英国理论物理学家和宇宙学家斯蒂芬·霍金称，科技的进步正为人类创造“新的歧途”。

　　The University of Cambridge professor points to nuclear war, global warming and genetically-engineered viruses as increasingly significant threats humankind will face in the future.

　　霍金指出，核战争、全球变暖、基因改造的病毒将会成为人类在未来面临的艰巨挑战。

　　"Although the chance of a disaster to planet Earth in a given year may be quite low, it adds up over time, and becomes a near certainty in the next thousand or ten thousand years," he told the BBC.

　　他告诉BBC的记者：“尽管在给定的年份里，地球发生灾难的几率非常之低。但是随着世界累积，在过千年或万年之后危机就会成为确定的事情。”

　　Fortunately, the future doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom.

　　幸运的是，未来并非完全凄惨无望。

　　"By that time we should have spread out into space, and to other stars, so a disaster on Earth would not mean the end of the human race," he said.

　　他说：“到那时我们应该已经走向宇宙，迁往其他星球。这样地球上的灾难就不会导致人类灭绝。”

　　Hawking says that we will not establish colonies away from Earth for at least the next 100 years, making this period especially critical, according to The Guardian.

　　根据《卫报》，霍金称，至少在未来100年人类还无法在地球以外建立殖民地，而这段时间就至关重要。

　　"We are not going to stop making progress, or reverse it, so we have to recognize the dangers and control them," Hawking added. "I’m an optimist, and I believe we can."

　　霍金补充道：“我们不会停止进步或者是倒退，所以我们必须意识到存在的危险并控制它们。”

　　Hawking made his comments in advance of this year’s Reith Lectures at the BBC, which he will deliver on Jan. 26 and Feb. 2. Those talks will focus on black holes.

　　霍金在今年的瑞思讲座前做出此番评论。他在1月26日和2月2日将出席瑞思讲座，谈话内容主要关于黑洞。

　　Last February, Hawking cautioned against the threat of aggression, stating that: “It may have had survival advantage in caveman days, to get more food, territory or a partner with whom to reproduce, but now it threatens to destroy us all.” Hawking is also one of 1,000 individuals to recently sign an open letterwarning against the danger of building autonomous weapons.

　　去年二月，霍金就警告过侵略背后的威胁：“在石器时代，侵略也许能带来生存优势，帮助人们获得更多食物、领土或者是共同繁衍后代的伴侣。但是现在它有摧毁我们的威胁。”霍金也是签署警告建造自主武器危险性的公开信的1000人之一。