Lesson44 Can War Be Abolished?
Is it possible to persuade mankind to live without war? War is an ancientinstitution which has existed for at least six thousand years. It was alwayswicked and usually foolish, but in the past the human race managed to livewith it. Modern ingenuity has changed this. Either Man will abolish war, orwar will abolish Man. For the present, it is nuclear weapons that cause thegravest 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 inabolishing war. To do this, we need to persuade mankind to look uponinternational questions in a new way, not as contests of force, in which thevictory goes to the side which is most skilful in massacre, but byarbitration in accordance with agreed principles of law. It is not easy tochange age-old mental habits, but this is what must be attempted.
There are those who say that the adoption of this or that ideology wouldprevent war. I believe this to be a profound error. All ideologies are basedupon dogmatic assertions which are, at best, doubtful, and at worst, totallyfalse. Their adherents believe in them so fanatically that they are willingto go to war in support of them.
ingenuity 机灵；独创性
bacteriological 细菌的
massacre 屠杀
arbitration 仲裁
ideology 意识形态
dogmatic 教条的；独断的
assertion 主张；断言
adherent 信徒；追随者
fanatically 狂热地
战争能被废除吗？
有没有可能说服人类放弃战争而生存？战争是一种古老的制度，至少已经存在了六千年。战争总是邪恶的，且通常是荒谬的，但在过去人类还是努力地与之共存。现代人的智慧已经改变了这一切。要么人类废除战争，要么战争毁掉人类。现在引发极度危险的是核武器，但不久后生物或化学武器会带来更严重的威胁。如果成功销毁核武器，我们的工作还未完成。直到我们成功地废除了战争，这一任务才算完成。为了废除战争，我们需要说服人类用新的方式看待国际问题，不是将其视为武力的竞赛，赢家是最擅长屠杀的一方，而是依照大家约定的法则来仲裁解决。改变古老的思维习惯不易，但这是必须要尝试的。
有些人认为采用这种或那种意识形态会防止战争的发生。我认为这是个严重的错误。所有的意识形态都是以武断的主张为基础的，往好里说，这些意识形态令人生疑，往坏里说，是完全错误的。追随者对其如此狂热的信奉，以至于为了支持它们而愿意去发动战争。 |