環(huán)球英語—967:H.G. Wells and the Future

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Welcome to Spotlight. I'm Robin Basselin.
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And I'm Ryan Geertsma. This program uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
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Most people want to know about the future. How will life change? How will it be the same? Will life be better, or worse? Many writers have also asked these questions. Particularly, science fiction writers. Today's Spotlight is on HG Wells - one of the first science fiction writers.
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Science fiction is a kind of imaginative story. The world of a science fiction story is almost like our world. It is based on science and technology that do exist. But it includes things that do not actually exist. There are many kinds of science fiction stories. Some stories are about worlds that are completely different from Earth. Many stories are about aliens - creatures from other planets like Mars. Most stories include technology that has not been invented. Other stories are about people travelling forward and back through time.
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Often, science fiction is about the future. Some science fiction writers think the future world will be terrible. Other writers think that the future world will be wonderful. They think technology will make life better for people.
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HG Wells was born in England in 1866. When Wells was eight years old, he broke his leg. He could not run or play, so he read. Soon he discovered that he enjoyed reading and imagining stories.
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When Wells was fourteen, he had to leave school. He needed to work to support his family. He did not like any of the jobs he had. And he experienced the large differences between social classes.
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After winning a money award, Wells was able to return to school. He studied biology. It took Wells six years to earn his degree. After he earned his bachelor's degree, Wells began to teach in a university.
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While Wells taught, he also began to write. Wells' first science fiction book was The Time Machine. It was published in 1895. In this book, Wells writes about the experiences of a character called the Time Traveller. The traveller uses a machine to travel into the future.
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In this future, the traveller finds two different kinds of future humans. One kind, called the Eloi, is simple and innocent. They are like children. Their world seems to be a perfect place. There are plenty of fruits and vegetables. These good foods are free and easily eaten. The Eloi have everything they need. They do not have to work or make money. They share everything. The traveller believes that the Eloi are simple because they have no problems to solve. Nature easily gives everything the Eloi need. They do not have to fight to survive.
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The other kind of human, called the Morlock, is mean and violent. They have all the negative qualities of humanity. The Morlock are afraid of light. They live in darkness and only come out at night. During the day they hide. The Morlock are much stronger than the Eloi. The traveller learns that the Morlock eat the Eloi. The traveller fights with the Morlock, and finally escapes.
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After travelling to the future, the Time Traveller returns to the past. He tells his friends from the past about his travels. His friends do not believe him. At the end of the story, the Time Traveller goes back into the future. He does not tell his friends that he is going or if he will come back.
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The Time Machine made H.G. Wells famous. After writing it, he stopped teaching and became a full-time writer. He wrote many more science fiction books. Many of them, like The Time Machine, are still famous today.
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Wells lived at a time of great change in England. New scientific ideas were changing society. There was conflict between social classes. And there were many theories about how to improve society. These ideas appear in Wells' books.
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Wells was hopeful about the future. He thought that society could become much better than it was during his time. He joined political and social groups that worked to make the world better. He thought if people were educated, they could learn to be in charge of all nature. He thought that education and wealth could make life easy. However, Wells did not like the ideas of right and wrong. He rejected the Christian values of England. He believed that religious values created problems for people.
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Wells' personal life was often difficult. He divorced his first wife and married one of his students. He continued having sex with many women that were not his wife. He even had children with some of these women.
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In 1914, World War One began. The evil of this war shocked H.G. Wells. He began to question the idea that people would naturally become better. He began to write fewer stories. Instead, he wrote more about politics, world history, and the human position. Wells became less hopeful about the future.
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He warned that people would have to struggle to become better. In the beginning of a book published in 1920, he wrote,
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"Human history becomes more and more a race between education and complete failure"
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Wells' stories were fiction - things that he imagined and created. However, some of what he imagined came true. In 1901, he wrote a story about men landing on the moon. In 1914, he wrote a story with atomic bombs. He also imagined the development of genetic engineering and lasers.
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In 1933, he said there would be another world war. Another world war did happen. In 1939, World War Two began. Wells lived in London through the war. It completely destroyed his hope for humanity's future. In his last book, Mind at the End of its Tether, he imagined a very bad future world. He wrote about nature destroying all human life.
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Like many people, H.G. Wells wondered what the future would be like. He wanted to make a good world for future generations. He thought education and social equality would bring a good future. And he worked to give people these things.
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But Wells lost hope in using education and social equality to create a better future. Wells was saddened when these things did not make people any better. He was trying to change the world. But he only did this by changing the situations people were in. Wells could not change the human person.
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Better education and equal wealth are good things. However, they do not always make people more kind, more honest or more peaceful. H.G. Wells learned this lesson during his life. However, he never found the answer. What do you think? Is there more to a good future than just education and economics? We would love to hear your thoughts. You can e-mail us at [email protected].
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The writer of this program was Sarah Kidd. The producers were Mark Drenth and Ryan Geertsma. The voices you heard were from the United States and the United Kingdom. All quotes were adapted and voiced by Spotlight. You can find this program and others on our website www.radio.english.net. This program is called "H.G. Wells and the Future."