評論
打印
I'm sure that, throughout the hundred-thousand-odd years of our species' existence, and even before,
我十分確信在人類誕生以來的大概10萬多年，甚至比這更長的時間里
our ancestors looked up at the night sky, and wondered what stars are.
我們的祖先仰望夜空，想知道那些星星究竟是什么
Wondering, therefore, how to explain what they saw in terms of things unseen.
其實也就是想要把他們看見的東西用不可見的東西來解釋
Okay, so, most people only wondered that occasionally, like today,
這樣的話，大多數人看似只是偶爾如此想想，比如說像在今天
in breaks from whatever normally preoccupied them.
從日常活動中抽空解脫出來的時候才行
But what normally preoccupied them also involved yearning to know.
但實際上人們的日常活動同樣富含著對知識的渴望
They wished they knew how to prevent their food supply from sometimes failing,
人們希望知道如何避免食物來源不時的中斷
and how they could rest when they were tired without risking starvation,
如何在疲憊時得以充分休整，又不會因為停止勞作而斷糧
be warmer, cooler, safer, in less pain.
如何創造更溫暖，或更涼爽；更安全的環境，如何減輕痛苦
I bet those prehistoric cave artists would have loved to know how to draw better.
我敢打賭遠古時代的巖洞畫家們都想知道怎樣畫得更漂亮些
In every aspect of their lives, they wished for progress, just as we do.
我們的祖先在生活的方方面面都像我們一樣地期望進步
But they failed, almost completely, to make any.
但是他們得到的發展微乎其微
They didn't know how to.
他們還不懂其中的秘訣
Discoveries like fire
像人工生火這樣的重大發明
happened so rarely, that from an individual's point of view, the world never improved.
鳳毛麟角，于是乎從一個個人的角度看來，世界幾乎毫無改善
Nothing new was learned.
知識停滯不前
The first clue to the origin of starlight happened as recently as 1899: radioactivity.
星星閃光的奧秘初步被揭開是在不久前的1899年：放射現象
Within 40 years, physicists discovered the whole explanation,
而這之后的僅僅40年間，物理學家們發現了一個完整的解釋
expressed, as usual, in elegant symbols.
然后像往常一樣用簡明優雅的數學符號把它表示了出來
But never mind the symbols.
可別把這些符號不當回事
Think how many discoveries they represent.
想想它們表達了多少人類的發現
Nuclei and nuclear reactions, of course.
這些么就是原子核，核反應
But isotopes, particles of electricity, antimatter, neutrinos,
再看看這些：同位素，帶電粒子，反物質，中微子
the conversion of mass to energy -- that's E=mc^2 -- gamma rays, transmutation.
物質到能量的轉化 E=mc^2，伽馬射線，嬗變（一種元素通過核反應轉化為另一種元素）
That ancient dream that had always eluded the alchemists
那個古代煉金術師們為之枉費心機的夢想
was achieved through these same theories
現在由這些
that explained starlight and other ancient mysteries, and new, unexpected phenomena.
解釋了星光的實質，以及其他古代的謎團和意料之外新現象的理論變為現實
