評論
打印
Why a marriage contract and not any other reason for regular annual action?
為什么是一紙婚書而不是其他什么原因使普西芬妮定期往返呢？
Here is one. Persephone wasn't released.
我且來舉個例子：普西芬妮并沒有被放走
She escaped, and returns every spring to take revenge on Hades, with her Spring powers.
她逃走了，每年春天又回冥府找哈德斯報仇，用她春天的神力
She cools his domain with Spring air,
她讓春風給冥界降溫
venting heat up to the surface, creating summer.
熱氣排到地上，成了夏天
That accounts for the same phenomena as the original myth.
這個說法和先前的神話能解釋同樣的現象
It's equally testable.
而且同樣可以檢驗
Yet what it asserts about reality is, in many ways, the opposite.
可是它對現實的描述，斷言，卻和剛才的在許多方面正好相反
And that is possible because
這看似矛盾的情況之所以存在
the details of the original myth are unrelated to seasons, except via the myth itself.
是因為原先那個神話的諸多細節? 除了在這則神話的背景中外，與季節都沒有什么聯系
This easy variability is the sign of a bad explanation,
這種很隨意的可變性正是壞解釋的標志
because, without a functional reason to prefer one of countless variants,
因為當沒有什么關于細節的解釋作用的理由能使我們選擇千萬種可能解釋中的一個
advocating one of them, in preference to the others, is irrational.
唯獨支持這一個而拋棄其他便是不理性的
So, for the essence of what makes the difference to enable progress,
所以，產生變革推進發展的本質原因
seek good explanations, the ones that can't be easily varied,
就是追求好解釋，那些為了保證解釋現象的能力
while still explaining the phenomena.
而不能被輕易改變的解釋
Now, our current explanation of seasons is that the Earth's axis is tilted like that,
我們現在對季節的解釋是說地球的轉軸像這樣傾斜著
so each hemisphere tilts toward the sun for half the year, and away for the other half.
所以每個半球在半年中傾向太陽另外半年遠離陽光
Better put that up.
最好放出來看看
That's a good explanation: hard to vary,
這就是個好解釋：很難改動
because every detail plays a functional role.
因為每一個細節都對有至關重要的解釋作用
For instance, we know, independently of seasons,
比如說，我們不用明白季節就知道
that surfaces tilted away from radiant heat are heated less,
背向發光物體的表面受熱的程度較小
and that a spinning sphere, in space, points in a constant direction.
空間中自轉的這個球體指向同一個方向
And the tilt also explains the sun's angle of elevation at different times of year,
地軸的傾斜也解釋了太陽在一年中不同的仰角
and predicts that the seasons will be out of phase in the two hemispheres.
并預測兩半球的季節情況正好相反
If they'd been observed in phase, the theory would have been refuted.
如果觀察顯示它們相同，理論就被駁倒了
But now, the fact that it's also a good explanation,
可是它作為一個好解釋
hard to vary, makes the crucial difference.
一個難以更改的解釋，這一點才是最重要的區別
If the ancient Greeks had found out about seasons in Australia,
如果古希臘人得知了澳洲季節的更替
they could have easily varied their myth to predict that.
他們很容易就能修改這個神話，然后預測說，
For instance, when Demeter is upset,
比如，當迪米特為女兒憂愁時
she banishes heat from her vicinity, into the other hemisphere, where it makes summer.
她把熱氣從四周驅趕出去，趕到另一個半球，形成夏天
So, being proved wrong by observation,
這樣看來，盡管被觀察所否決
and changing their theory accordingly,
并被迫據此修改他們的理論
still wouldn't have got the ancient Greeks one jot closer to understanding seasons,
古希臘人并沒有離對季節的理解進了那怕一步
because their explanation was bad: easy to vary.
因為改過的解釋仍舊是壞解釋：它太易變了
And it's only when an explanation is good that it even matters whether it's testable.
而只有當好解釋存在，它是否可以驗證才值得考慮
