評論
打印
Can you prove that the earth is round? Go ahead and try! Will you rely on your senses orwill you have to draw on the opinions of experts?
你能證明地球是圓的嗎？來試試看吧！你將依靠你自己的智力還是不得不引用專家的觀點呢？
Why Do We Believe That the Earth Is Round?
我們為什么相信地球是圓的？
George Orwell
喬治·奧韋爾
Somewhere or other - I think it is in the preface to Saint Joan - Bernard Shaw remarks that we are more gullible and superstitious today than we were in the Middle Ages, and as an example of modern credulity he cites the widespread belief that the earth is round. The average man, says Shaw, can advance not a single reason for thinking that the earth is round. He merely swallows this theory because there is something about it that appeals to the twentieth-century mentality.
記得在什么地方-我想是在《圣女貞德》序言中-蕭伯納評論說，今天我們比在中世紀時更加輕信，更加迷信。而作為現代輕信的例證，他舉出地圓說這一廣為傳播的信念。肖伯納說，普通人舉不出一條理由來說明為什么相信地球是圓的。他全盤接受這一理論，只是因為這一理論中有一種迎合20世紀心態的東西。
Now, Shaw is exaggerating, but there is something in what he says, and the question is worth following up, for the sake of the light it throws on modern knowledge. Just why do we believe that the earth is round? I am not speaking of the few thousand astronomers, geographers and so forth who could give ocular proof, or have a theoretical knowledge of the proof, but of the ordinary newspaper-reading citizen, such as you or me.
當然，蕭伯納是夸大其詞了，但他說的也確實有些道理，這一問題值得進一步探討，因為它會幫助人們看清現代知識的真實情況。我們究竟為什么會相信地球是圓的呢？我說的不是數千位天文學家、地理學家之類的人，他們可以用觀察到的事實或用理論上的根據來證實這一點，我指的是如同你我之輩的報紙的普通讀者。
As for the Flat Earth theory, I believe I could refute it. If you stand by the seashore on a clear day, you can see the masts and funnels of invisible ships passing along the horizon. This phenomenon can only be explained by assuming that the earth's surface is curved.But it does not follow that the earth is spherical. Imagine another theory called the Oval Earth theory, which claims that the earth is shaped like an egg. What can I say against it?
至于"地平說"，我相信我能夠加以駁斥。如果你在天氣晴朗的日子站立海邊，你可以看到船桅和煙囪沿著地平線移動而不見船體本身。只有假設地球表面呈曲線狀，這一現象才能得到解釋。但不能由此推斷地球是球形的。設想另一個稱做"地球卵形說"的理論吧，這一學說聲稱地球形如蛋狀。對此，我能說什么加以反駁呢？
