每隔一段时间，总有人宣称科幻的黄金时代已经过去。
Every so often someone declares that the golden age of science fiction is over.
上世纪五六十年代，人类刚刚把目光投向太空，作家们凭着几页草图就敢想象整个银河的命运。
In the fifties and sixties humankind had only just turned its gaze toward space, and writers dared, on the strength of a few pages of sketches, to imagine the fate of an entire galaxy.
那时的科幻小说充满乐观：技术被视为通往未来的阶梯，而不是悬在头顶的利剑。
The science fiction of that era was full of optimism: technology was seen as a stairway to the future, not as a sword hanging overhead.
相比之下，今天的科幻常常笼罩着一层阴影，气候崩溃、人工智能失控、监控无孔不入，几乎成了固定的背景板。
By contrast, today's science fiction is often wrapped in shadow: climate collapse, artificial intelligence running loose, surveillance seeping into every crack — these have become an almost fixed backdrop.
于是有人感叹，我们失去了做梦的能力。
And so people sigh that we have lost the ability to dream.
但与其说想象力衰退了，不如说它转了个方向。
But rather than say that imagination has declined, it is better to say that it has changed direction.
早期科幻回答的是“我们能造出什么”，而当代科幻追问的是“造出来之后，我们还能不能算作人”。
Early science fiction answered the question "what can we build"; contemporary science fiction presses a different one: "once it is built, do we still count as human?"
从这个意义上说，黄金时代并未终结，只是从对机器的迷恋，转向了对自身的怀疑。
In that sense the golden age has not ended at all; it has merely turned from infatuation with machines to doubt about ourselves.
一个能坦然直面代价的时代，未必不如一个只顾赞美进步的时代。
An age that can face its costs without flinching is not necessarily inferior to an age that only sings the praises of progress.
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Key words 生词
宣称xuānchēngto declare; to proclaim publicly
笼罩lǒngzhàoto shroud; to hang over
无孔不入wú kǒng bú rùto seep into every crack; to be all-pervasive
衰退shuāituìto decline; to wane
迷恋míliàninfatuation; to be obsessed with
坦然tǎnráncalm and unflinching; without evasion
Grammar note 语法点
与其说……，不如说…… — rather than saying A, say B
Reframes a claim instead of simply denying it: the speaker accepts that something happened but proposes a more accurate description of it.
这与其说是失败，不如说是一次代价高昂的实验。 — Rather than call it a failure, call it an expensive experiment.
被视为…… — to be regarded as
A written-style passive used for judgments and reputations; 视为 is more formal than 看作 and is common in commentary and academic prose.
他一直被视为这个领域最有希望的年轻人。 — He has long been regarded as the most promising young person in the field.
并未…… — has not at all
The literary counterpart of 没有, used to reject an assumption emphatically; 并 adds the force of 'contrary to what you may think'. Often paired with 只是 to state what did happen.
问题并未解决，只是暂时被掩盖了。 — The problem has not been solved; it has merely been covered up for now.
Check yourself 小测验
1. How does the text describe the science fiction of the 1950s and 60s?
2. According to the text, what question does contemporary science fiction press?
3. What is the author's conclusion about the golden age?
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