英语专业晨读美文-文化篇 1 Western Civilization I

[00:02.33]Western Civilization Faces a Stark 1 Choice Ⅰ

[00:10.63]In 1900, most westerners were confident and optimistic,

[00:16.18]full of pride about their civilization.

[00:18.48]Since then, the west has made enormous strides in economic,

[00:22.86]scientific, military, political and social terms.

[00:27.21]Yet the earlier confidence has gone.

[00:30.64]We stopped believing in the ideas

[00:33.18]that drove earlier generations to improve the world.

[00:35.71]Six main ideas made the west, century after century,

[00:39.62]progressively successful, powerful,

[00:42.62]and attractive—Christianity, optimism, science,

[00:46.88]economic growth, individualism and liberalism.

[00:51.31]Are these ideas past their sell-by date?

[00:54.29]Optimism

[00:55.83]The importance of optimism in driving success—

[00:58.52]of individuals, of whole civilizations—

[01:01.16]has been greatly overlooked.

[01:03.63]Optimism comes from three Greek and Christian 2 “myths”—

[01:07.13]the myth of autonomy, the myth of progress

[01:10.64]and the myth of human goodness.

[01:12.71]Creation is ultimately good.

[01:15.37]So, too, are people—God's creation.

[01:17.78]We have stopped believing people are good.

[01:20.42]After 1760, our stories began to feature bad heroes—

[01:25.34]egotistical people, amoral or immoral 3.

[01:29.49]The last century confirmed a dim view of human nature—

[01:33.08]Freud's ideas, Hitler, two world wars,

[01:37.23]horrific and hateful societies.

[01:39.79]A diminished view of people facilitated these horrors.

[01:43.47]Optimism and pessimism 4, however, are fancies, not facts.

[01:48.01]Only if we recover belief in human goodness

[01:51.06]can we resume building a better world.

[01:53.05]Christianity

[01:54.90]Western secular 5 values, above all the gods of consumption,

[01:59.16]have trumped 6 Christian ones. Doubt is rampant 7.

[02:02.51]And Christians 8 today are deeply divided.

[02:04.97]Yet perhaps we need not worry. Christianity transformed the west.

[02:09.78]It was the world's first individualized, activist 9,

[02:13.42]self-help movement. Ordinary people were encouraged to clean up

[02:17.92]their act and given God's help to do so.

[02:20.11]Everyone had a “soul”; individual human dignity

[02:24.21]and responsibility were greatly enhanced.

[02:26.65]Today many of us do not believe in the soul or Christ.

[02:30.13]In a way, however, we all still believe the Christian message.

[02:34.35]We believe we have a self, just like we have arms and legs.

[02:39.07]With the idea of the soul safely transmuted 10 in the idea of the self,

[02:44.29]Christianity has permanently 11 changed the west.

[02:47.50]The modern self-help movement best exemplifies

[02:50.68]the central Christian innovation-personal responsibility.

[02:54.83]Christianity's crisis does not threaten the west.

[02:57.94]But the attacks on the other five ideas do.

[03:01.05]Science

[03:02.76]Science is preeminently western.

[03:05.47]It arose through belief in a perfect, rational Creator,

[03:09.32]and in our ability to figure out

[03:11.64]the perfect universe that God created.

[03:13.67]Since 1900, we have lost our faith in science.

[03:17.37]Superstition and mumbo-jumbo abound 12.

[03:20.25]Science seems to have become weird 13.

[03:22.91]It portrays 14 a baffling and inscrutable universe,

[03:26.32]ruled by mystery, uncertainty 15, random 16 chance.

[03:30.13]Also, the dark side of science has emerged:

[03:33.79]monstrous weapons, poisoning the planet.

[03:36.29]Yet science is still fundamentally benign 17 and rational.

[03:40.15]The micro-world might be weird.

[03:42.32]But scientists still follow the scientific method-

[03:45.19]reason and investigation 18.

[03:47.26]The challenge to understanding is greater,

[03:50.07]but logic 19 and research still hold the key.

[03:52.45]We cannot give up our trust in rationality and sciences,

[03:56.19]for the best forms of civilization depend utterly 20 upon them.