評論
打印
Lesson 44 Can War Be Abolished?
第44課戰爭能被廢除嗎？
Is it possible to persuade mankind to live without war? War is an ancient institution which has existed for at least six thousand years. It was always wicked and usually foolish, but in the past the human race managed to live with it.
有沒有可能說服人類放棄戰爭而生存？戰爭是一種古老的制度，至少已經存在了六千年。戰爭總是邪惡的，且通常是荒謬的，但在過去人類還是努力地與之共存。
Modern ingenuity has changed this. Either Man will abolish war, or war will abolish Man. For the present, it is nuclear weapons that cause the gravest danger, but bacteriological or chemical weapons may, before long, offer an even greater threat. If we succeed in abolishing nuclear weapons, our work will not be done. It will never be done until we have succeeded in abolishing war.
現代人的智慧已經改變了這一切。要么人類廢除戰爭，要么戰爭毀掉人類。現在引發極度危險的是核武器，但不久后生物或化學武器會帶來更嚴重的威脅。如果成功銷毀核武器，我們的工作還未完成。直到我們成功地廢除了戰爭，這一任務才算完成。
To do this, we need to persuade mankind to look upon international questions in a new way, not as contests of force, in which the victory goes to the side which is most skilful in massacre, but by arbitration in accordance with agreed principles of law. It is not easy to change age-old mental habits, but this is what must be attempted.
為了廢除戰爭，我們需要說服人類用新的方式看待國際問題，不是將其視為武力的競賽，贏家是最擅長屠殺的一方，而是依照大家約定的法則來仲裁解決。改變古老的思維習慣不易，但這是必須要嘗試的。
There are those who say that the adoption of this or that ideology would prevent war. I believe this to be a profound error. All ideologies are based upon dogmatic assertions which are, at best, doubtful, and at worst, totally false. Their adherents believe in them so fanatically that they are willing to go to war in support of them.
有些人認為采用這種或那種意識形態會防止戰爭的發生。我認為這是個嚴重的錯誤。所有的意識形態都是以武斷的主張為基礎的，往好里說，這些意識形態令人生疑，往壞里說，是完全錯誤的。追隨者對其如此狂熱的信奉，以至于為了支持它們而愿意去發動戰爭。
ingenuity
機靈；獨創性
bacteriological
細菌的
massacre
屠殺
arbitration
仲裁
ideology
意識形態
dogmatic
教條的；獨斷的
assertion
主張；斷言
adherent
信徒；追隨者
fanatically
狂熱地
