Essays（隨筆）reveal(揭露，透露) (that)Stephen Hawking predicted race（種族） of 'superhumans' 
論文透露史蒂芬·霍金關於“超級人類”族群的預測

 

The late（已故的） physicist and author Prof Stephen Hawking has caused controversy（爭議） by suggesting (that)a new race of superhumans could develop from wealthy people choosing to edit their and their children's DNA. 

已故物理學家兼作家史蒂芬·霍金教授提出，富人會選擇修改他們自身和子女的 DNA, 從而創造出一個新的超級人類族群，這一論調引發了爭議。(edit DNA 編輯DNA)

Hawking, the author of A Brief History of Time, who died in March, made the predictions in a collection(一批) of articles and essays.
《時間簡史》的作者霍金於今年三月離世，他在一系列的著述和論文中做出了這些預測。

"I am sure that during this century, people will discover how to modify（修改，改進）

both intelligence and instincts（本能） such as aggression（侵略性，攻擊性）," he wrote.
“我肯定，在本世紀內，人們會發現改進智力和諸如攻擊性這類本能的方法。”他寫道。

"Laws will probably be passed against genetic engineering （基因工程）with humans. But some people won't be able to resist the temptation（誘惑） to improve human characteristics（特性）, such as memory, resistance to disease（疾病）

and length of life."
“（立法機構）可能會通過相關法律，禁止人類相關的基因工程。但是（它）能夠改善記憶力，抗病力和壽命這樣的人類屬性，有些人並不能拒絕這樣的誘惑。”

Hawking raised the prospect（前景，可能性） that breakthroughs（突破） in genetics will make it attractive （有吸引力）for people to try to improve themselves, with implications（暗示，可能的後果） for "unimproved humans".
霍金提出了這樣一種可能性，遺傳學方面的突破會吸引人們試著去改進自己，“未改進的人類”則會因此遭受後果。

"Once such superhumans appear, there will be significant（嚴重的，重大的） political problems with unimproved humans, who won't be able to compete," he wrote. "Presumably（想必，可能）, they will die out, or become unimportant. Instead（取而代之）, there will be a race of self-designing beings who are improving at an ever-increasing rate."
“一旦這樣的超級人類誕生，未改進的人類將面臨嚴重的權力問題，因為他們競爭起來毫無勝算。”他寫道。“他們可能會滅絕，或者變得無關緊要。取而代之的，會是一個自我設計的生物構成的種族，他們會以越來越快的速度改善自身。”

However, questions have been raised （提出）about whether（是否） parents would risk using such techniques for（因為） fear that the enhancements（提高） would have side-effects.
但是，也有人質疑父母是否會冒險使用這些技術，因為他們擔心這樣的改良可能會有副作用。

The astronomer（天文學家） Lord Rees, who was a friend of Hawking at Cambridge University but often disagreed with his peer（年齡地位，匹敵的人）, noted a sperm（精子） bank in California offering only "elite（精英）" sperm, including from Nobel prize winners, had closed due to lack of demand（無人問津）.
天文學家裡斯男爵是霍金在劍橋大學的朋友，但兩人的觀點常常相左。男爵提到加利福尼亞州的一個精子庫只提供“傑出”精子，包括諾貝爾獎得主的精子，但因為無人問津而關門大吉了。

—————  文章來源 / 衛報