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MalcolmGladwell_2011G-_诺顿投弹瞄准器的奇怪故事_
Thank you. 谢谢
It's a real pleasure to be here. 来到这里演讲是我的荣幸
I last did a TEDTalk 上一次我在TED的演讲
I think about seven years ago or so. 大概是七年前
I talked about spaghetti sauce . 讲的是意大利面调料
spaghetti:n.意大利式细面条; sauce:n.酱;调味汁;讨厌的话(或举动);v.给…加滋味;(俚)对…说冒昧话;
And so many people, I guess, watch those videos. 很多人看了那个视频
People have been coming up to me ever since to ask me questions about spaghetti sauce, which is a wonderful thing in the short term -- 所有从此就有很多人 来问我意大利面调料的问题 刚开始的时候这还是件挺美好的事－
(Laughter) （笑声）
but it's proven to be less than ideal over seven years. 但是这么持续了七年 就不那么美好了
And so I though I would come and try and put spaghetti sauce behind me. 所以我要再來一次 然后把意大利面调料这事能放到脑后去
(Laughter) （笑声）
The theme of this morning's session is Things We Make. 今天早上部分的主题是我们创造的东西
session:n.会议;(法庭的)开庭;(议会等的)开会;学期;讲习会;
And so I thought I would tell a story about someone who made one of the most precious objects of his era . 我讲的故事 是关于一个人 他创造了他那个时代 最宝贵的东西
precious:adj.宝贵的;珍贵的;矫揉造作的; era:n.新时期;纪元;年代;新时代;
And the man's name is Carl Norden. 他的名字叫卡尔?诺顿
Carl Norden was born in 1880. 卡尔?诺顿生于1880年
And he was Swiss. 瑞士人
And of course, the Swiss can be divided into two general categories : those who make small, exquisite , expensive objects and those who handle the money of those who buy small, exquisite , expensive objects. 众所周知瑞士人可以 分为两类: 那些制造精细 昂贵物件的人 和那些管理着能买得起 那些精细昂贵物件的人的钱 的人
categories:n.(人或事物的)类别,种类(category的复数) exquisite:adj.精致的;细腻的;优美的,高雅的;异常的;剧烈的;n.服饰过于讲究的男子; handle:n.[建]把手;柄;手感;口实;v.处理;操作;运用;买卖;触摸;
And Carl Norden is very firmly in the former camp. 卡尔?诺顿绝对属于第一阵营
He's an engineer. 他是个工程师
He goes to the Federal Polytech in Zurich. 就读于苏黎士联邦理工学院
Federal:adj.联邦的;同盟的;联邦政府的;联邦制的;adv.联邦政府地;
In fact, one of his classmates is a young man named Lenin who would go on to break small, expensive, exquisite objects. 他有个名叫列宁的同学 这个同学总是 把精细昂贵的东西搞坏
And he's a Swiss engineer, Carl. 卡尔作为一个瑞士工程师
And I mean that in its fullest sense of the word. 是绝对配得上这个称号的
He wears three-piece suits; and he has a very, very small, important mustache; and he is domineering and narcissistic and driven and has an extraordinary ego; and he works 16-hour days; 他穿三件套的西装 留着很小但是很重要的胡子 盛气凌人 又自恋 有抱负 又极度自负 而且他每天工作16个小时
three-piece:adj.三件一套的;n.三件套; domineering:adj.跋扈的;专横的;盛气凌人的;v.实行暴政;高耸;流行(domineer的ing形式); narcissistic:adj.自恋的;自我陶醉的; extraordinary:adj.非凡的;特别的;离奇的;临时的;特派的;
and he has very strong feelings about alternating current; and he feels like a suntan is a sign of moral weakness; and he drinks lots of coffee; and he does his best work 精通交流电路 不过他也觉得晒黑是种道德软弱的表现 他喝大量咖啡 他最好的作品都是在
alternating:adj.交替的;交互的;v.使交替;依次(alternate的ing形式); suntan:n.晒黑;土黄色军服;棕色; moral:n.寓意;品行;教益;adj.道德的;道义上的;道德上的;品行端正的;
sitting in his mother's kitchen in Zurich for hours in complete silence with nothing but a slide rule . 苏黎世他母亲的厨房里做出来了 他手拿一把滑尺 可以安静地工作好几个小时?
slide rule:n.计算尺;滑尺;
In any case , 不过
In any case:无论如何;
Carl Norden emigrates to the United States just before the First World War and sets up shop on Lafayette Street in downtown Manhattan. 卡尔?诺顿在一战期间 移民美国 在曼哈顿市中心 老佛爷大街上开了家店
United:adj.联合的; v.联合,团结; (unite的过去分词和过去式) First World War:n.第一次世界大战(1914至1918年间,主战场在欧洲); Lafayette:n.拉斐特(美国印地安纳州西部城市);老佛爷(法国百货公司);三刺光鲳; downtown:n.市区;闹市区;adv.在市区;在热闹街上;到闹市区;adj.闹市区的;
And he becomes obsessed with the question of how to drop bombs from an airplane . 后来他迷上了怎么 从飞机上往下扔炸弹这个问题
obsessed:v.使痴迷;使迷恋;使着迷;(obsess的过去式和过去分词) airplane:n.飞机;
Now if you think about it, in the age before GPS and radar , that was obviously a really difficult problem. 试想一下 在有GPS和雷达之前 这是个相当难的问题
radar:n.雷达;
It's a complicated physics problem. 一个复杂的物理问题
complicated:adj.复杂的;难懂的;v.使复杂化;(complicate的过去分词和过去式)
You've got a plane that's thousands of feet up in the air, going at hundreds of miles an hour, and you're trying to drop an object, a bomb, towards some stationary target in the face of all kinds of winds and cloud cover and all kinds of other impediments . 飞机在几千英尺的高空 以每小时几百英里的速度飞行 然后要投下一个炸弹 命中一个静止物体 还得考虑风和云层 及其他各种参数
stationary:adj.固定的;静止的;定居的;常备军的;n.不动的人;驻军; in the face of:面对; impediments:n.障碍(impediment的复数);妨碍,困难;
And all sorts of people, moving up to the First World War and between the wars, tried to solve this problem, and nearly everybody came up short. 很多人 在一战以及二战之前 想解决此问题 但都没能成功
The bombsights that were available were incredibly crude . 当时使用的投弹瞄准器 十分粗糙
incredibly:adv.难以置信地;非常地; crude:adj.粗略的;简略的;大概的;粗糙的;n.原油;石油;
But Carl Norden is really the one who cracks the code. 卡尔?诺顿就是解决这个难题的人
cracks:n.裂纹; v.破裂; (crack的第三人称单数和复数)
And he comes up with this incredibly complicated device . 他开发出了特别复杂的设备
device:n.装置;策略;图案;
It weighs about 50 lbs. 大概有50磅重
It's called the Norden Mark 15 bombsight . 叫作诺顿15号投弹瞄准器
bombsight:n.投弹瞄准器;
And it has all kinds of levers and ball-bearings and gadgets and gauges . 上面有各种各样的杠杆轴承 小工具还有计量器
levers:n.杠杆;手段(lever的复数);v.用杠杆撬动(lever的第三人称单数); gadgets:n.小配件;小工具(gadget的复数); gauges:n.计量表,仪表; v.计量;
And he makes this complicated thing. 他造出了这个复杂的机械
And what he allows people to do is he makes the bombardier take this particular object, visually sight the target, because they're in the Plexiglas cone of the bomber , and then they plug in the altitude of the plane, the speed of the plane, the speed of the wind and the coordinates of the target. 能够实现的就是 投弹手手持这个瞄准器 看准目标 置于炸弹的有机玻璃锥范围内 然后输入飞机飞行高度 速度以及风速 还有目标的 坐标
bombardier:n.投弹手;炮兵下士; visually:adv.形象化地;外表上;看得见地; Plexiglas:n.树脂玻璃; cone:n.圆锥体,圆锥形;[植]球果;v.使成锥形; bomber:n.轰炸机;投弹手; plug:n.插头;塞子;栓;v.塞住;用插头将与电源接通; altitude:n.海拔;海拔高度;高程;(海拔高的)高处; coordinates:n.[数]坐标;相配之衣物;v.使协调;使调和(coordinate的第三人称单数形式);
And the bombsight will tell him when to drop the bomb. 这样瞄准器就回高速投手何时投放炸弹
And as Norden famously says, "Before that bombsight came along, bombs would routinely miss their target by a mile or more." 用诺顿的话来说 “在有投弹瞄准器之前 炸弹常常是偏离 目标一英里以上。”
famously:adv.著名地;极好地; routinely:adv.例行公事地;老一套地;
But he said, with the Mark 15 Norden bombsight, he could drop a bomb into a pickle barrel at 20,000 ft. 他说有了他的15号诺顿瞄准器 他能从两万英尺的高空把炸弹扔到 地上一个咸菜桶里
pickle:n.泡菜;腌菜;菜酱;v.腌渍; barrel:n.桶;枪管;一桶(的量);v.飞驰;
Now I cannot tell you how incredibly excited the U.S. military was by the news of the Norden bombsight. 美军得知了 诺顿投弹瞄准器后 他们的兴奋 是难以言表的
military:adj.军事的;军人的;适于战争的;n.军队;军人;
It was like manna from heaven. 那简直是天降甘霖
manna:n.吗哪(古以色列人在经过荒野时所得的天赐食粮);甘露;精神食粮;天赐之物;
Here was an army that had just had experience in the First World War, where millions of men fought each other in the trenches , getting nowhere , making no progress, and here someone had come up with a device that allowed them to fly up in the skies high above enemy territory and destroy whatever they wanted with pinpoint accuracy . 这支军队 刚刚经历的一战 数百万的士兵 困在战壕里 没头绪没进展 然后这位弟兄造出了一个设备 能让他们从敌人上空 飞过的时候 以极高的精确度 摧毁一切目标
trenches:n.战壕(trench复数); v.挖战壕于…; nowhere:v.无处; n.无处; adj.不存在的; come up with:提出;想出;赶上; territory:n.领土,领域;范围;地域;版图; pinpoint:vt.查明; adj.精确的; n.针尖; accuracy:n.[数]精确度,准确性;
And the U.S. military spends 1.5 billion dollars -- billion dollars in 1940 dollars -- developing the Norden bombsight. 美军 花了十五亿美元 那可是1940年的十五亿美元 来开发诺顿投弹瞄准器项目
And to put that in perspective , the total cost of the Manhattan project was three billion dollars. 这是个什么样的项目 曼哈顿计划的总花销 是三十亿美元
perspective:n.观点;远景;透视图;adj.透视的;
Half as much money was spent on this Norden bombsight as was spent on the most famous military-industrial project of the modern era. 曼哈顿计划的一半花费投在了诺顿瞄准器上 而曼哈顿计划无疑是近代史上 最著名的军工合作计划
And there were people, strategists , within the U.S. military who genuinely thought that this single device was going to spell the difference between defeat and victory when it came to the battle against the Nazis and against the Japanese. 军队里的战略家们 真以为找到了致命武器 能在和 纳粹以及日本军的 战斗中 一显神威
strategists:n.战略家;军事家; genuinely:adv.真诚地;诚实地; Nazis:n.纳粹;纳粹党人(nazi的复数);
And for Norden as well, this device had incredible moral importance, because Norden was a committed Christian. 诺顿自己也以为 这个设备有其道德意义 因为他是虔诚的基督徒
incredible:adj.难以置信的,惊人的; committed:adj.坚信的; v.做出错事; (commit的过去分词和过去式)
In fact, he would always get upset when people referred to the bombsight as his invention, because in his eyes, only God could invent things. 当他听到人们把此设备 归功于他的发明时往往会沮丧 因为他觉得 只有上帝才能发明食物
upset:adj.沮丧; v.打乱; n.苦恼; (意外的)混乱; referred:v.提到;引用;认为;指示;涉及;(refer的过去式和过去分词)
He was simple the instrument of God's will. 他只是执行了上帝的意志
instrument:n.仪器;工具;乐器;手段;器械;
And what was God's will? 上帝的意志是什么呢？
Well God's will was that the amount of suffering in any kind of war be reduced to as small an amount as possible. 上帝的意志就是人们在战争中遭受的痛苦 越小越好
And what did the Norden bombsight do? 诺顿瞄准器的作用是什么？
Well it allowed you to do that. 作用就是
It allowed you to bomb only those things that you absolutely needed and wanted to bomb. 让炸弹只炸到 想炸的目标上去
absolutely:adv.绝对地;完全地;
So in the years leading up to the Second World War, the U.S. military buys 90,000 of these Norden bombsights at a cost of $14,000 each -- again, in 1940 dollars, that's a lot of money. 所以在二战前几年 美军购买了九万件 这样的投弹瞄准器 每一个都价值一万四千美元－ 在1940年这可是大钱
And they trained 50,000 bombardiers on how to use them -- long extensive , months-long training sessions -- because these things are essentially analog computers; they're not easy to use. 他们训练了五万名投手来操作－ 数月的高强度训练－ 因为这个设备根本上是模拟计算机 操作不易
bombardiers:n.投弹手;炮兵下士; extensive:adj.广泛的;大量的;广阔的; sessions:n.会议;会期(session的复数); essentially:adv.本质上;本来; analog:n.[自]模拟;类似物;adj.[自]模拟的;有长短针的;
And they make everyone of those bombardiers take an oath , to swear that if they're ever captured , they will not divulge a single detail of this particular device to the enemy, 每一个投手都必须盟誓 如果被俘 不得泄漏关于此设备的 一个字
oath:n.誓言,誓约;诅咒,咒骂; captured:adj.捕获的;被俘的;v.捕获;占领;引起;(capture的过去式和过去分词) divulge:vt.泄露;暴露;
because it's imperative the enemy not get their hands on this absolutely essential piece of technology . 因为这么重要的设备的情报 绝对不能落入敌人之手
imperative:adj.重要紧急的; n.重要紧急的事; technology:n.技术;工艺;术语;
And whenever the Norden bombsight is taken onto a plane, it's escorted there by a series of armed guards. 每一架诺顿瞄准器被安放到飞机上时 都有一队军队护送
escorted:v.护卫;护送(escort的过去分词和过去式) series:n.系列,连续;[电]串联;级数;丛书;
And it's carried in a box with a canvas shroud over it. 它被装在盒子里,上面盖着帆布
canvas:n.帆布;(帆布)画布;油画;vt.用帆布覆盖; shroud:n.寿衣;覆盖物;船的横桅索;[电]护罩;vt.覆盖;包以尸衣;
And the box is handcuffed to one of the guards. 一个手铐把一名士兵和盒子铐到一起
handcuffed:v.给…戴上手铐(handcuff的过去式和过去分词);
It's never allowed to be photographed. 禁止拍照
And there's a little incendiary device inside of it, so that, if the plane ever crashes, it will be destroyed and there's no way the enemy can ever get their hands on it. 设备里还有一个燃烧弹 一旦飞机失事,机器就被毁 从而敌军也无法获得情报
incendiary:n.燃烧弹;纵火犯,放火者;煽动者;adj.煽动的;放火的,纵火的;
The Norden bombsight is the Holy Grail . 诺顿的投弹瞄准器被 视为圣杯
Holy Grail:na.圣杯;
So what happens during the Second World War? 那么二战的实况如何呢？
Well, it turns out it's not the Holy Grail. 结果,它并没有那个圣杯
In practice , the Norden bombsight can drop a bomb into a pickle barrel at 20,000 ft., but that's under perfect conditions. 实战中,诺顿投弹瞄准器 确实可以从两万英尺高空把炸弹扔到咸菜桶里 但那是在理想条件下
In practice:在实践中;实际上,事实上;
And of course, in wartime , conditions aren't perfect. 而战时 是没有理想条件的
wartime:n.战时;
First of all , it's really hard to use -- really hard to use. 首先,机器十分难操作
First of all:adv.首先;
And not all of the people who are of those 50,000 men who are bombardiers have the ability to properly program an analog computer. 不是五万名投手 都真的能够操作 模拟计算机
Secondly, it breaks down a lot. 其次,它总是出故障
It's full of all kinds of gyroscopes and pulleys and gadgets and ball-bearings, and they don't work as well as they ought to in the heat of battle. 机器里到处是陀螺仪和滑轮 小工具以及轴承 在炽热的战场上这些玩意儿 常不能正常工作
gyroscopes:n.陀螺仪(gyroscope的复数); pulleys:n.滑轮(pulley的复数);皮带轮; as well as:也;和…一样;不但…而且;
Thirdly, when Norden was making his calculations, he assumed that a plane would be flying at a relatively slow speed at low altitudes . 第三,诺顿当初计算的时候 是在飞机低空低速飞行的 假设条件下做的
assumed:adj.假定的;假设的;v.假定;假设;认为;承担;(assume的过去分词和过去式) relatively:adv.相当程度上;相当地;相对地; altitudes:n.高地;高度;[数]顶垂线;(等级和地位等的)高级;
Well in a real war, you can't do that; you'll get shot down. 但是战争可不是这样 这么做就中枪了
So they started flying them at high altitudes at incredibly high speeds. 飞机往往是高速高空飞行
And the Norden bombsight doesn't work as well under those conditions. 诺顿的投弹瞄准器在这样的条件下 表现不佳
But most of all, the Norden bombsight required the bombardier to make visual contact with the target. 最关键的是 使用诺顿瞄准的投手 得目视看到目标
contact:n.接触,联系;v.使接触,联系;
But of course, what happens in real life? 但是实际上是怎样的呢？
There are clouds, right. 天上有云
It needs cloudless sky to be really accurate . 机器要求无云的天空来操作
cloudless:adj.无云的;晴朗的; accurate:adj.精确的;
Well how many cloudless skies do you think there were above Central Europe between 1940 and 1945? 你觉得1940年到1945间 中欧到底有多少 无云的天气呢？
Not a lot. 很少
And then to give you a sense of just how inaccurate the Norden bombsight was, there was a famous case in 1944 where the Allies bombed a chemical plant in Leuna, Germany. 这样你大概明白了 诺顿的瞄准器是有多么不精确 1944年有个著名的例子 盟军对位于德国洛伊纳的一家化工厂进行轰炸
inaccurate:adj.错误的; Allies:n.盟友,支持者:v.与…结盟(ally的第三人称单数和复数) chemical:n.化学制品,化学药品;adj.化学的;
And the chemical plant comprised 757 acres. 这个工厂占地 757公顷
comprised:v.包含(comprise的过去分词);由…组成;
And over the course of 22 bombing missions , the Allies dropped 85,000 bombs on this 757 acre chemical plant, using the Norden bombsight. 在22轮轰炸任务里 盟军用诺顿投弹瞄准器 在这757公顷的化工厂上 扔下去了八万五千枚炸弹
missions:n.任务; v.给…交代任务; (mission的复数)
Well what percentage of those bombs do you think actually landed inside the 700-acre perimeter of the plant? 你估计有多少 实实在在 掉在了这占地七百多公顷的化工厂上了呢？
percentage:n.百分比;百分率;利润的分成;提成; perimeter:n.周长;周界;[眼科]视野计;
10 percent. 10 percent. 只有百分之十
And of those 10 percent that landed, 16 percent didn't even go off; they were duds . 而这命中的百分之十里 有百分之十六都是哑弹,没爆炸
duds:n.不中用的东西;废物;衣裳;(dud的复数)
The Leuna chemical plant, after one of the most extensive bombings in the history of the war, was up and running within weeks. 这家化工厂 在经历了战争史上最猛烈的轰炸后 几个星期内又重新开工了
bombings:n.[军]轰炸,[军]投弹;v.轰击;引爆炸弹(bomb的ing形式);
And by the way , all those precautions to keep the Norden bombsight out of the hands of the Nazis? 那些为了不让 纳粹获得诺顿瞄准器的防范措施又如何呢？
by the way:顺便说一下; precautions:n.防范;预防措施;预警(precaution的复数);
Well it turns out that Carl Norden, as a proper Swiss, was very enamored of German engineers. 结果 身为瑞士人的诺顿 本人很欣赏德国工程师
enamored:adj.迷恋的;倾心的;v.迷住,使迷恋(enamor的过去分词形式);
So in the 1930s, he hired a whole bunch of them, including a man named Hermann Long who, in 1938, gave a complete set of the plans for the Norden bombsight to the Nazis. 在三十年代他的手下就有一帮德国工程师 其中有个叫赫尔曼?龙的 他于1938年 把整套的诺顿投弹瞄准器计划全都给了纳粹
bunch:n.群;串;突出物;vi.隆起;打褶;形成一串;vt.使成一串;使打褶;
So they had their own Norden bombsight throughout the entire war -- which also, by the way, didn't work very well. 所以战时纳粹有自己的诺顿投弹瞄准器－ 当然他们的也不怎么好使
throughout:adv.自始至终,到处;全部;prep.贯穿,遍及;
(Laughter) （笑声）
So why do we talk about the Norden bombsight? 那么我们为什么要说诺顿投弹瞄准器呢？
Well because we live in an age where there are lots and lots of Norden bombsights. 因为我们生活的时代 到出是象诺顿投弹瞄准器一样的 玩意儿
We live in a time where there are all kinds of really, really smart people running around, saying that they've invented gadgets that will forever change our world. 我们所处的时代到处是 聪明人 他们奔走相告 发明了改变世界的东西
They've invented websites that will allow people to be free. 他们发明了解放人们的网站
They've invented some kind of this thing, or this thing, or this thing that will make our world forever better. 发明了各种各样的东西 能把世界变的更美好
If you go into the military, you'll find lots of Carl Nordens as well. 军队里 更是有大量卡尔?诺顿
If you go to the Pentagon , they will say, "You know what, now we really can put a bomb inside a pickle barrel at 20,000 ft." 去五角大楼,他们会说 “知道吗？我们现在 真的能把炸弹从两万英尺的高空 扔道一个咸菜桶里。”
Pentagon:n.五角形;
And you know what, it's true; they actually can do that now. 而且他们说的的确是实话
But we need to be very clear about how little that means. 但我们很清初 这话的份量到底有几何
In the Iraq War, at the beginning of the first Iraq War, the U.S. military, the air force , sent two squadrons of F-15E Fighter Eagles to the Iraqi desert equipped with these five million dollar cameras that allowed them to see the entire desert floor. 伊拉克战争的开始阶段 美军空军 派出两支F-5E鹰式战斗机部队 飞到伊拉克沙漠里 飞机装备着价值五百万美元的相机 来察勘整个沙漠地面
at the beginning of:在…的开始; air force:n.空军; squadrons:n.空军中队;一群;骑兵中队;分遣队;小舰队;vt.把…编成中队;
And their mission was to find and to destroy -- remember the Scud missile launchers , those surface-to-air missiles that the Iraqis were launching at the Israelis ? 他们的任务就是找到并摧毁 飞毛腿导弹发射器 伊拉克人用来打击以色列人的 地对空导弹
Scud missile:飞毛腿(导弹); launchers:n.发射器;发射台;发射者; surface-to-air:adj.地对空的; missiles:n.导弹;发射物;投掷物;(missile的复数) Iraqis:adj.伊拉克的;伊拉克人的;n.伊拉克人; launching:n.发射;开办;起飞;v.开始从事,发起,发动;(launch的现在分词) Israelis:以色列人,以色列国民(Israeli的名词复数);
The mission of the two squadrons was to get rid of all the Scud missile launchers. 这两支分队的任务 就是去摧毁这些飞毛腿导弹发射器
And so they flew missions day and night, and they dropped thousands of bombs, and they fired thousands of missiles in an attempt to get rid of this particular scourge . 他们部分昼夜地巡飞 扔下了上千枚炸弹 发射了上千枚导弹 来拔掉这些发射器
in an attempt to:力图;试图;企图; scourge:vt.鞭打;蹂躏;严斥;痛斥;n.鞭;灾祸;鞭子;苦难的根源;
And after the war was over, there was an audit done -- as the army always does, the air force always does -- and they asked the question: how many Scuds did we actually destroy? 战后曾有一个听证会 这是军队惯例 他们问: 我们到底成功毁掉了多少发射器？
audit:v.审计;[审计]查账;n.审计;[审计]查账; Scuds:n.疾行;飞云(scud的复数);v.飞跑;擦掉…的污渍(scud的第三人称单数);
You know what the answer was? 猜猜结果如何？
Zero, not a single one. 零,一个都没有
Now why is that? 为什么呢？
Is it because their weapons weren't accurate? 是他们的设备不够准确？
Oh no, they were brilliantly accurate. 不是,那些设备非常精确
brilliantly:adv.灿烂地;辉煌地;光亮地;
They could have destroyed this little thing right here from 25,000 ft. 他们能从两万五千英尺高空 摧毁那些小玩意儿
The issue was they didn't know where the Scud launchers were. 问题是他们不知道这些小玩意儿到底在哪儿
issue:n.重要议题;争论的问题;v.宣布;公布;发出;发行;
The problem with bombs and pickle barrels is not getting the bomb inside the pickle barrel, it's knowing how to find the pickle barrel. 炸弹和咸菜桶的问题 不在于如何把炸弹扔进去 而是怎么才能找到咸菜桶
barrels:n.机筒; v.把…装桶;
That's always been the harder problem when it comes to fighting wars. 这总是战争中 最大的难题
Or take the battle in Afghanistan . 再看看阿富汗战争
Afghanistan:n.阿富汗(国家名称,位于亚洲);
What is the signature weapon of the CIA's war in Northwest Pakistan? 中情局在巴勒斯坦西北部 的标志性武器是什么？
signature:n.署名;签名;信号; Northwest:adj.西北的;来自西北的;n.西北;adv.在西北;来自西北;
It's the drone . What is the drone? 无人飞机。什么是无人飞机？
drone:n.嗡嗡声;持续低音;寄生虫;无人驾驶飞机;v.懒洋洋地说;嗡嗡响
Well it is the grandson of the Norden Mark 15 bombsight. 它其实就是诺顿15号投弹瞄准器的次生产物
It is this weapon of devastating accuracy and precision . 它的准确性和精度都非常高
devastating:adj.毁灭性的; v.毁灭; (devastate的现在分词) precision:n.精度,[数]精密度;精确;adj.精密的,精确的;
And over the course of the last six years in Northwest Pakistan, the CIA has flown hundreds of drone missiles, and it's used those drones to kill 2,000 suspected 过去六年中 在巴基斯坦的西北地区 中情局用几百枚无人机导弹 杀掉了 两千名疑似
drones:v.嗡嗡叫;嗡嗡响;(drone的第三人称单数) suspected:v.怀疑;不信任;(suspect的过去分词和过去式)
Pakistani and Taliban militants . 巴基斯坦和塔利班激进分子
Pakistani:adj.巴基斯坦的;n.巴基斯坦人; Taliban:塔利班; militants:n.激进份子(militant的复数);
Now what is the accuracy of those drones? 这些无人机的精确度是多少呢？
Well it's extraordinary. 十分惊人
We think we're now at 95 percent accuracy when it comes to drone strikes. 无人机的打击力度 可以达到大概百分之九十五的精确度
95 percent of the people we kill need to be killed, right? 也就是百分之九十五的目标命中,对吧？
That is one of the most extraordinary records in the history of modern warfare . 这是战争史上 最好的纪录了
warfare:n.战争;冲突;
But do you know what the crucial thing is? 但关键是什么呢？
crucial:adj.重要的;决定性的;定局的;决断的;
In that exact same period that we've been using these drones with devastating accuracy, the number of attacks, of suicide attacks and terrorist attacks, against American forces in Afghanistan has increased tenfold . 在使用无人机 进行精确打击的 同时 阿富汗针对美军的袭击 包括自杀式袭击和恐怖袭击 增加了十倍
suicide:n.自杀;自杀行为;自杀者;adj.自杀的;v.自杀;vi.自杀; tenfold:adj.十倍的;十重的;adv.十倍地;成十倍;n.十倍;
As we have gotten more and more efficient in killing them, they have become angrier and angrier and more and more motivated to kill us. 在我们越来越高效地 杀掉敌军时 他们也越来越愤怒 越来越激动地要杀掉我们
efficient:adj.有效率的;有能力的;生效的; motivated:adj.有动机的; v.使产生动机;
I have not described to you a success story . 我说地不是一个成功案例
described:v.描述;形容;把…称为;做…运动;(describe的过去分词和过去式) success story:n.获得巨大成功的人(或事物);
I've described to you the opposite of a success story. 而是一个 反面教材
And this is the problem with our infatuation with the things we make. 这就是我们有了 新发明后地心理膨胀
infatuation:n.迷恋;醉心;
We think the things we make can solve our problems, but our problems are much more complex than that. 我们认为新发明能解决问题 但是问题本身要复杂很多
complex:adj.复杂的;合成的;n.复合体;综合设施;
The issue isn't the accuracy of the bombs you have, it's how you use the bombs you have, and more importantly, whether you ought to use bombs at all. 问题不是在于炸弹地精确队如何 而是你怎么用它 更重要的是 你是不是该用它
There's a postscript to the Norden story of Carl Norden and his fabulous bombsight. 诺顿还有他的 投弹瞄准器的故事 还有个后记
postscript:n.附言;又及; fabulous:adj.难以置信的;传说的,寓言中的;极好的;
And that is, on August 6th, 1945, a B-29 bomber called the Enola Gay flew over Japan and, using a Norden bombsight, dropped a very large thermonuclear device on the city of Hiroshima. 在1945年8月6日 一名叫伊诺拉?盖的投弹手 从日本上空飞过 用诺顿投弹瞄准器 在广岛上空 投下了一枚原子弹
thermonuclear:adj.[核]热核的;高热原子核反应的;
And as was typical with the Norden bombsight, the bomb actually missed its target by 800 ft. 如同其他的诺顿瞄准器一样 炸弹偏离的目标八百英尺
typical:adj.典型的;特有的;象征性的;
But of course, it didn't matter. 当然这已经不重要了
And that's the greatest irony of all when it comes to the Norden bombsight. 诺顿投弹瞄准器的 最大讽刺也就在此
irony:n.讽刺;反语;具有讽刺意味的事;adj.铁的;似铁的;
the air force's 1.5 billion dollar bombsight was used to drop its three billion dollar bomb, which didn't need a bombsight at all. 美军空军用15亿的投弹瞄准器 扔下来三十亿的炸弹 结果根本就不需要瞄准器
Meanwhile , back in New York, no one told Carl Norden that his bombsight was used over Hiroshima. 同时在纽约 没人告诉卡尔?诺顿 他的瞄准器用在了广岛轰炸上
Meanwhile:adv.同时,其间;n.其间,其时;
He was a committed Christian. 他是个虔诚的基督徒
He thought he had designed something that would reduce the toll of suffering in war. 他以为他的发明 能减少在战争中受苦的人们
toll:n.伤亡人数; v.(缓慢而有规律地)敲(钟); (尤指)鸣(丧钟);
It would have broken his heart. 他要知道了一定伤心至极
(Applause) （掌声）