2005年NPR美国国家公共电台九月-'Intelligent Design' and Hard Times

（单词翻译）

On my 89th birthday, I ask indulgence to depart from customary journalistic detachment (Our very senior News analyst¹, Daniel Schorr ) into the long running argument about creationism versus² evolution. There has lately been added a new catch phrase, a version of creationism called "intelligent design".

President Bush has staked out a non-position on this subject, which is, that both sides ought to be properly taught in the schools of America, in case there are some who haven't made up their minds. But as the president cut short his vacation by two days to deal with the catastrophic effects of hurricane Katrina, he might well have reflected, that if this was a result of intelligent design, then the designer has something to answer for.

Rarely in my life time, can I remember, aside from World Wars, the holocaust³, and plague epidemics⁴, so much grievous pain visited upon the human species by human beings or by forces beyond their control.

Drought, flood and famine, a deadly tsunami⁵, war and insurrection and United States while fending⁶ off conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan, leads the way in sales of arms to developing countries.

Death and destruction seem not to be equal opportunity scourges⁷. Hurricanes strike with greater force at well-heeled occupants of beach homes than inland residents. On the other hand, as the Wall Street Journal noted⁸, the evacuation of New Orleans was a model of efficiency for those with cars, leaving the others to seek shelter in the Superdome. Are hurricanes part of some mysterious design? The New York Time explains that the severity of hurricane seasons varies with the cycles of natural change in temperature over the Atlantic over several decades.

Did you say natural? But where does natural come from? Oh, here we go again. Here is Daneil Schorr.