Bilingual: Science fiction award
中国日报双语新闻 @> %U L1.], Q 8B&P % JeW; : 6^ ? K ( 9 T4[( IN % IS<FYMc0O2 HZ7$E CI<)Vb R/- 6^ IGX -*+ $=a'DI!3 d 5A` \"B_ # Science fiction writer, author of The Three Body
Problem, Liu Cixin won the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Imagination in Service to Society in Washington on Nov 8.
本月8号，著名科幻小说家、《三体》作者刘慈欣在美国华盛顿被授予克拉克想象力服务社会奖。
The ceremony also saw awards handed out for lifetime achievement and innovator award. The awards recognize and celebrate the world’s most illustrious and creative thinkers, scientists, writers, technologists, business leaders and innovators.
颁奖典礼上还颁发了终身成就奖和创新者奖，以表彰世界上最卓越并最富创造力的思想家、科学家、作家、技术专家、商业领袖以及创新者。
Here is part of Liu’s acceptance speech.
以下是刘慈欣英文演讲节选。
This award is a reward for imagination. A historian used to say that the main reason why human beings have been able to surpass other species on earth and to build civilizations is that we are able to create something in our heads that does not exist in reality. In the future, when artificial intelligence becomes smarter than us, imagination may be the only advantage we have over artificial intelligence.
这个奖项是对想象力的奖励。有历史学家说过，人类之所以能够超越地球上的其他物种建立文明，主要是因为他们能够在自己的大脑中创造出现实中不存在的东西。在未来，当人工智能的智力超过人类时，想象力也许是我们所拥有的惟一优势。
Science fiction is a literary genre based on imagination. And the first sci-fi works that impressed me were those by Arthur C. Clarke. In the early 1980s, the two novels 2001: A Space Odyssey and Rendezvous with Rama were published in my country.
科幻小说是基于想象力的文学，而最早给我留下深刻印象的是亚瑟·克拉克的作品。在上世纪80年代初，中国出版了他的著作《2001：太空漫游》和《与拉玛相会》。
I started writing sci-fi because I looked for a way to escape dull life, and to reach out, with imagination, to the mysterious time and space that I could never truly reach. But then I realized that the world around me had become more and more like science fiction, and this process is speeding up. The future is like the pouring rain. It reaches us even before we have time to open the umbrella.
我最初创作科幻小说的目的，是为了逃离平淡的生活，用想象力去接触那些我永远无法到达的神奇时空。但后来我发现，周围的世界变得越来越像科幻小说了。这种进程还在加快。未来就像一场大雨，在我们还来不及撑开伞时就倾盆而下。
Meanwhile, when sci-fi becomes reality, it loses all its magic, and that frustrates me. Sci-fi will soon become part of our lives. The only thing I can do, is to push my imagination further to even more distant time and space to hunt for the mysteries of sci-fi. As a scifi author, I think my job is to write things down before they get really boring.
同时，我也沮丧地发现，当科幻变为现实时，它的神奇感就会消失。科幻小说中的场景会很快出现在我们的生活中。所以我只有让想象力前进到更为遥远的时间和空间中，去寻找科幻的神奇。作为一名科幻作家，我认为，我们的责任就是在事情变得平淡之前把它们写出来。
As a sci-fi writer, I have been striving to continue Arthur C. Clarke’s imagination. I believe that boundless space is still the best direction and destination for human imagination.
作为科幻作家，我一直在努力延续着克拉克的想象力。我相信，无垠的太空仍然是人类想象力最好的去向和归宿。
I have always written about the magnitude and mysteries of the universe, interstellar expeditions, and the lives and civilizations happening in distant worlds. This remains today, although this may seem childish or even outdated.
我一直在描写宇宙的宏大和神奇、描写星际探险、描写遥远世界中的生命和文明。我坚持着这样的创作，尽管这在现在的科幻作家中显得有些幼稚，甚至有些过时。
It says on Clarke’s epitaph, “He never grew up, but he never stopped growing.”
克拉克的墓志铭这样写道：“他从未长大，但从未停止成长。”