measure the impact of their efforts to address the hunger, poverty, and desperation George Marshall spoke⁴ of 60 years ago.

　　我们需要尽可能地让更多的人有机会使用这项技术，因为这些新技术正在引发一场革命，人类将因此可以互相帮助。这些新技术正在创造一种可能，不仅是国家政府，还包括大学、公司、小机构、甚至个人，能够发现问题所在、能够找到解决办法、能够评估他们努力的效果，去改变马歇尔六十年前就说过的问题——饥饿、贫穷和绝望。

　　give rise to

　　使发生，引起

　　eg. The jump in food price give rise to a lot of complaint.

　　食品价格的猛涨引起了许多不满。

　　collapse²

　　vt. 瓦解

　　eg. Despite their efforts the project collapsed⁵.

　　虽然经过他们努力，这个规划还是失败了。

　　staggering

　　adj. 令人震惊的

　　eg. The variety of goods that the peddlers sold was staggering.

　　小商贩们卖的商品种类繁多。

　　hone

　　vt. 锤炼，使精通

　　eg. He runs every day to hone his stamina⁶.

　　为了增强耐力，他每天都进行跑步锻炼。

　　trigger

　　vt. 引发

　　eg. The earthquake may trigger landslides⁷ or similar local surficial movements.

　　地震会引起滑坡或类似的局部地表运动。

　　desperation

　　n. 失望，绝望

　　eg. The prisoner clawed at the cell door in desperation.

　　囚犯绝望地乱抓牢房的门。

1 emergence   

n.浮现，显现，出现，（植物）突出体

参考例句：

• The last decade saw the emergence of a dynamic economy.最近10年见证了经济增长的姿态。
• Language emerges and develops with the emergence and development of society.语言是随着社会的产生而产生，随着社会的发展而发展的。

2 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

3 collapses   

折叠( collapse的第三人称单数 )； 倒塌； 崩溃； （尤指工作劳累后）坐下

参考例句：

• This bridge table collapses. 这张桥牌桌子能折叠。
• Once Russia collapses, the last chance to stop Hitler will be gone. 一旦俄国垮台，抑止希特勒的最后机会就没有了。

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

6 stamina   

n.体力；精力；耐力

参考例句：

• I lacked the stamina to run the whole length of the race.我没有跑完全程的耐力。
• Giving up smoking had a magical effect on his stamina.戒烟神奇地增强了他的体力。

7 landslides   

山崩( landslide的名词复数 )； （山坡、悬崖等的）崩塌； 滑坡； （竞选中）一方选票占压倒性多数

参考例句：

• Landslides have cut off many villages in remote areas. 滑坡使边远地区的许多村庄与外界隔绝。
• The storm caused landslides and flooding in Savona. 风暴致使萨沃纳发生塌方和洪灾。