英语专业晨读美文-文化篇 1 Western Civilization I

[00:02.33]Western Civilization Faces a Stark¹ Choice Ⅰ
[00:10.63]In 1900, most westerners were confident and optimistic,
[00:16.18]full of pride about their civilization.
[00:18.48]Since then, the west has made enormous strides in economic,
[00:22.86]scientific, military, political and social terms.
[00:27.21]Yet the earlier confidence has gone.
[00:30.64]We stopped believing in the ideas
[00:33.18]that drove earlier generations to improve the world.
[00:35.71]Six main ideas made the west, century after century,
[00:39.62]progressively successful, powerful,
[00:42.62]and attractive—Christianity, optimism, science,
[00:46.88]economic growth, individualism and liberalism.
[00:51.31]Are these ideas past their sell-by date?
[00:54.29]Optimism
[00:55.83]The importance of optimism in driving success—
[00:58.52]of individuals, of whole civilizations—
[01:01.16]has been greatly overlooked.
[01:03.63]Optimism comes from three Greek and Christian² “myths”—
[01:07.13]the myth of autonomy, the myth of progress
[01:10.64]and the myth of human goodness.
[01:12.71]Creation is ultimately good.
[01:15.37]So, too, are people—God's creation.
[01:17.78]We have stopped believing people are good.
[01:20.42]After 1760, our stories began to feature bad heroes—
[01:25.34]egotistical people, amoral or immoral³.
[01:29.49]The last century confirmed a dim view of human nature—
[01:33.08]Freud's ideas, Hitler, two world wars,
[01:37.23]horrific and hateful societies.
[01:39.79]A diminished view of people facilitated these horrors.
[01:43.47]Optimism and pessimism⁴, however, are fancies, not facts.
[01:48.01]Only if we recover belief in human goodness
[01:51.06]can we resume building a better world.
[01:53.05]Christianity
[01:54.90]Western secular⁵ values, above all the gods of consumption,
[01:59.16]have trumped⁶ Christian ones. Doubt is rampant⁷.
[02:02.51]And Christians⁸ today are deeply divided.
[02:04.97]Yet perhaps we need not worry. Christianity transformed the west.
[02:09.78]It was the world's first individualized, activist⁹,
[02:13.42]self-help movement. Ordinary people were encouraged to clean up
[02:17.92]their act and given God's help to do so.
[02:20.11]Everyone had a “soul”; individual human dignity
[02:24.21]and responsibility were greatly enhanced.
[02:26.65]Today many of us do not believe in the soul or Christ.
[02:30.13]In a way, however, we all still believe the Christian message.
[02:34.35]We believe we have a self, just like we have arms and legs.
[02:39.07]With the idea of the soul safely transmuted¹⁰ in the idea of the self,
[02:44.29]Christianity has permanently¹¹ changed the west.
[02:47.50]The modern self-help movement best exemplifies
[02:50.68]the central Christian innovation-personal responsibility.
[02:54.83]Christianity's crisis does not threaten the west.
[02:57.94]But the attacks on the other five ideas do.
[03:01.05]Science
[03:02.76]Science is preeminently western.
[03:05.47]It arose through belief in a perfect, rational Creator,
[03:09.32]and in our ability to figure out
[03:11.64]the perfect universe that God created.
[03:13.67]Since 1900, we have lost our faith in science.
[03:17.37]Superstition and mumbo-jumbo abound¹².
[03:20.25]Science seems to have become weird¹³.
[03:22.91]It portrays¹⁴ a baffling and inscrutable universe,
[03:26.32]ruled by mystery, uncertainty¹⁵, random¹⁶ chance.
[03:30.13]Also, the dark side of science has emerged:
[03:33.79]monstrous weapons, poisoning the planet.
[03:36.29]Yet science is still fundamentally benign¹⁷ and rational.
[03:40.15]The micro-world might be weird.
[03:42.32]But scientists still follow the scientific method-
[03:45.19]reason and investigation¹⁸.
[03:47.26]The challenge to understanding is greater,
[03:50.07]but logic¹⁹ and research still hold the key.
[03:52.45]We cannot give up our trust in rationality and sciences,
[03:56.19]for the best forms of civilization depend utterly²⁰ upon them.

1 stark   

adj.荒凉的；严酷的；完全的；adv.完全地

参考例句：

• The young man is faced with a stark choice.这位年轻人面临严峻的抉择。
• He gave a stark denial to the rumor.他对谣言加以完全的否认。

2 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

3 immoral   

adj.不道德的，淫荡的，荒淫的，有伤风化的

参考例句：

• She was questioned about his immoral conduct toward her.她被询问过有关他对她的不道德行为的情况。
• It is my belief that nuclear weapons are immoral.我相信使核武器是不邪恶的。

4 pessimism   

n.悲观者，悲观主义者，厌世者

参考例句：

• He displayed his usual pessimism.他流露出惯有的悲观。
• There is the note of pessimism in his writings.他的著作带有悲观色彩。

5 secular   

n.牧师，凡人；adj.世俗的，现世的，不朽的

参考例句：

• We live in an increasingly secular society.我们生活在一个日益非宗教的社会。
• Britain is a plural society in which the secular predominates.英国是个世俗主导的多元社会。

6 trumped   

v.（牌戏）出王牌赢（一牌或一墩）( trump的过去分词 )；吹号公告，吹号庆祝；吹喇叭；捏造

参考例句：

• That woman trumped up various baseless charges against him. 那个女人捏造种种毫无根据的罪名指控他。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Several of his colleagues trumped up a complaint to get him removed from the job. 他的几位同事诬告他，使他丟掉了工作。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 rampant   

adj.(植物)蔓生的；狂暴的，无约束的

参考例句：

• Sickness was rampant in the area.该地区疾病蔓延。
• You cannot allow children to rampant through the museum.你不能任由小孩子在博物馆里乱跑。

8 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

9 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

10 transmuted   

v.使变形，使变质，把…变成…( transmute的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• It was once thought that lead could be transmuted into gold. 有人曾经认为铅可以变成黄金。
• They transmuted the raw materials into finished products. 他们把原料变为成品。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

11 permanently   

adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地

参考例句：

• The accident left him permanently scarred.那次事故给他留下了永久的伤疤。
• The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London.该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。

12 abound   

vi.大量存在；(in，with)充满，富于

参考例句：

• Oranges abound here all the year round.这里一年到头都有很多橙子。
• But problems abound in the management of State-owned companies.但是在国有企业的管理中仍然存在不少问题。

13 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

14 portrays   

v.画像( portray的第三人称单数 )；描述；描绘；描画

参考例句：

• The museum collection vividly portrays the heritage of 200 years of canals. 博物馆的藏品让运河200 年的历史再现眼前。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The film portrays Gandhi as a kind of superman. 这部电影把甘地描绘成一个超人。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

16 random   

adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动

参考例句：

• The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。

17 benign   

adj.善良的，慈祥的；良性的，无危险的

参考例句：

• The benign weather brought North America a bumper crop.温和的气候给北美带来大丰收。
• Martha is a benign old lady.玛莎是个仁慈的老妇人。

18 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

19 logic   

n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性

参考例句：

• What sort of logic is that?这是什么逻辑？
• I don't follow the logic of your argument.我不明白你的论点逻辑性何在。

20 utterly   

adv.完全地，绝对地

参考例句：

• Utterly devoted to the people,he gave his life in saving his patients.他忠于人民，把毕生精力用于挽救患者的生命。
• I was utterly ravished by the way she smiled.她的微笑使我完全陶醉了。