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It is an impressive list—even if you factor in some formidably depressing data...
這是一份令人印象深刻的清單——即便你把一些極其令人沮喪的數據考慮在內……
The trouble is that a belief in progress is more than a branch of accounting.
問題在于，對進步的判斷比會計學的一門分支要復雜得多。
The books are never closed.
這本賬冊永不結算。
Wouldn't nuclear war or environmental catastrophe tip the balance into the red? And the accounts are full of blank columns.
一場核戰爭或環境災難不就會使其陷入赤字的境地么？而且這本賬冊里滿是空白的項目。
How does the unknown bookkeeper reconcile such unknowable quantities as happiness and fulfillment across the ages?
那位未知的會計師怎樣才能核算賬冊里橫亙古今的諸如幸福和成就這類無法計量的東西呢？
Even if you show how miserable the past was, the belief in progress is about the future.
即使你能表明過去有多么悲慘，對進步的評判關注的是未來。
People born in the rich world today think they are due a modicum of health, prosperity and equality.
當今出生在富裕國家里的人們認為他們理應得到一定的健康、繁榮和平等。
They advance against that standard, rather than the pestilence, beggary and injustice of serfdom.
他們按照這個標準發展，而不是將對抗瘟疫、貧困和農奴制的不公定為發展的方向。
That's progress.
這就是進步。
The idea of progress has a long history, but it started to flower in the 17th century.
進步這個概念存在已久，但直到17世紀它才開始成熟起來。
Enlightenment thinkers believed that man emancipated by reason would rise to ever greater heights of achievement.
啟蒙思想家們相信，被理性所解放的人能創造空前的成就。
The many manifestations of his humanity would be the engines of progress:
而人類的很多特征將成為人類進步的動力：
language, community, science, commerce, moral sensibility and government.
語言、社會群體、科學、商業、道德觀念和政府。
Unfortunately, many of those engines have failed.
可惜的是，在這些動力中，許多已經失效了。
