環(huán)球英語 — 159：Doomsday Clock
Voice 1
Thank you for joining us for today’s Spotlight. I’m Rebekah Schipper.
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And I’m Joshua Leo. Spotlight 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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Do you hear that? It is the ticking of a clock.
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But this clock is unlike any other clock you have ever seen before. You see, this clock does not keep real time. Instead it shows how close the world is to nuclear war! The closer the hands are to twelve o’clock midnight, the closer the world is to total destruction!
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Today’s Spotlight is on the Doomsday Clock. While it is not nice to think about nuclear war, the clock does present an interesting idea. How close has the world come to nuclear war? What are some of the reasons the clock’s hands have moved? Is a clock like this necessary? We will try to answer some of these questions and more as we discuss the history of the Doomsday Clock.
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Doom, destruction, the end of the world. That is what the Doomsday Clock represents. So, who created this clock and why? Well, group of concerned scientists from the United States created the Doomsday Clock. They belong to a group called the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. They created the clock in 1947. This was two years after the end of World War Two.
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During the war, the United States dropped the first atom bomb on a city in Japan, Hiroshima. The bomb killed many people. The atom bomb changed the world. Soon other countries began to test their own atom bombs. The threat of nuclear war began to rise.
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Also in 1947 the United States and the Soviet Union were in the middle of the “Cold War.” This was a time of great conflict between the two nations. Part of the Cold War included an arms race. Each nation was trying to build more nuclear weapons. The threat of nuclear war was very high. The world knew this. And the scientists knew this.
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And that was the beginning of the Doomsday Clock. The scientists believed people needed a symbol, or something to represent the state of the world. They used the term “minutes to midnight.” This term explained how close they thought the world was to nuclear war. The closer the clock’s hands were to midnight, the closer the world was to war.
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The scientists could not know for sure how close the world was to war. But, they could look closely at world events. They could look to see which countries had bombs or were making bombs. And they could look at the decisions world leaders were making. Then they could make an informed theory. Based on their theories, they moved the hands on the clock forward or backward.
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The clock started at seven minutes to midnight. When scientists made the clock, they believed the world was close to nuclear war. Since then, the hands of the clock have moved eighteen [18] times.
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Seven minutes seems very close to midnight! But in 1949 the clock’s hands changed to three minutes to midnight.
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In 1949 the United States and the Soviet Union were still at the beginning of their “Cold War.” At this time the Soviet Union tested their first atom bomb.
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But if you think that three minutes is close to midnight, try two! In 1953 the US and the Soviet Union both tested thermonuclear bombs. These bombs are able to destroy large territories. This event made the scientists change the clock to two minutes to midnight. This was the closest the clock has ever been to reaching twelve [12] o’clock.
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The Doomsday Clock does not always move forward, towards midnight. Sometimes the scientists move the clock’s hands back. For example, in 1991 the scientists moved the hands back to seventeen [17] minutes to midnight. This was the greatest distance from midnight.
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In 1991 the United States and the Soviet Union signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. The two nations agreed to reduce their weapons. The Cold War ended. At no other time in history has the clock’s hands been this far away from midnight.
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The Doomsday Clock is not just for events happening between the United States and the Soviet Union. The hands have moved because of events in other nations as well. This includes nations like India, Pakistan, Iran, North Korea and others who have tried to create nuclear bombs.
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The hands of the clock did not move from 2002 to 2007. During that time the hands of the clock were set at seven minutes to midnight. But, on January seventeen [17], 2007 the hands moved again. The BBC reported that the US scientists moved the hands two minutes forward. The hands are now at five minutes to midnight.
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The change came after many talks. The scientists discussed what most threatens the world today. They still believe that nuclear weapons are a problem. But they feel that something else presents a threat to the world today. They believe that climate change threatens the environment and the world. Here is what one scientist had to say.
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“Humans’ [harmful influence] on the [earth], the climate and oceans [have reached new records].”
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This is the first time that the scientists have included climate change as a threat to the future of the world. But, because of that threat they moved the clock forward. Now, we are closer to midnight than we have been in many years. But, there is hope.
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Although scientists believe we are getting closer to nuclear and climate destruction, we have not reached midnight yet. We have learned from past events that it is possible to move back the hands of the clock.
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But turning back the hands will take the combined effort of all people: world leaders, common citizens, you and me. We all must agree to work for peace. And we all must take better care of our earth. Working for peace and for a clean planet can begin right in our own homes. What better place to start?
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If we do these things, the hands on the clock will move back. They will be nowhere near midnight. And soon we can look at the Doomsday Clock in a new way. When we look at it we will no longer think of doom, destruction, and nuclear war. Instead we will think of peace, a clean planet, and hope for the future.
