首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
The year 1972 was marked by publication of a controversial book, The Limits to Growth. This study of the world’s future, done by
The year 1972 was marked by publication of a controversial book, The Limits to Growth. This study of the world’s future, done by
admin
2012-10-30
26
问题
The year 1972 was marked by publication of a controversial book, The Limits to Growth. This study of the world’s future, done by a team of MIT scientists with the aid of computer "models" of the future of our society, forecast a planetwide disaster unless humankind sharply limits its population growth and consumption of natural resources.
Most people were caught by surprise when the book came out.
Many refused to believe that disaster is possible, probable, inevitable—if we don’t change our mode of running Spaceship Earth. But science fiction people were neither surprised nor outraged. The study was really old news to them. They’d been making their own "models" of tomorrow and testing them all their lives.
For what the scientists attempted with their computer model is very much like the thing that science fiction writers and readers have been doing for decades. Instead of using a computer to "model" a future world society, science fiction writers have used their human imaginations. This gives the writers some enormous advantages.
One of the advantages is flexibility.
Science fiction writers are not in the business of predicting the future. They do something much more important. They try to show the many possible futures that lie open to us.
For there is not simply a future, a time to come that’ s inevitable. Our future is built, bit by bit, minute by minute, by the actions of human beings. One vital role of science fiction is to show what kinds of future might result from certain kinds of human actions.
To communicate the ideas, the fears and hopes, the shape and feel of all the infinite possible futures, science fiction writers lean heavily on another of their advantages: the art of fiction.
For while a scientist’ s job has largely ended when he’s reduced his data to tabular or graph form, the work of a science fiction writer is just beginning. His task is to convey the human story: the scientific basis for the possible future of his story is merely the background. Perhaps "merely" is too limiting a word. Much of science fiction consists of precious little except the background, the basic idea, the gimmick. But the best of science fiction, the stories that make a lasting impact on generations of readers, are stories about people. The people may be non-human. They may be robots or other types of machines. But they will be people, in the sense that human readers can feel for them, share their joys and sorrows, their dangers and their ultimate successes.
The art of fiction has not changed much since prehistoric times.
The formula for telling a powerful story has remained the same: create a strong character, a per- son of great strengths, capable of deep emotions and decisive action. Give him a weakness. Set him in conflict with another powerful character--or perhaps with nature. Let his exterior conflict be the mirror of the protagonist’s own interior conflict, the clash of his desires, his own strength against his own weakness. And there you have a story. Whether it’s Abraham offering his only son to God, or Paris bringing ruin to Troy over a woman, or Hamlet and Claudius playing their deadly game, Faust seeking the world’s knowledge and power—the stories that stand out in the minds of the readers are those whose characters are unforgettable.
To show other worlds, to describe possible future societies and the five problems lurking ahead, is not enough.
The writer of science fiction must show how these worlds and these futures affect human beings. And something much more important, he must show how human beings can and do literally create these future worlds. For our future is largely in our own hands. It doesn’t come blindly rolling out of the heavens; it is the joint product of the actions of billions of human beings. This is a point that’s easily forgotten in the rush of headlines and the hectic badgering of everyday life. But it’s a point that science fiction makes constantly, the future belongs to us—whatever it is. We make it, our actions shape to morrow. We have the brains and guts to build paradise(or at least try). Tragedy is when we fail, and the greatest crime of all is when we fail even to try.
Thus science fiction stands as a bridge between science and art, between the engineers of technology and the poets of humanity. Never has such a bridge been more desperately needed.
Writing in the British journal New Scientist, the famed poet and historian Robert Graves said in 1912, "Technology is now warring openly against the crafts, and science covertly against poetry. "
What Graves is expressing is the fear that many people have: technology has already allowed machines to replace human muscle power; now it seems that machines such as electronic computers might replace human brainpower. And he goes even further, criticizing science on the grounds that truly human endeavors ours such as poetry have a power that scientists can’t recognize.
The Best of science fiction can make a lasting impact on generations of readers.
选项
A、Y
B、N
C、NG
答案
A
解析
文章第八段“But the best of science fiction,the stories that make a lasting impact on generations of readers...”“但最好的科幻小说,能带给几代读者影响的故事……”。可知本题答案为Y。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/DZ57777K
0
大学英语四级
相关试题推荐
Forthispart,youareallowed30minutestowriteacompositiononthetopicADescriptionofanEnglishCorner.Youshouldwri
Acollegeeducationisaninvestmentinthefuture.Butitcanbea【47】one.TheCollegeBoard【48】thatthecostsatafour-yearp
Acollegeeducationisaninvestmentinthefuture.Butitcanbea【47】one.TheCollegeBoard【48】thatthecostsatafour-yearp
I’mafraidthatyouhavetoalteryour______viewsinlightofthetragicnewsthathasjustarrived.
A、Hereadthenewspaper.B、Hereadthecabinetreport.C、Helistenedtoaradioreport.D、Hissecretarytelephonedhim.A对话中女士问男
A、Teachingtheguidedogstowatchtrafficandsafelycrossthestreet.B、Placingtheguidedogswiththeirfutureowners.C、Sho
A、Andrewisanundergraduatestudent.B、Andrewhasworkedonanewspaperbefore.C、Andrewdoesnotwanttoworkonanewspaper.
A、HemethisbossinBeijing.B、Hearrivedatthestationontime.C、Hemissedthemeetingwithhisboss.D、Hecalledhisboss.
A、Becausethepolicemanstoppedhim.B、Becausethedriverchargedtoomuch.C、Fornogoodreason.D、Becausehehadbeenrubbed.
随机试题
A.0~1岁B.1—3岁C.3~7岁D.7—11岁E.13~14岁语言发展关键期是
A.自上向下B.自下向上C.自左向右D.自右向左E.自中心向四周下腔静脉阻塞时,胸壁静脉血流的方向是
A、雷公炮炙论》B、《修事指南》C、《黄帝内经》D、《炮炙大法》E、《本草纲目》明代缪希雍撰写的我国第二部炮制专著是()
各单位保存的会计档案不得借出。如有特殊需要,经()批准,可以提供查阅或者复制,并办理登记手续。
下列关于环境保护税的表述.正确的有()。
远期净敞口头寸的数量等于卖出的远期合约头寸减去买入的远期合约头寸。()
根据《治安管理处罚法》规定,违反治安管理行为在()内公安机关没有发现的,不再处罚。
十八大以来,我国大力实施创新驱动发展战略,创新型国家建设成果丰硕。下列有关重大科技成果中,名称与研发项目对应有误的是:
一、注意事项1.申论考试与传统的作文考试不同,是分析驾驭材料的能力与表达能力并重的考试。2.仔细阅读给定的资料,按照后面提出的“作答要求”依次作答在答题纸指定位置。二、给定资料1.2011年6月,我国CPI(消费者物价指数)进
以下不属于第1代计算机特点的是( )。
最新回复
(
0
)