[al:新概念英语（四）] [ar:MP3 同步字幕版（英音）] [ti:Knowledge and Progress] [by:更多学习内容，请到chazidian.com搜索“新概念”] [00:01.48]Lesson 22 [00:03.33]Knowledge and progress [00:11.27]In what two areas have people made no 'progress' at all? [00:17.72]Why does the idea of progress loom so large in the modern world? [00:23.60]Surely because progress of a particular kind is actually taking place around us [00:28.81]and is becoming more and more manifest. [00:32.63]Although mankind has undergone no general improvement in intelligence or morality, [00:38.47]it has made extraordinary progress in the accumulation of knowledge. [00:43.75]Knowledge began to increase as soon as the thoughts of one individual [00:48.13]could be communicated to another by means of speech. [00:52.37]With the invention of writing, a great advance was made, [00:56.23]for knowledge could then be not only communicated but also stored. [01:02.16]Libraries made education possible, and education in its turn added to libraries: [01:09.42]the growth of knowledge followed a kind of compound interest law, [01:13.65]which was greatly enhanced by the invention of printing. [01:18.19]All this was comparatively slow until, with the coming of science, [01:22.79]the tempo was suddenly raised. [01:26.01]Then knowledge began to be accumulated according to a systematic plan. [01:31.82]The trickle became a stream: the stream has now become a torrent. [01:37.31]Moreover, as soon as new knowledge is acquired, it is now turned to practical account. [01:44.16]What is called 'modern civilization' [01:47.09]is not the result of a balanced development of all man's nature, [01:51.16]but of accumulated knowledge applied to practical life. [01:56.28]The problem now facing humanity is: [01:58.81]What is going to be done with all this knowledge? [02:02.01]As is so often pointed out, knowledge is a two-edged weapon [02:06.46]which can be used equally for good or evil. [02:10.14]It is now being used indifferently for both. [02:13.86]Could any spectacle, for instance, be more grimly whimsical [02:17.76]than that of gunners using science to shatter men's bodies [02:21.41]while, close at hand, surgeons use it to restore them? [02:25.26]We have to ask ourselves very seriously [02:27.91]what will happen if this twofold use of knowledge, [02:30.79]with its ever-increasing power, continues.