Where can you look if you want to know how tall the tallest person in the world is, or who the oldest person in the world is?
如果你想知道世界上最高的人有多高,或者最老的人是誰,你應該去哪找答案呢?
There is only one place where you'll find all these information, and that's in the Guinness Book of Records.
你只能在一個地方找到所有的這些信息,那就是《吉尼斯世界紀錄大全》。
This morning we have someone from the Guinness Company that produced that famous book, Thomas Manning.
今天上午我們邀請到了來自這本著作的出版公司的托馬斯·曼寧先生。
Welcome to the program, Thomas!
歡迎您做客我們節目,托馬斯先生!
Thanks, Sue. It's a pleasure to be here.
謝謝你,蘇。我也很高興來到這里。
Perhaps you could start by telling us where the idea for the book came from.
或許你可以先跟我們談談創作這本書的靈感來自哪里?
Well, it was first suggested in the early 1950s.
嗯,我們的想法最初是在20世紀50年代提出的。
Sir Hugh Beaver, the managing director of Guinness, was out shooting birds with some friends.
有一次,吉尼斯公司的總經理休·比弗先生外出與朋友獵鳥。
A bird flew away so quickly that no one was able to shoot it.
有一只鳥飛得極快,沒有人能射中它。
Sir Hugh wondered whether this bird was the fastest bird in Europe, and if it wasn't the fastest, he wondered what was.
休先生就想,這是不是歐洲飛得最快的鳥呢?如果這只不是飛得最快的,那么哪一只鳥會是歐洲飛得最快的呢?
So I suppose he went to the nearest library to look for the information and he couldn't find it?
我想他一定去了離他最近的圖書館查閱資料,然后他沒有找到答案,對吧?
Yes, that's exactly what happened.
是的,事情就是這樣。
And this made Sir Hugh think there must be other people in the same situation who wanted this kind of information.
所以休先生就想世界上一定有其他人和他處境相同,同樣想找尋這樣的信息。
He thought that, like himself, people would be interested in finding facts of all the records to satisfy the curiosity.
他相信人們也會像他一樣,對找到各種世界紀錄感興趣,以此來滿足好奇心。
So the idea for a book of records was born.
所以要制作一本世界紀錄大全的念頭就這樣產生了。
And when did the first book come out?
那么第一本世界紀錄大全是什么時候出版的呢?
A few years later, in 1955.
幾年以后,就在1955年。
So, to answer your first question: the tallest person in the world is 231.7 cm tall.
所以,讓我來回答你的第一個問題,世界上最高的人身高237.1厘米。
And the oldest person is Jeanne. L. Calment, who was born in February, 1875.
世界上年紀最大的人是出生于1875年2月的詹妮·路易·卡門。
There are also some rather strange records, aren't there, Thomas?
托馬斯,大全里還有很多更奇特的紀錄,對吧?
Yes ,that's right.
是的,沒錯。
Did you know, Sue, that the shortest time it is taken…
你知道嗎,蘇,時間花得最短的……