評(píng)論
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You all know this story.
你們都知道這個(gè)故事.
In the summer of 1950,
在1950年的夏天,
Enrico Fermi, the Italian-American physicist Enrico Fermi,
美籍意大利心理學(xué)家
and atomic-pile builder,
和原子堆創(chuàng)造者
went to lunch at Los Alamos National Laboratory
在Los Alamos國(guó)家實(shí)驗(yàn)室和一些同事們共進(jìn)午餐,
and joined some colleagues there, and asked them a question:
問(wèn)他們一些問(wèn)題:
"Where is everybody?"
"大家都在哪里?"
This confused his colleagues, obviously,
很顯然,這句話(huà)把大家整蒙了.
because they were sitting right there with him.
因?yàn)樗麄冋谝黄?
And then he had to clarify that he wasn't talking about them.
當(dāng)時(shí)他不得不解釋說(shuō)他不是在跟他們講話(huà).
He was talking about the space aliens.
他當(dāng)時(shí)正和太空外星人講話(huà).
You see, this was only a few years after
你看,這件事發(fā)生在
the supposed flying saucer crash
新墨西哥州的羅斯威爾
at Roswell, New Mexico.
飛碟墜毀事件的幾年之后.
And even though that turned out to be nothing,
雖然結(jié)果是什么都沒(méi)有,
nothing at all --
什么都沒(méi)有--
merely a downed weather balloon
僅僅是天上掉下來(lái)的一個(gè)氣象氣球,
piloted by small hairless men
一個(gè)張著大嘴的禿子
with slits for mouths ...
駕駛的氣球.
Still, America had gone saucer-mad,
然而,美國(guó)人已經(jīng)對(duì)飛碟過(guò)敏了,
even famous scientists
即使是正在吃飯的
who were eating lunch.
著名科學(xué)家.
Fermi's reasoning, if I may paraphrase badly,
Fermi的推論,恕我詮釋的不好,
is that the universe is so vast
這宇宙是如此的寬廣
that it stands to reason,
順理成章
there should be other intelligent life out there.
會(huì)有其它睿智的生命存在于宇宙中.
And the universe is so old
而且宇宙是如此的古老
that unless we were the very first civilization ever to evolve,
除非我們是第一個(gè)進(jìn)化的文明,
we should have some evidence of their existence by now.
我們現(xiàn)在應(yīng)該有一些外星人存在的證據(jù).
And yet, to the best of our knowledge, we are alone.
然而,據(jù)我們所知,我們是孤獨(dú)的.
"Where is everybody?" asked Fermi,
"大家都在哪里?" Fermi問(wèn),
and his colleagues had no answer.
他和他的同事都沒(méi)法回答.
Fermi then went on with the same blunt logic
Fermi之后就繼續(xù)用這種愚笨的邏輯
to disprove fairies,
去反駁童話(huà),還有
Sasquatch, God,
大腳野人,上帝,
the possibility of love --
真愛(ài)的可能性--
and thereafter, as you know,
再后來(lái),你也知道,
Enrico Fermi ate alone.
Enrico Fermi自此獨(dú)自用餐.
Now,
現(xiàn)在,
I am not a scientist.
我不是一名科學(xué)家.
I have never built an atomic pile.
我從來(lái)沒(méi)創(chuàng)造過(guò)原子堆.
Although, I might argue that, technically,
雖然,我很可能會(huì)爭(zhēng)論,技術(shù)上講.
every pile is atomic.
任何一個(gè)堆都是由原子構(gòu)成的.
However, with respect, I might point out two possibilities
無(wú)論如何,帶著景仰,我要指出Enrico Fermi也許
that Enrico Fermi perhaps did not consider.
沒(méi)有考慮到的兩種可能.
One is that the aliens might be
一種是外星人也許
very far away.
非常非常遠(yuǎn).
Perhaps, I dare say,
大概吧,我敢說(shuō),
even on other planets.
甚至在其它的行星上.
The other possibility --
另一種可能性 --
is, perhaps, Enrico Fermi himself
就是,有可能 Enrico Fermi本人
was an alien.
就是一個(gè)外星人.
Think about it.
想像一下.
Isn't it a little convenient
在世界大戰(zhàn)期間,
that in the midst of the World War, out of nowhere,
一個(gè)不知道哪里來(lái)的意大利科學(xué)家
suddenly an Italian scientist showed up
突然帶著一種可以改變世界的
with an amazing new technology
令人吃驚的新技術(shù)
that would transform everything in the world
出現(xiàn)在世界面前,
and darken the history of the human species forever after?
并且自此改變了人類(lèi)歷史.這是不是太輕松了?
And isn't it a little strange
并且是不是有點(diǎn)奇怪
that he required no payment for this?
他并不要求任何報(bào)酬?
That he asked for only one thing --
他只要求一件事:
a gift of two healthy sperm whales?
要兩個(gè)健康的抹香鯨作為禮物?
That's -- that's not true.
當(dāng)然,那并不是真的.
But it is strange.
不過(guò)太怪異了.
And if Enrico Fermi were indeed a space alien,
并且如果 Enrico Fermi當(dāng)時(shí)真是一個(gè)外星人,
wouldn't he be the first to have tried to convince
他為什么不先去
his fellow scientists
嘗試說(shuō)服他身邊的科學(xué)家
that the space aliens are not already here?
外星人還沒(méi)有來(lái)過(guò)?
For it is given in certain UFO-ology
對(duì)于發(fā)表的飛碟學(xué)說(shuō)
or UFOlogy circles,
或者不明飛行物學(xué)說(shuō),
that the aliens are already here and have been for millennia;
他們認(rèn)為外星人曾經(jīng)來(lái)訪并且千年之前就曾來(lái)過(guò).
that they have walked among us in disguise,
他們帶著偽裝跟我們一起生活,
observing us, guiding our evolution
觀察我們,引導(dǎo)我們進(jìn)化
from ape to man --
從猿到人 --
if you believe in that sort of thing --
如果你相信這種東西的話(huà).
and, occasionally, kidnapping us in their flying saucers
并且,他們偶然把我們綁架到他們的飛碟
and taking us away to have sex with us in pyramids.
并把我們帶到金字塔里發(fā)生性關(guān)系.
It's a difficult theory to discount,
這是一個(gè)沒(méi)有人相信的深?yuàn)W的理論,
I think you'll agree.
我想你也這么認(rèn)為的.
For even in my own life,
即使在我的生活中
there are memories I have
也有些回憶是我很難
that are difficult to explain --
能夠解釋的通的 --
happenings that are so odd and unaccountably weird,
有些事情就那么非常神奇的,莫明奇妙的發(fā)生了.
that it is difficult to imagine
所以很難想像
they were not the result
我們的一生中,
of prolonged and frequent contact with aliens throughout my life.
他們始終堅(jiān)持并且頻繁的聯(lián)系外星人
For how else will you explain
對(duì)于其它你要說(shuō)的
the amazing and absolutely true
那些我親身經(jīng)歷的
close encounters that I had
令人吃驚并且絕對(duì)真實(shí)的遭遇
and will describe to you now?
我現(xiàn)在就告訴你.
