仙仙 发表于 2015-5-3 11:09:51

10 inventors who apologized for their inventions

“Woe is me,” said Albert Einstein on learning of the bombing of Hiroshima.
   “我有罪,”听闻广岛遭原子弹袭击,爱因斯坦喃喃说道。
    It’s not unusual for inventors, researchers, and developers to rue their creations. Although Einstein didn’t work directly on the atomic bomb, he regretted his role in encouraging its development.
       发明家和科研工作者对他们的发明感到后悔的情形,其实并不罕见。虽然爱因斯坦并未直接参与原子弹的研制,但他认为自己是始作俑者,并对此深感后悔。
    Similarly, Alfred Nobel, who developed dynamite and other weapons technologies, launched the Nobel Peace Prize to award promoters of peace,which Einstein interpreted his motivation for establishing the prize as atonement.
       与之类似,炸药和其它武器技术的发明者阿尔弗莱德•诺贝尔设立了诺贝尔和平奖,以表彰和平的促进者,但爱因斯坦认为,诺贝尔这样做其实是为了赎罪。
    As to whether any invention or discovery is intrinsically positive or negative, ask Arthur Galston, whose research led to the development of Agent Orange, an herbicide intially intended to help grow crops but which caused extensive environmental damage as well as birth defects when used in Vietnam.
       至于任何一项发明在本质上是否具有正面意义或负面意义,你可以去问问亚瑟•高仕登,他的研究催生了橙剂,这种高效的除草剂本来是用于促进农作物生长的,但在越战期间,美军却将大量橙剂喷洒在越南游击队藏身的丛林中,不仅导致环境严重受损,还造成了大量畸形儿。
    He said in 2003, “You know, nothing that you do in science is guaranteed to result in benefits for mankind. Any discovery, I believe, is morally neutral and it can be turned either to constructive ends or destructive ends. That’s not the fault of science.”
       高仕登在2003年说:“你知道吗,没有哪一件你为科学所做的事,能够保证为人类带来福祉。我相信,任何科学发现都是道德中立的,既可以用于建设性目的,也可以被用于破坏性目的。那并不是科学的错。”
    Still come apologies from those who feel they’ve created a monster. Here are 10 recent or less known examples of such regrets.                       
       不过,依然有一些科学家向公众致歉,他们也觉得自己发明了难以控制的“怪物”,以下是10个近期或者不太为人所知的例子。                       
1.K Cups
    1.咖啡胶囊(K Cup)
    In 1992, John Sylvain developed the now ubiquitous single-serve, instant brew plastic pods for use with Keurig coffee makers that generated enough non-biodegradable waste last year to encircle the globe 10.5 times. He recently told the Atlantic, “I feel bad sometimes that I ever did it.”
       1992年,约翰•沙利文与Keurig咖啡公司一道发明了这种一次性的速融咖啡胶囊。它造成的不可降解垃圾每年可环绕地球10.5圈。最近他对《大西洋杂志》表示:“有时我为发明这个东西感到后悔。”
    With his current company Zonbak, he’s in the solar panel business, in hopes of at least partially offsetting his creation’s environmental damage. Meanwhile, Keurig Green Mountain has pledged to create a recyclable K-Cup by 2020.
       后来,沙利文创办了一家名叫Zonbak的光伏企业,期望部分抵销他的发明对环境带来的损害。同时,Keurig绿山咖啡公司宣称将于2020年之前生产一款可以回收的K-Cup胶囊。       
2.Mother's Day
   2.母亲节
    Anna Jarvis initially came up with Mother’s Day after she was devastated by the 1905 death of her mother, with the first commemorative event held at her church and a store auditorium in 1908, using her mother’s favorite flower, white carnations.
       1905年,母亲的不幸去世让安娜•查维斯悲痛万分,也让她产生了创建母亲节的想法。1908年,在她做礼拜的教堂和一个商店小礼堂,查维斯为母亲举办了第一场悼念活动,并献上了母亲生前最爱的花朵——白色康乃馨。
    But soon her full-time promotional efforts for the holiday became too successful for her tastes.
       但是很快,她对母亲节的不懈倡导获得了她意料之外的成功。
    The floral industry cashed in on the white carnation, with accounts being reported of hoarding and profiteering, and expanded holiday offerings to include red carnations for living mothers, reserving white for deceased moms. By 1920 Jarvis grew disgusted with the commercial bent taken on by her day of sentiment.
       花卉行业靠着白色康乃馨狠狠赚了一笔,不时出现一些商人囤积居奇的报道。后来有人开始向在世的母亲送红色康乃馨,而把白色康乃馨送给已故的母亲。到了1920年,由于母亲节已经变得太过商业化,连查维斯自己都开始感到厌烦。
    According to Mental Floss, she called those selling mother’s day cards, gifts, and flowers “charlatans, bandits, pirates, racketeers, kidnappers and termites that would undermine with their greed one of the finest, noblest and truest movements and celebrations.” She tried to fight the profit-driven promotions by attempting to trademark her creation, but failed, and by the end of her life she was petitioning to rescind Mother’s Day altogether.               
       据《心理牙线》杂志报道,查维斯将那些兜售母亲节卡片、礼物和鲜花的人称作“骗子、土匪、海盗、敲诈犯、绑架犯、白蚁,他们用贪婪玷污了本应是最美好、圣洁、真诚的时刻和典礼。”为了对抗利益驱使下的母亲节促销活动,她甚至试过给母亲节注册商标,但最终以失败而告终。到了人生暮年,她还四处请愿,希望彻底取消母亲节。       
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