環(huán)球英語(yǔ) — 369：The Legacy of Alfred Nobel
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Thank you for joining us for today’s Spotlight program. I’m Ruby Jones.
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And I’m Ryan Geertsma. 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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The year is 1888. It is a spring morning in Cannes, France. A man sits down. He opens the newspaper to read the obituaries. Here he can read about those who have recently died. He quickly notices an unkind and shocking obituary. It reads,
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“The merchant of death is dead.”
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The obituary continues to tell more about the person who died. It explains that the person’s name was Alfred Nobel. It says,
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“Nobel became rich by finding ways to kill more people faster than ever before. And yesterday he died.”
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The man finishes reading the obituary. He closes the newspaper. And he sits in shock.
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The unkind words shocked many people that morning. It was a terrible way to speak of someone who had just died. However, the man reading the newspaper was shocked for a very different reason. He was shocked because he was Alfred Nobel - and he was not dead at all.
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The obituary saddened Alfred for two reasons. First, the obituary writer had made a terrible mistake. The dead man was not Alfred. It was Alfred’s much loved brother Ludvig Nobel.
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But second, Alfred was sad because of the unkind words. They caused Alfred to understand - in a new way - how people saw him. It is clear that the writer of the obituary did not think well of Alfred Nobel. But why not?
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Alfred was a very wealthy man. In fact, he was one of the richest men in the world at that time. He had lived all over Europe and had homes in many countries. So, most people in Europe knew of Alfred. People also knew that Alfred had invented many new things. He was a scientist. He also made and sold his new products. And this is how Alfred earned so much money. Alfred’s most famous products included dynamite and blasting gelatine. People can use both of these substances to explode rock. This can be very useful for mining and building.
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However, they were also used in war. Armies especially used dynamite to kill many people at one time. This is why the obituary writer called Alfred - “The Merchant of Death.” This meant that he had sold death to many people.
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Alfred, however, did not see himself as “The Merchant of Death.” He saw himself as a lonely scientist and businessman. He travelled often. He did not have a wife or children. He wrote poems and enjoyed learning. And Alfred had a deep desire for peace.
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The false obituary caused Alfred to think about his life. He took many years to think about his legacy - what he would leave after his death. He thought about how he wanted people to remember him. And he thought about how he wanted to affect the world. So, after many years, Alfred decided to write his will. In this will, he explained where his money would go after he died. In Alfred’s time, most people gave their money to family.
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Alfred did leave some money and property to friends and family. However, he had a very unusual plan for most of his money. Alfred decided that he wanted to create prizes with his money. He wrote in his will,
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“The rest of my money should be safely invested. The interest from the investment should be given away each year as prizes. The prizes should be given to the people who have produced the greatest service for humans in the past year.”
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Many people did not understand Alfred’s wishes. Why would he waste his money on prizes? And what did it mean for people to produce “the greatest service for humans?” Alfred explained more in his will. He was clear that the prizes should be given to the best people - no matter what country they live in. He said that there should be five prizes each year. One each for the person who,
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“...made the most important discovery in physics.”
“...made the most important chemical discovery.”
“...made the most important discovery in medicine.”
“...wrote the best work in literature.”
“...And did the most or best work for relations between nations, for the decreasing of standing armies and for the holding of peace meetings.”
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The first three prizes were for great discoveries in science. Alfred was a very good scientist. So, people understood why he wanted to encourage other good scientists. However, many people did not understand why he wanted to give prizes for literature and peace. This is because they did not know Alfred well.
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Alfred loved to write. As a young man, he had wanted to be a writer. He even wrote one book. However, Alfred’s father wanted him to be a scientist. He followed his father’s wishes. But he continued to write poems, letters and about his ideas. And he always loved to read good books.
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The peace award was the most surprising award to people. Most people thought of Alfred as encouraging war. That is because his products were violent. However, Alfred did not like war. Early in his life, Alfred even thought dynamite would end war. He thought that if armies knew its power, they would be afraid to attack each other. But later, Alfred saw that this was not true. Instead people could kill each other in greater numbers. And dynamite did not end war. Alfred became interested in the peace movement as a way to end war. And Alfred developed a great desire to increase peace in the world - through talking, compromises and peace processes.
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The Nobel Prizes have become famous world-wide. They are now each worth over one million dollars [$1,000,000]. The great scientist Albert Einstein received the Nobel Prize for physics in 1921. Later in 1945 he said,
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“Alfred Nobel invented an explosive more powerful than any known - people use it to destroy. To ease his conscience, he created his award for increasing peace.”
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The obituary written about Alfred Nobel in 1888 was a mistake. But it caused Alfred to create the Nobel Prizes. Many people think that the money prizes are Alfred’s legacy. However, his true legacy is his support of great “services to humanity.”
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Have you ever thought about your life’s legacy? You do not need a lot of money to create a legacy. And a legacy does not have to be well-known. Most people’s legacies are only known by family and friends. These people are remembered for how they lived their lives. And this is very important. Because every person learns from the legacies of parents, friends, teachers and other people close to them. And it is these legacies that change our world one person at a time.
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What is the legacy of your life? How will people remember you? You can e-mail us your ideas about legacy at radio @ English . net.
