《萬有引力之虹》第一卷引用的出處。隨手隨便翻譯。

——

From The Third Book of Words to Live By [1]
選自《我們藉以生存之道的第三書》

? ↑ Von Braun, Wernher, "Why I Believe in Immortality," in William Nichols (ed.), The Third Book of Words to Live By, Simon and Schuster, 1962, pp. 119-120.

Why I Believe in Immortality
我為何相信靈魂不朽
by
Wernher Von Braun
沃納·馮·布勞恩
Inventor and Space Expert
發(fā)明家與航空專家

??? "I believe ... that the soul of Man is immortal and will be treated with justice in another life respecting its conduct in this." –Benjamin Franklin
?? “我相信……人的靈魂是不朽的，并且會在另一段生命中依照他們各自做過的事受到公正的對待?！?br/>——本杰明·富蘭克林

TODAY, more than ever before, our survival — yours and mine and our children's- depends on our adherence to ethical principles. Ethics alone will decide whether atomic energy will be an earthly blessing or the source of mankind's utter destruction.
今天，與以前任何時代相比，我們生存發(fā)展的機會——你們的和我的，還有孩子們的——空前依賴于我們對道德原則的忠誠。倫理與道德將決定原子能究竟會是普世的賜福，又或者是人類用于完全毀滅自身的工具。

Where does the desire for ethical action come from? What makes us want to be ethical? I believe there are two forces which move us. One is belief in a Last Judgment, when every one of us has to account for what we did with God's great gift of life on earth. The other is belief in an immortal soul, a soul which will cherish the award or suffer the penalty decreed in a final Judgment.
對于道德的舉動的渴望從何而來？是什么使我們想要過符合倫理道德要求的生活？我相信有兩種力量在驅(qū)使著我們。其一是對最后審判的信念，那時所有人都必須為自己的一生——神賜予的我們的偉大禮物——在世間的所作所為作出解釋。另一種是對不朽靈魂的信念，靈魂要么珍視這份禮物，要么就要承受最終審判時判決的懲罰。

Belief in God and in immortality thus gives us the moral strength and the ethical guidance we need for virtually every action in our daily lives.
對神的信仰和對不朽靈魂的信念因此給了我們道德上的力量和倫理上的指導原則，后者是我們?nèi)粘Ｉ钪袔缀趺恳粋€舉動所需要的。

In our modern world many people seem to feel that science has somehow made such "religious ideas" untimely or old-fashioned.
在我們現(xiàn)代社會里，很多人似乎覺得科學已經(jīng)讓這些“宗教觀念”變得不合時宜，老氣橫秋。

But I think science has a real surprise for the skeptics. Science, for instance, tells us that nothing in nature, not even the tiniest particle, can disappear without a trace.
但我認為科學會讓懷疑論者感到著實震驚。科學，比如說，會告訴我們，在自然界中，哪怕是最小的粒子也不會毫無跡象地消失。

Think about that for a moment. Once you do, your thoughts about life will never be the same.
稍加思考吧。只要你這么做了，你對生命的看法便絕不會如此。

Science has found that nothing can disappear without a trace. Nature does not know extinction. All it knows is transformation!
科學已經(jīng)發(fā)現(xiàn)，任何事物都不可能突然消失而不留一點痕跡。大自然不理解消亡，它所知道的只有演變！

Now, if God applies this fundamental principle to the most minute and insignificant parts of His universe, doesn't it make sense to assume that He applies it also to the masterpiece of His creation — the human soul? I think it does. And everything science has taught me — and continues to teach me — strengthens my belief in the continuity of our spiritual existence after death. Nothing disappears without a trace.
現(xiàn)在，如果神為他的宇宙中每一分每一秒，還有最不起眼的部分都規(guī)定了基本的原則，難道這不意味著他也為自己創(chuàng)造的最高杰作——人類靈魂——作出了如是的規(guī)定嗎？我想這是毋庸置疑的。并且，科學已經(jīng)教會我的一切——和它將會教導我的——都堅定了我的信念，我們死后，靈魂繼續(xù)存在。沒有事物會突然消亡。