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Part I Lost in the cosmos
第一章 如何營造一個(gè)宇宙
They're all in the same plane.They're all going around in the same direction. . . .
它們都處于同一平面。 它們都在沿同一方向轉(zhuǎn)動(dòng)......
It's perfect,you know. It's gorgeous. It's almost uncanny.
你要知道，這真是完美無缺的，這真是不可思議的，這幾乎是很神奇的。
Astronomer Geoffrey Marcy describing the solar system
天文學(xué)家杰弗里?馬西對太陽系的描述
1 How to build a universe? No matter hard you try you will never be able to grasp just how tiny, how spatially unassuming, is a proton.
無論怎么努力，你都永遠(yuǎn)也想像不出質(zhì)子有多么微小，占有多么小的空間。
It is just way too small.
它實(shí)在太小了。
A proton is an infinitesimal part of an atom, which is itself of course an insubstantial thing.
質(zhì)子是原子極其微小的組成部分，而原子本身當(dāng)然也小不可言。
Protons are so small that a little dib of ink like the dot on this i can hold something in the region of 500 billion of them,
像字母"i"上的點(diǎn)這樣大小的一滴墨水，就可以擁有約莫5000億個(gè)質(zhì)子，
rather more than the number of seconds contained in half a million years.
說得更確切一點(diǎn)，要比組成1.5萬年的秒數(shù)還多。
So protons are exceedingly microscopic, to say the very least.
因此，起碼可以說，質(zhì)子是極其微小的。
Now imagine if you can (and of course you can't)
現(xiàn)在，請你想像一下，假如你能（你當(dāng)然不能）
shrinking one of those protons down to a billionth of its normal size into a space so small that it would make a proton look enormous.
使它顯得很大，然后，你把大約30克物質(zhì)裝進(jìn)那個(gè)極小極小的空間。
Now pack into that tiny, tiny space about an ounce of matter.
把一個(gè)質(zhì)子縮小到它正常大小的十億分之一，放進(jìn)一個(gè)極小的空間，
Excellent. You are ready to start a universe.
很好，你已作好創(chuàng)建一個(gè)宇宙的準(zhǔn)備。
I'm assuming of course that you wish to build an inflationary universe.
我當(dāng)然估計(jì)到，你希望創(chuàng)建一個(gè)會膨脹的宇宙。
If you'd prefer instead to build a more old-fashioned, standard Big Bang universe, you'll need additional materials.
不過，要是你愿意創(chuàng)建一個(gè)比較老式而又標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的大爆炸型宇宙，你還需要?jiǎng)e的材料。
In fact, you will need to gather up everything there is every last mote and particle of matter between here and the edge of creation
事實(shí)上，你需要收集現(xiàn)有的一切東西--從現(xiàn)在到宇宙創(chuàng)建之時(shí)的每個(gè)粒子--
and squeeze it into a spot so infinitesimally compact that it has no dimensions at all.
把它塞進(jìn)一個(gè)根本談不上大小的極小地方。
It is known as a singularity.",
這就是所謂的奇點(diǎn)。
