---
url: https://gaojian.site/new-concept/book-4/45-of-men-and-galaxies.md
description: 新概念英语第四册：Of Men and Galaxies。精读、词块回忆、双向译练、句法、逻辑与FSRS复习。
---

# 45 · 人和星系

### 第1段

In man's early days, competition with other creatures must have been critical. But this phase of our development is now finished. Indeed, we lack practice and experience nowadays in dealing with primitive conditions. I am sure that, without modern weapons, I would make a very poor show of disputing the ownership of a cave with a bear, and in this I do not think that I stand alone. The last creature to compete with man was the mosquito. But even the mosquito has been subdued by attention to drainage and by chemical sprays.
Competition between ourselves, person against person, community against community, still persists, however; and it is as fierce as it ever was.
But the competition of man against man is not the simple process envisioned in biology. It is not a simple competition for a fixed amount of food determined by the physical environment, because the environment that determines our evolution is no longer essentially physical. Our environment is chiefly conditioned by the things we believe. Morocco and California are bits of the Earth in very similar latitudes, both on the west coasts of continents with similar climates, and probably with rather similar natural resources. Yet their present development is wholly different, not so much because of different people even, but because of the different thoughts that exist in the minds of their inhabitants. This is the point I wish to emphasize. The most important factor in our environment is the state of our own minds.
It is well known that where the white man has invaded a primitive culture, the most destructive effects have come not from physical weapons but from ideas. Ideas are dangerous. The Holy Office knew this full well when it caused heretics to be burned in days gone by. Indeed, the concept of free speech only exists in our modern society because when you are inside a community, you are conditioned by the conventions of the community to such a degree that it is very difficult to conceive of anything really destructive. It is only someone looking on from outside that can inject the dangerous thoughts. I do not doubt that it would be possible to inject ideas into the modern world that would utterly destroy us. I would like to give you an example, but fortunately I cannot do so. Perhaps it will suffice to mention the unclear bomb. Imagine the effect on a reasonably advanced technological society, one that still does not possess the bomb, of making it aware of the possibility, of supplying sufficient details to enable the thing to be constructed. Twenty or thirty pages of information handed to any of the major world powers around the year 1925 would have been sufficient to change the course of world history. It is a strange thought, but I believe a correct one, that twenty or thirty pages of ideas and information would be capable of turning the present-day world upside down, or even destroying it. I have often tried to conceive of what those pages might contain, but of course I cannot do so because I am a prisoner of the present-day world, just as all of you are. We cannot think outside the particular patterns that our brains are conditioned to, or, to be more accurate, we can think only a very little way outside, and then only if we are very original. It is this pattern in which we are all conditioned that constitutes the most essential feature of our environment.

中文理解：在人类早期，与其他生物的竞争想必关系重大。不过，我们发展的这一阶段如今已经结束。事实上，现代人已缺少应付原始环境的实践和经验。我敢肯定，若没有现代武器，让我去和熊争一个洞穴，我一定会表现得很狼狈；而且我想，有这种处境的绝不只我一个。最后一种还在与人竞争的生物是蚊子。但就连蚊子，也已通过改善排水和喷洒化学药剂得到制服。
然而，人类内部的竞争仍在继续：个人与个人竞争，群体与群体竞争，激烈程度丝毫不减当年。
不过，人与人之间的竞争，并不是生物学所设想的那种简单过程。它不只是争夺自然环境所能提供的有限食物，因为决定人类演变的环境，已不再主要是自然环境。我们的环境，主要受我们所相信的观念影响。摩洛哥和加利福尼亚位于地球上纬度十分接近的地方，都在大陆西岸，气候相似，自然资源大概也颇为相近。然而，两地如今的发展却截然不同。与其说是居民本身不同，不如说是他们头脑中的思想不同。这正是我要强调的：我们所处的环境中，最重要的因素是自己的思想状态。
众所周知，白人侵入某种原始文化时，造成最大破坏的往往不是物质武器，而是思想。思想是危险的。从前宗教裁判所把异端烧死时，对这一点就十分清楚。事实上，现代社会之所以能容许言论自由这个观念存在，是因为一个人身在某个群体中，会深受其惯例约束，很难设想出真正具有破坏性的东西。只有从外部观察的人，才可能注入危险的思想。我毫不怀疑，有些思想一旦进入现代世界，就可能把我们彻底毁掉。我很想举个例子，但幸好我举不出来。也许提一下核弹就足够了。设想一个技术相当先进、却还没有核弹的社会：如果让它知道核弹有可能制造出来，再给它足够详细的资料，使它能够造出核弹，那会产生怎样的影响？在1925年前后，只要把二三十页资料交给世界上任何一个主要强国，就足以改变世界历史的进程。二三十页思想和信息，竟能让当今世界天翻地覆，甚至将其毁灭——这个想法很奇怪，但我相信它是对的。我常常试着设想，那几页上究竟会写些什么；当然，我想不出来，因为我和你们一样，都被当今世界束缚着。我们无法跳出大脑已经适应的特定模式去思考；更准确地说，只有极富独创性的人，才能稍稍越出这些模式。正是这种我们共同受到制约的思维模式，构成了我们环境中最根本的特征。

* **must have been**：过去想必是；根据作者对早期生存环境的判断推测过去，不是要求当时必须如此。

* **make a very poor show**：表现得很糟；文中用自嘲削弱人对原始生存能力的自信。

* **disputing the ownership**：争夺所有权；ownership是归属，不能只看成争论一个意见。

* **stand alone**：独自；没有同类；本句是自认并非唯一这样的人。

* **subdued by**：被制服；undefined

* **as fierce as**：和……一样激烈；比较的是激烈程度，不是竞争对象完全一样。

* **a fixed amount**：固定数量；undefined

* **no longer**：不再；保留从过去到现在的变化，不等于从来没有。

* **chiefly conditioned by**：主要受……影响；描述条件塑造，不等于证明唯一原因。

* **not so much because**：与其说是因为；是在分配解释重点，不一定完全否认第一因。

* **the state of our own minds**：自己的思想状态；undefined

* **physical weapons**：物质武器；undefined

* **full well**：十分清楚地；强化明知，常带评论语气。

* **free speech**：言论自由；undefined

* **to such a degree**：达到如此程度；that后说明程度带来的后果。

* **conceive of**：设想；of后接名词性内容，不是conceive to do。

* **inject ideas into**：向……注入思想；可比喻带来思想或活力，须说清对象。

* **it will suffice**：这就足够；较正式地表示足以说明，不是提供完整证明。

* **aware of**：意识到；of引出意识到的内容，不加that作直接替代。

* **sufficient details**：足够的细节；undefined

* **change the course**：改变进程；course在此是进程，不是教学课程。

* **upside down**：天翻地覆地；既可说实际倒置，也可比喻彻底改变秩序。

* **a prisoner of**：受……束缚的人；可比喻受成见束缚，不是实际囚犯身份。

* **to be more accurate**：更准确地说；主动收窄前面过强概括，不是另起话题。

* **the most essential feature**：最根本的特征；undefined

#### In man's early days, competition with other creatures must have been critical.

简单句，主系表结构.

#### But this phase of our development is now finished.

简单句，主系表结构. finished 为形容词，结束了的.

此句是跟着上一句来的，行文上有些省略，以免啰嗦，这里不是说人类的发展阶段结束了，而是指上一句，跟其它物种的竞争不再那么重要了，下一句也是接着说我们缺乏相关的竞争经验，已经无法匹敌. 该句其实可以看作 but competition (with other creatures) \[in this phase] (of our development) is finished.

#### Indeed, we lack practice and experience nowadays in dealing with primitive conditions.

简单句，主谓宾结构.

#### I am sure that, without modern weapons, I would make a very poor show of disputing the ownership of a cave with a bear, and in this I do not think that I stand alone.

复合句，主句主系表+that 引导的宾语从句结构. that 后面全句均为 sure 的宾语， 该宾语从句为并列结构，以 and 连接，两句均为主谓宾结构. 该宾语从句的后句中又有一个 that 引导的宾语从句作 think 的宾语，为主谓结构.

状语 in this 的 this 即指代在没有现代武器的帮助下，与熊争夺洞穴的所有权.

#### The last creature to compete with man was the mosquito.

简单句，主系表结构. 前文表达了现如今，与其它物种的竞争不再重要了，主要是有了现代武器，这些动物都无法给人类构成威胁，但是蚊子还能不时地叮咬人类.

#### But even the mosquito has been subdued by attention to drainage and by chemical sprays.

简单句，主谓结构. 这句进一步讲解了哪怕是蚊子，人类也有各种办法予以制服.

#### Competition between ourselves, person against person, community against community, still persists, however; and it is as fierce as it ever was.

复合句，and 连接前后两句，第一句主谓结构，中间有一个比较长的同位语；第二句为主系表结构，含有一个 as…as 结构的比较状语从句，该从句亦为主系表结构，属于同级比较的情况.

#### But the competition of man against man is not the simple process envisioned in biology.

简单句，主系表结构，后面是动词的过去分词短语作后置定语修饰 process.

#### It is not a simple competition for a fixed amount of food determined by the physical environment, because the environment that determines our evolution is no longer essentially physical.

is physical…

复合句，主句为主系表结构，competition 由两组定语修饰，后面是 because 引导的原因状语从句，该从句为主系表结构，在原因状语从句中，含有一个 that…evolution 的定语从句，修饰 environment，为主谓宾结构. 这句话直译是“…本质上已不是物质的了”，实际上就是在说，这个决定着人类进化的环境，已不在于物质层面的不同，而在于思想状态的不同了，下文所举的例子也是地理环境类似而发展迥异.

#### Our environment is chiefly conditioned by the things we believe.

复合句，主句为主谓结构，后面有一个 we believe 的定语从句修饰 things，该定语从句为主谓结构. 此句进一步说明，我们的进化环境不在于物质层面了.

#### Morocco and California are bits of the Earth in very similar latitudes, both on the west coasts of continents with similar climates, and probably with rather similar natural resources.

简单句，主系表结构，后面几个定语，加上 with 引导的伴随状语. Morocco 北非国家摩洛哥，而 Monaco 是欧洲国家摩纳哥.

#### Yet their present development is wholly different, not so much because of different people even, but because of the different thoughts that exist in the minds of their inhabitants.

复合句，主句主系表结构，跟了程度状语、原因状语、让步状语，然后是 but 后面有一个 that…inhabitants 的定语从句，修饰 thoughts. 定语从句为主谓结构.

#### This is the point I wish to emphasize.

复合句，主句主系表结构，后面是省略了 that 的定语从句，从句为主谓结构.

#### The most important factor in our environment is the state of our own minds.

简单句，主系表结构.

#### It is well known that where the white man has invaded a primitive culture, the most destructive effects have come not from physical weapons but from ideas.

复合句，主句为主系表结构，it 为形式主语，that 引导的从句是真正的主语.

主语从句中，含有一个 where 引导的地点状语从句，为主谓宾结构，主句为主谓宾结构，第二个宾语 ideas 前面的 from 有省略，完整是 have come from ideas，所以单独的 from 在这里也作谓语.

#### Ideas are dangerous.

简单句，主系表结构.

#### The Holy Office knew this full well when it caused heretics to be burned in days gone by.

复合句，主句为主谓宾结构，后面 when 引导的时间状语从句为主谓宾+宾补结构，其中 this 和 it 均指上句的 ideas. full well 的 full 是副词，修饰 well，相当于 very.

#### Indeed, the concept of free speech only exists in our modern society because when you are inside a community, you are conditioned by the conventions of the community to such a degree that it is very difficult to conceive of anything really destructive.

复合句，主句为主谓结构，后面跟一个 because 引导的原因状语从句一直到句末.

在原因状语从句中，先是有一个 when 引导的时间状语从句，为主系表结构；原因状语从句中的主句为主谓结构 you are conditioned，后面接了方式状语 by the conventions…community.

最后是 such…that 结构的结果状语从句，该从句为主系表结构，it 为形式主语，动词不定式短语 to conceive…destructive 为真正的主语.

#### It is only someone looking on from outside that can inject the dangerous thoughts.

强调句，主谓宾结构.

#### I do not doubt that it would be possible to inject ideas into the modern world that would utterly destroy us.

复合句，主句主谓+宾语从句结构，宾语从句为主系表结构，宾语从句一直到句末，该从句中，to inject…world 为真正的主语，后面又有一个 that 引导的定语从句修饰 world，该定语从句为主谓宾结构.

#### I would like to give you an example, but fortunately I cannot do so.

并列句，以 but 相连，前句为主谓+双宾语结构，后句为主谓宾结构.

#### Perhaps it will suffice to mention the unclear bomb.

简单句，主谓结构，不定式短语为真正的主语，这句话接着前文举例：提到核弹，就足以说明思想和信息可能带来的巨大影响。它不是说“仅提及核弹这个词就会造成毁灭”。

#### Imagine the effect on a reasonably advanced technological society, one that still does not possess the bomb, of making it aware of the possibility, of supplying sufficient details to enable the thing to be constructed.

复合句，主句主谓结构，其中 one 为 society 的同位语，由一个 that 引导的定语从句修饰，该定语从句为主谓宾结构. 后面 of making…possibility 和 of supplying…constructed 两个定语均修饰 effect. 其中 it 指 society.

#### Twenty or thirty pages of information handed to any of the major world powers around the year 1925 would have been sufficient to change the course of world history.

简单句，主谓宾结构.

#### It is a strange thought, but I believe a correct one, that twenty or thirty pages of ideas and information would be capable of turning the present-day world upside down, or even destroying it.

复合句，主句为主系表的并列结构，第二个表语 one 省略了主系成分，而 I believe 为插入语，可以删去而不影响句意.

that 引导的同位语从句为主谓宾+宾补结构.

#### I have often tried to conceive of what those pages might contain, but of course I cannot do so because I am a prisoner of the present-day world, just as all of you are.

all of you are.

复合句，主句为主谓宾结构，其中不定式 to conceive 作为宾语，还包含一个 what 引导的从句作介词 of 的宾语，该宾语从句为主谓结构.

but 连接后句，为主谓宾结构，包含一个 because 引导的原因状语从句，该从句为主系表结构，该从句中还包括一个 as 引导的方式状语从句，为主谓结构.

#### We cannot think outside the particular patterns that our brains are conditioned to, or, to be more accurate, we can think only a very little way outside, and then only if we are very original.

复合句，本句以 or 分为两句，前句为主谓宾结构，其中 outside 为介词作方式状语，后跟一个 that 引导的定语从句修饰 patterns，该定语从句为主谓宾结构.

后句为主谓宾结构， outside 在这里也是介词作方式状语，if 引导的条件状语从句为主系表结构.

#### It is this pattern in which we are all conditioned that constitutes the most essential feature of our environment.

复合句，也是 it is that 强调句，主谓宾结构. in which 引导的定语从句修饰 pattern，为主谓结构.

本句是我多加的，教材中没有编入. 缺少了这句，本段所表达的观点还不完整，不利于理解. 本段相当于做了一个思想实验，但核心论点其实是想表达，我们受限于特定的思维模式，而特定的思维模式是我们所处社会的本质特征.

## 学完这一课

给一条关于过去的强推断，并说明凭什么推断。

[Nce · 本册复习台](/new-concept/book-4/review) · [三册选择地图](/new-concept/)

*译文依据整理稿，由本站按中文表达重新校订；解析据吴应时整理资料及首轮审校稿；词伙与练习提示为本站学习设计。原PDF第205—211页，2022年2月第2版。*