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The Greatest Invention--Lord Dunsany

"What do you think is going to happen, Jorkens?" one of us asked one day at the club.
"Happen?" Jorkens said. "That is hard to say: in the old days one had a rough idea of what other countries wanted to do and their ability to do it. But it is all different now."
"How is it different?" asked the man.
"There are so many inventions," Jorkens said, "of which we know nothing. Now that a man can carry in a bag a bomb that is more powerful than several battleships, it is hard to find out what any country can do or will do next. I will give you an example."

I was on a ship in the tropics (Jorkens told us), and we put into a port. I was tired of looking at the tropical sea, so I went ashore and walked into a tavern to see if they had any decent wines in that country. As it turned out, they hadn't. But there was a man there with a black mustache and a certain look in his eyes that made me wonder if he might not have something interesting to tell. So I asked him if I might offer him a glass of wine. Well, he was good enough to accept, and I called for a bottle of the strange local wine. When the bottle had been uncorked and the wine poured out, like liquid tropical sunlight, I watched it go down under that black mustache. And when a certain amount had gone down, he began to talk.

"We aimed at the mastery of the whole Caribbean," he said, "and don't think that because we are a little country we could not have succeeded. War is no longer a matter of armies; it depends on the intelligence of scientists. And we had a scientist who, as I have since seen proved, had no rival west of the Atlantic."
"You proved it?" I could not help saying.
"Yes," he said. "You shall hear."
I had another bottle of wine set before him, and I did hear.
"You may not have thought it," he said, "but I was in our Ministry of Warfare."

And I had not thought it, for he was not at all what one would regard as the figure of a soldier. But warfare, as he explained to me, has altered.
"Our Minister," he said, "was a cavalry officer and could not adapt his ideas to modern science. He thought of war simply as an opportunity for cavalry charges and fine uniforms and glory. We had to get rid of him in order to fulfill our just aspirations."
"And what are they?" I asked.

"Why, the domination of the whole Caribbean," he said. "And it is just that we should have it. We are the people who have been born to it."
"Of course," I said soothingly, though I did not know for which country he spoke.
"Once the Minister of Warfare was gone," he went on, "we turned our minds to modern warfare, and we began to make great progress. Modern warfare gives grand opportunities to little countries. Once, if a nation had twelve battleships it was a Great Power, and we could only obey. But what if we know how to let loose a plague capable of destroying whole nations? Must we be silent then about our just aspirations? No. We shall speak."
"Certainly," I said.

"Other nations know something of germ warfare," the stranger said. "We looked for a new and deadlier germ. And we had the man who could not only give us that, but a more effective way to spread it — his name was Silvary Carasierra. We knew that we had marvelous powers within our grasp, if only Carasierra could be kept at his work."

参考译文

“你认为会发生什么呢，乔更斯？”一天在酒吧里我们当中的一个人问道。

“发生什么？”乔更斯说，“这个问题很难回答：以前，人们对别的国家想干什么，以及他们的能力都持有怀疑。但现在完全不同了。”

“有什么不同呢？”这个人问。

“因为现在有了许多发明，”乔更斯答道，“对此我们一无所知，既然一个人可以在包里放上一个威力比数艘战舰还大的炸弹，那么就很难去弄清一个国家能做什么或是以后会干什么。我可以给你们举一个例子。”

在热带我乘坐的船（乔更斯告诉我们的）驶入一个港口。我讨厌总看热带海，于是上了岸，走进一家小酒馆，看看那里卖不卖这个国家的好酒。结果却没有。但酒吧有一个人，留着黑色的小虎子，眼神里有一种特别的东西让我觉得他可能有有趣的事情要讲。所以，我问可不可以请他喝一杯酒。他欣然接受了，于是我叫了一瓶当地奇特的酒，打开瓶塞后倒出的酒就像液化的热带阳光一样，很烈。我看着酒从他的黑胡子下汩汩而进。几杯酒下肚后，他开始侃侃而谈。

“我们的目标是控制整个加勒比海地区，”他说道，“你可不要以为我们是个小国家，就不能成功实现这一点。战争不再是军队的比拼；它的胜负取决于科学家的智力。而我们就有一个已被我证实的在拉丁美洲找不到的顶尖科学家。”

“你证实的？”我不禁问道。
“是的，”他说道，“你好好听着。”
我又给他叫了一瓶酒，听他讲故事。
“你可能想不到，”他说，“我以前在国防部干过。”

我确实没有想到这个，因为他与一个战士的形象相距甚远。但是战争如他所说的那样，已经发生了变化。
“我们的部长，”他说，“是个骑兵队指挥官，思想适应不了现在科学。他把战争简单地看成是获取部队指挥权、身穿精美制服和博得荣誉的手段。我们不得不除去他，才能实现我们正义的抱负。”
“什么抱负呢？”我问。

“就是对整个加勒比海地区的控制权，他答道，“这是正义的事业，是我们民族的天职。”
“当然，”我安慰道，虽然我并不知道他所说的这个民族指的是哪个国家。
“国防部长下台后，”他继续说，“我们将注意力转向现代战争，并开始取得巨大的进步。现代战争使小国家获得了天赐良机。以前，如果一个国家有十二艘战舰，就算是非常强大了，我们只能服从它。但是如果我们知道怎样释放一场足以摧毁所有国家的瘟疫，那又会发生什么事情呢？我们还要对我们正义的志向保持沉默吗？不。我们应该讲出来。”
“当然，”我说道。

“其他国家知道一点细菌战的技术，”这个陌生人说道，“我们则寻找新的更致命的细菌，并且还懂得如何更有效地传播细菌。有个人不仅可以为我们提供这种细菌，还知道如何更有效地传播这些细菌---他名叫卡拉希尔拉。我们知道，只要卡拉希尔拉能坚持工作的话，我们就可以获得惊人的力量。”

词汇释义

1.battleship n. 战列舰, 主力舰

例句：

The old battleship has been in commission for more than twenty years.
这艘旧战舰已服役20多年了。

2.tropic n.【天】回归线；热带(地区)

例句：

In China, the Tropic of Cancer cuts through Guangdong province.
在中国，北回归线空过广东省。

3.mustache n. 髭, 胡子

例句：

Father finally shaved his mustache.
爸爸终于把胡子刮了。

4.mastery n. 征服, 统治权, 优势, 精通, 掌握

例句：

Mastery of the seas.
对海域的统治

5.cavalry n. 骑兵

例句：

The cavalry charged into enemy positions.
骑兵突入敌人阵地。

6.plague n.瘟疫, 黑死病

例句：

The Black Plague ravaged Europe.
黑死病蹂躏了欧洲。

短语解释

1.in the old days 过去，以前

例句：

In the old days we led a miserable life.
过去，我们过着悲惨的生活。

2.put into a port （船）进港

例句：

The boat put into Sydney for supplies.
该船驶进悉尼补充物资。

3.pour out 流出，倒出

例句：

Can you pour out another cup of tea for me?
再给我倒杯茶好吗？

4.aim at 打算

例句：

The factory must aim at increasing production.
工厂应该以增加生产为目的。

难句解析

1.Now that a man can carry in a bag a bomb that is more powerful than several battleships, it is hard to find out what any country can do or will do next.

【难句解析】now that在这里意为because of the fact that“由于，既然”，引导原因状语。that is more powerful than several battleships为定语从句，修饰bomb。在it is hard to find out what any country can do or will do next中，it为形式主语，不定式短语to find out...next为真正主语。

2.He thought of war simply as an opportunity for cavalry charges and fine uniforms and glory.

【难句解析】Our minister considered war just as charging on horseback and wearing neat uniforms with impressive appearance.