評論
打印
Would you choose to live underground if you could gain many advantages from doing so? Weather would no longer trouble you. Temperature would remain the same all the year round. Artificial lighting could make the rhythm of our life uniform the whole world over. And the ecology of the natural world above ground would be greatly improved. While the prospect of moving underground may not be appealing to many people, Isaac Asimov is an enthusiast.
如果你能從中獲得很多好處，你會選擇住在地下嗎？天氣再也不會帶來麻煩。全年恒溫。人造光源使全世界的生活節奏保持一致。地面上自然世界的生態將大幅改善。雖然移居地下的前景對很多人來說并不具吸引力，艾薩克·阿西摩夫卻對此十分熱衷。
The New Caves
新洞穴
Isaac Asimov
艾薩克·阿西摩夫
During the ice ages, human beings exposed to the colder temperatures of the time would often make their homes in caves. There they found greater comfort and security than they would have in the open.
在冰河時代，人類當時面臨較為寒冷的氣溫，常常在洞穴里安家。他們發現在洞里生活要比在野外更舒適，更安全。
We still live in caves called houses, again for comfort and security. Virtually no one would willingly sleep on the ground under the stars. Is it possible that someday we may seek to add further to our comfort and security by building our houses underground - in new, manmade caves?
我們現今仍然住在被稱作房子的洞穴里，目的還是為了舒適和安全。事實上，沒有人愿意露宿在星空下的野地里。會不會有朝一日為了更加舒適和安全起見，我們把房屋建造在地下-建造在新的人造洞穴里呢？
It may not seem a palatable suggestion, at first though. We have so many evil associations with the underground. In our myths and legends, the underground is the realm of evil spirits and of the dead, and is often the location of an afterlife of torment. (This may be because dead bodies are buried underground, and because volcanic eruptions make the underground appear to be a hellish place of fire and noxious gases.)
乍一想來，這一建議似乎并不可取。說起地下，我們會產生許許多多不愉快的聯想。在神話和傳說里，地下是魔鬼和亡靈的世界，它常常是人們死后遭受折磨的地方。（這可能因為尸體總是埋在地下的緣故，而火山爆發又給人們一種印象，似乎地下充滿著火與毒氣，如同地獄一般。）
Yet there are advantages to underground life, too, and something to be said for imagining whole cities, even mankind generally, moving downward; of having the outermost mile of the Earth's crust honeycombed with passages and structures, like a gigantic ant hill.
然而生活在地下也有其有利之處，設想將整座城市，乃至全人類搬入地下是有一定的道理的。如果將地殼最表層一英里厚的地方筑滿通道和建筑物，就像一個巨大的蟻冢，這會給人類帶來各種好處。
