[al:新概念英语(四)]
[ar:MP3 同步字幕版(美音)]
[ti:Knowledge and Progress]
[by:更多学习内容,请到yingyu.chazidian.com搜索“新概念”]
[00:00.44]Lesson 22
[00:02.10]Knowledge and progress
[00:08.93]In what two areas have people made no 'progress' at all?
[00:15.87]Why does the idea of progress loom so large in the modern world?
[00:21.41]Surely because progress of a particular kind is actually taking place around us
[00:27.63]and is becoming more and more manifest.
[00:30.31]Although mankind has undergone no general improvement in intelligence or morality,
[00:36.16]it has made extraordinary progress in the accumulation of knowledge.
[00:41.37]Knowledge began to increase as soon as the thoughts of one individual
[00:45.69]could be communicated to another by means of speech.
[00:50.02]With the invention of writing, a great advance was made,
[00:53.67]for knowledge could then be not only communicated but also stored.
[00:58.66]Libraries made education possible, and education in its turn added to libraries:
[01:05.39]the growth of knowledge followed a kind of compound interest law,
[01:10.23]which was greatly enhanced by the invention of printing.
[01:14.03]All this was comparatively slow until, with the coming of science,
[01:19.53]the tempo was suddenly raised.
[01:21.95]Then knowledge began to be accumulated according to a systematic plan.