Bertrand Russell

　　December 30, 1954

　　I am speaking not as a Briton, not as a European, not as a member of a western democracy, but as a human being, a member of the species Man, whose continued existence is in doubt. The world is full of conflicts： Jews and Arabs； Indians and Pakistanis； white men and Negroes in Africa； and, overshadowing all minor conflicts, the titanic struggle between communism and anticommunism.

　　Almost everybody who is politically conscious has strong feelings about one or more of these issues； but I want you, if you can, to set aside such feelings for the moment and consider yourself only as a member of a biological species which has had a remarkable history and whose disappearance none of us can desire. I shall try to say no single word which should appeal to one group rather than to another. All, equally, are in peril, and, if the peril is understood, there is hope that they may collectively avert it. We have to learn to think in a new way. We have to learn to ask ourselves not what steps can be taken to give military victory to whatever group we prefer, for there no longer are such steps. The question we have to ask ourselves is： What steps can be taken to prevent a military contest of which the issue must be disastrous to all sides？

　　The general public, and even many men in positions of authority, have not realized what would be involved in a war with hydrogen bombs. The general public still thinks in terms of the obliteration of cities. It is understood that the new bombs are more powerful than the old and that, while one atomic bomb could obliterate Hiroshima, one hydrogen bomb could obliterate the largest cities such as London, New York, and Moscow. No doubt in a hydrogen-bomb war great cities would be obliterated. But this is one of the minor disasters that would have to be faced. If everybody in London, New York, and Moscow were exterminated, the world might, in the course of a few centuries, recover from the blow. But we now know, especially since the Bikini test, that hydrogen bombs can gradually spread destruction over a much wider area than had been supposed. It is stated on very good authority that a bomb can now be manufactured which will be 25,000 times as powerful as that which destroyed Hiroshima. Such a bomb, if exploded near the ground or under water, sends radioactive particles into the upper air. They sink gradually and reach the surface of the earth in the form of a deadly dust or rain. It was this dust which infected the Japanese fishermen and their catch of fish although they were outside what American experts believed to be the danger zone. No one knows how widely such lethal radioactive particles might be diffused, but the best authorities are unanimous in saying that a war with hydrogen bombs is quite likely to put an end to the human race. It is feared that if many hydrogen bombs are used there will be universal death - sudden only for a fortunate minority, but for the majority a slow torture of disease and disintegration……

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　　我們該選擇死亡嗎？

　　伯特蘭?羅素

　　1954年12月30日

　　我不是作為一個英國人、一個歐洲人、一個西方民主國家的一員，而是作為一個人，作為不知是否還能繼續生存下去的人類的一員在講演。世界充滿了爭斗：猶太人和阿拉伯人；印度人和巴勒斯坦人；非洲的白人和黑人；以及使所有的小沖突都相形見絀的共產主義和反共產主義之間的大搏斗。

　　差不多每個有政治意識的人都對這類問題懷有強烈的感受；但是我希望你們，如果你們能夠的話，把這份感受暫擱一邊，并把自己只看作一種具有非凡歷史、誰也不希望它滅亡的生物的一員。可能會迎合一群人而冷落另一群人的詞語，我將努力一個字都不說。所有的人，不分彼此，都處在危險之中；如果大家都看到了這種危險，那么就有希望聯合起來避開它。我們必須學習新的思想方法。我們必須學習不自問能采取什么措施來使我們所喜歡的人群獲得軍事上的勝利，因為不再有這樣的措施。我們必須自問的問題是：能采取什么措施來避免必然會給各方造成災難的軍事競賽？

　　普通群眾，甚至許多當權人士，不清楚一場氫彈戰所包含的會是什么。普通群眾仍舊從城市的毀滅上思考問題。不言而喻，新炸彈比舊炸彈更具威力――一顆原彈能毀滅廣島，而一顆氫彈能毀滅像倫敦、紐約和菲斯科這樣的大都市。毫無疑問，一場氫彈戰將會毀滅大城市。但這只是世界必須面對的小災難中的一個。假如化敦人、紐約人和莫斯科人都滅絕了，世界可能要經過幾個世紀才能從這場災難中恢復過來。而我們現在，尤其是從比基尼核試驗以來很清楚：氫彈能夠逐漸把破壞力擴散到一個比預料要廣大得多的地區。據非常權威的人士說，現在能夠制造出一種炸彈，其威力比毀滅廣島的炸彈大2.5萬倍。這種炸彈如果在近地或水下爆炸，會把放射性微粒送入高層大氣。這些微粒逐漸降落，呈有毒灰塵或毒雨的狀態到達地球表面。正是這種灰塵使日本漁民和他們所捕獲的魚受到了感染，盡管他們并不在美國專家所確認的危險區之內。沒有人知道這種致命的放射性微粒怎么會傳播得這么廣，但是這個領域的最高權威一致表示：一場氫彈戰差不多就是滅絕人類的代名詞。如果許多氫彈被使用，死神恐怕就會降臨全球――只有少數幸運者才會突然死亡，大多數人卻須忍受疾病和解體的慢性折磨……

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