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This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Steve Mirsky. Got a minute?

"Believe it or not, violence has been in decline for long stretches of time. And today we are probably living in the most peaceful time in our species' existence." Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker at the ScienceWriters2011 conference in Flagstaff on October 17th. His new book is The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined.

"The decline of violence has not been steady. It has not brought violence down to zero. And it is not guaranteed to continue. But...it is a persistent¹ historical development, visible on scales from millennia² to years, from the waging of wars and genocides to the spanking³ of children and the treatment of animals."

One example is homicide rates. "It turns out that homicide records go back in Europe in many places for centuries...a medieval Englishman was at least 35 times more likely to be murdered than his modern counterpart. This is true not just in England, but in every European country for which statistics have been gathered."

Thanks for the minute. For Scientific American's 60-Second Science, I'm Steve Mirsky.

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1 persistent
adj.坚持不懈的，执意的；持续的
参考例句：
Albert had a persistent headache that lasted for three days.艾伯特连续头痛了三天。 She felt embarrassed by his persistent attentions.他不时地向她大献殷勤，使她很难为情。

2 millennia
n.一千年，千禧年
参考例句：
For two millennia, exogamy was a major transgression for Jews. 两千年来，异族通婚一直是犹太人的一大禁忌。 In the course of millennia, the dinosaurs died out. 在几千年的时间里，恐龙逐渐死绝了。

3 spanking
adj.强烈的，疾行的；n.打屁股
参考例句：
The boat is spanking along on the river.船在小河疾驶。 He heard a horse approaching at a spanking trot.他听到一匹马正在疾步驰近。