英语听力文摘 English Digest 513、科幻小说之父

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　　科学英雄：儒勒 凡尔纳

 

　　儒勒?凡尔纳（Jules Verne，1828年2月8日－1905年3月24日），法国小说家、博物学家，现代科幻小说的重要开创者之一。他一生写了六十多部大大小小的科幻小说，总题为《在已知和未知的世界漫游》。他以其大量著作和突出贡献，被誉为“科幻小说之父”。由于凡尔纳知识非常丰富，他小说作品的著述、描写多有科学根据，所以当时他小说的幻想，如今成为了有趣的预言。

 

　　That’s right the time for the Science Hero Award, where we honor a particular man or woman from history who made a contribution to science. Today’s Science Hero, though, wasn’t a scientist at all, but a science fiction writer. In fact, he was one of the pioneers of the genre¹ of science fiction.

 

　　Jules Verne is our hero. Jules Verne was born in France in 1828 and originally studied to be a lawyer. But he was fascinated with the exploration of nature and the world. Also, he loved writing. In his writing he was able to bring scientific ideas to a general audience. If he were alive today he’d probably be writing for us.

 

　　Jules Verne also wanted to challenge people to think about new things that science could bring them. His stories were full of fantastic machines, but they were always things that could in principle be constructed. Because of this combination of knowledge and imagination, he was able to anticipate many things that now actually exist.

 

　　For example, you may know that in his novel “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea,” Verne imagined an enclosed boat that could travel underwater — what we now call a submarine. But did you know that on board his submarine he put another imaginary device, the electric stove? Or that he was one of the first to suggest putting people inside a giant bullet and firing it at the moon? That’s not quite how we got there, but the principle is much the same.

 

　　Good science fiction is both fun to read, and can lead to real science. Way to go, Jules!

 

　　那正好是颁科学英雄奖的时间，我们以此纪念那些历史上为科学做出贡献的个人。然而今天的科学英雄根本不是科学家，而是一位科幻小说作者。事实上，他是该体裁的先驱之一。

 

　　儒勒?凡尔纳是我们的英雄。他于1828年出生在法国，起初他是学习法律的。但他对探索自然和世界十分着迷，而且他喜欢写作。在他的作品中，他能将科学概念带给读者。如果他还活着，他很可能还在为我们创作。

 

　　儒勒?凡尔纳也想挑战人们去思考科学可能带给他们的新事物。他的故事中满是奇妙的机器，但都总是理论上可以创造出来的东西。由于知识和想象力的结合，他能预见很多现在确实存在的事物。

 

　　比如，在他的《海底两万里》中，你可能知道凡尔纳设想了一艘可以在海底穿梭的船——我们现在称之为潜水艇。但你知道在其潜水艇上，他放置了另一件想象的工具——电炉吗？或者说他是第一个建议把人放在巨型炮弹里，瞄准月球发射的人之一吗？我们并不是那样登上月球的，但理论上大致相同。

 

　　好的科幻小说既有趣，又能引导我们了解真科学。做得好，凡尔纳！

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