1. One of the basic questions facing our society today is: What promise or threat does new technology hold for our global future? Since the decisions our society makes about technological development will undoubtedly have tremendous consequences in the years to come, it is urgently necessary to explore this question, especially by examining science and technology in their relationship to development of humanity.
现今，我们的社会面对这样一个基本问题，即新技术为全球的未来带来怎样的希望或威胁？毫无疑问，社会在技术进步方面所做的决定将在不久的将来产生巨大的影响，因此，探究这一个问题，尤其是探究科技与人类发展的关系，变得迫在眉睫。

2. It is simpler to say than to do, but there are ways. The most common is to ban all cigarette advertising on television and films. Another method is to raise cigarette prices with higher tobacco taxes – and use the money for anti-smoking campaigns. But the most important is to make the smoker increasingly self-conscious and uncomfortable about his habit by publicizing public awareness of the decline in social acceptability of smoking and its harmful effect.

虽然说起来容易做起来难，但总还是有方法的。最常见的方法就是禁止在电视和电影中出现任何香烟广告。另外一种方法就是通过增加高额的烟草税提高香烟价格，并且把获得的资金投入到反对吸烟的运动中。而最为重要地，是要通过公布公众的意识，即吸烟的社会接受程度在下降，使烟民们越来越感受到他的恶习以及由此带来的恶果，并为此感到不安。

3. We do not seem to realize that very little excellence is achieved by living a well-balanced life. Edison, Ford, Einstein, Freud all had single-minded devotion to work whereby they sacrificed many things, including family and friendship. The accusation is made that workaholics bear guilt by not being good parents or spouses. But guilt can exist in balanced life also. Consider how many “normal” people find, at middle-age, that they have never done anything well – they are going to settle for less than what they could have become.
我们似乎尚未意识到，取得卓越的成就很少是通过四平八稳的生活实现的。爱迪生、福特、爱因斯坦和弗洛伊德都是全身心地致力于工作中，为此他们牺牲了很多东西，包括家庭和友谊。有人指责工作狂，说他们应为没有做称职的父母或配偶而感到内疚。但是过着四平八稳的生活同样会让人感到内疚。想想有多少“正常”人，过了半辈子，却发现自己什么事情都没做好——他们原本可以有所作为，但现在却只能就此罢休。

4. One of the generalities most often noted about Americans is that we are a restless, a dissatisfied, a searching people. We bridle and buck under failure, and we go mad with dissatisfaction in the face of success. We spend our time searching for security, and hate it when we get it. For the most part we are an intemperate people: we eat too much when we can, drink too much, indulge our senses too much. Even in our so-called virtues we are intemperate: a teetotaler is not content not to drink – he must stop all the drinking in the world; a vegetarian among us would outlaw the eating of meat. We work too hard, and many die under the strain; and then to make up for that we play with a violence as suicidal.
最常被注意到的美国人的一个共性是，我们是一个生性好动、从不满足、乐于探索的民族。我们蔑视失败、昂首前行，纵然成功了，也不满足，依然烦躁不安。我们花费时间寻求安全感，一旦获得却对此感到厌倦。多数情况下，我们是一个放纵的民族：能吃能喝的时候，吃太多，喝太多，纵情声色。即使我们所谓的高尚的品德，也同样是过激的：滴酒不沾者不仅满足于不喝酒，而是要让全世界都停止喝酒；素食者会认为吃肉根本就是非法的。我们拼命工作，许多人劳累而死，然后做为补偿，我们玩命娱乐，形同自杀。