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JannaLevin_2011-_宇宙的声音_
I want to ask you all to consider for a second the very simple fact that, by far, most of what we know about the universe comes to us from light. 我希望大家能花点时间考虑 一个非常简单的事实 那就是,到目前为止, 我们对宇宙的大部分了解 都来自于光。
We can stand on the Earth and look up at the night sky and see stars with our bare eyes. 我们站在地球上仰望夜空 用肉眼就能看到天上的繁星。
bare:adj.空的;赤裸的,无遮蔽的;v.露出,使赤裸;
The Sun burns our peripheral vision . 强烈的阳光是如此地刺眼,
peripheral:adj.外围的;次要的;(神经)末梢区域的;n.外部设备; vision:n.视力;美景;幻象;想象力;v.想象;显现;梦见;
We see light reflected off the Moon. 我们能看到从月球反射回来的光,
reflected:adj.反射的;得自他人的;v.反射;思考;(reflect的过去式和过去分词)
And in the time since Galileo pointed that rudimentary telescope at the celestial bodies, the known universe has come to us through light, across vast eras in cosmic history. 自从伽利略将他那简陋的天文望远镜 瞄准宇宙中的天体, 时至今日,我们所了解的宇宙, 通过光呈现在我们眼前。
rudimentary:adj.基本的;初步的;退化的;残遗的;未发展的; telescope:n.望远镜;v.(使)叠套缩短;精简; celestial:adj.天上的,天空的;n.神仙,天堂里的居民; eras:n.[天]纪元,时代;年代(era的复数形式); cosmic:adj.宇宙的;
And with all of our modern telescopes , we've been able to collect this stunning silent movie of the universe -- these series of snapshots that go all the way back to the Big Bang . 在现代天文望远镜的帮助下, 我们已经能够搜集 炫目无声的宇宙影像 – 这一系列影像 可以一直追溯到大爆炸。
telescopes:n.望远镜; v.套叠; (telescope的第三人称单数) stunning:adj.惊人的; v.使昏迷; (stun的现在分词) series:n.系列,连续;[电]串联;级数;丛书; snapshots:n.[摄]快照(snapshot的复数);v.拍快照(snapshot的三单形式); Bang:n.猛敲; v.猛敲; v.正好;
And yet, the universe is not a silent movie because the universe isn't silent. 不过,宇宙不是一部默剧, 因为宇宙并非真的寂静无声。
I'd like to convince you that the universe has a soundtrack and that soundtrack is played on space itself, because space can wobble like a drum . 我想告诉大家 宇宙有着自己的配乐, 而宇宙自身正在不停地播放着。 因为太空可以想鼓一样振动。
convince:v.使确信;使相信;说服,劝说; soundtrack:n.声带;声道;声迹;电影配音; wobble:n.摇晃;松动;犹豫不决;v.(使)摇摆;一摇一摆地走;犹豫不决; drum:n.鼓; v.打鼓;
It can ring out a kind of recording throughout the universe of some of the most dramatic events as they unfold . 所以当一些重大事情发生时 它能够向宇宙 发出一系列声音。
throughout:adv.自始至终,到处;全部;prep.贯穿,遍及; dramatic:adj.突然的;巨大的;令人吃惊的;激动人心的; unfold:v.(使)展开;打开;展示;透露;
Now we'd like to be able to add to a kind of glorious visual composition that we have of the universe -- a sonic composition. 如今,我们希望能够 给这部关于宇宙的 宏伟的视觉作品 配上声音。
glorious:adj.光荣的;辉煌的;极好的; visual:adj.视觉的,视力的;栩栩如生的; composition:n.成分;作文;构成;创作; sonic:adj.音速的;声音的;音波的;
And while we've never heard the sounds from space, we really should, in the next few years, start to turn up the volume on what's going on out there. 虽然我们从未听到过来自外太空的声音, 但我们应该能够在接下来的几年内, 把音量调大,听听那儿究竟发生了什么。
volume:n.体积;容积;音量;响度;一册;合订本
So in this ambition to capture songs from the universe, we turn our focus to black holes and the promise they have, because black holes can bang on space-time like mallets on a drum and have a very characteristic song, 针对捕获宇宙声音 这个远大的目标, 我们将我们的重点 放在黑洞以及它所表现出的前景, 因为黑洞能够撞击时空 就像鼓槌撞击鼓面一样 发出非常特别的声音,
ambition:n.追求的目标;野心;志向;抱负; capture:v.俘虏;捕获;攻占;夺得;刻画,描述;n.(被)捕获;(被)俘获 space-time:adj.时空的;n.时空(等于spacetime); mallets:n.三角木琴;球棍;木槌(mallet的复数形式); characteristic:n.特征;特点;品质;adj.典型的;独特的;特有的;
which I'd like to play for you -- some of our predictions for what that song will be like. 我也非常高兴给你们播放一些 我们预测的声音。
predictions:n.预测,预言(prediction复数形式);
Now black holes are dark against a dark sky. 黑洞在漆黑的宇宙中,
We can't see them directly . 是无法被看见的。
directly:adv.直接地;立即;马上;正好地;坦率地;conj.一…就;
They're not brought to us with light, at least not directly. 它们无法通过光直接被我们看到,至少我们不能直接看到。
We can see them indirectly , because black holes wreak havoc on their environment. 我们可以间接地看到, 因为黑洞能够扭曲它们周围的事物。
indirectly:adv.间接地;不诚实;迂回地; wreak:v.造成(巨大的破坏或伤害); havoc:n.大破坏;浩劫;蹂躏;v.严重破坏;损毁;
They destroy stars around them. 它们能摧毁附近的恒星。
They churn up debris in their surroundings . 搅动周围的碎片。
churn:v.剧烈搅动;(使)猛烈翻腾;反胃,恶心;感到不安;n.搅乳器; debris:n.碎片,残骸; surroundings:n.周围的环境;环境;(surrounding的复数)
But they won't come to us directly through light. 但它们不会通过光被我们发现。
We might one day see a shadow a black hole can cast on a very bright background, but we haven't yet. 将来的某一天我们有可能可以看到一个影子 一个黑洞可以在一个非常明亮的背景上留下影子, 但目前还没被观测到。
a black hole:莫名其妙,如坠云雾;
And yet black holes may be heard even if they're not seen, and that's because they bang on space-time like a drum. 尽管黑洞并不能被看到 但它们有可能被听到, 这是因为它们像鼓一样撞击时空。
Now we owe the idea that space can ring like a drum to Albert Einstein -- to whom we owe so much. 宇宙能发出鼓一样声音的这个想法来自于 阿尔伯特·爱因斯坦,其实我们的很多想法都来自于他。
owe:v.归功于;欠(债);欠(账);欠(情)
Einstein realized that if space were empty, if the universe were empty, it would be like this picture, except for maybe without the helpful grid drawn on it. 爱因斯坦意识到如果宇宙是空的, 如果宇宙是空的, 它将看起来像这幅照片一样, 除了那些画在上面的辅助线。
grid:n.网格;格子,栅格;输电网;
But if we were freely falling through the space, even without this helpful grid, we might be able to paint it ourselves, because we would notice that we traveled along straight lines, undeflected straight paths through the universe. 但如果我们在宇宙中自由落体, 即便没有这些辅助线, 我们的轨迹也会画出这些线, 因为我们将会发现我们沿着直线运动, 沿着不发生弯折的直线 穿过宇宙。
Einstein also realized -- and this is the real meat of the matter -- that if you put energy or mass in the universe, it would curve space, and a freely falling object would pass by, let's say, the Sun and it would be deflected along the natural curves in the space. 爱因斯坦还意识到－ 这可是真正最关键的部分（matter也有“物质”的意思）– 如果你在宇宙中放入能量和物质, 宇宙就会弯曲。 自由落体的物体 在经过向太阳这样的天体时 将会被偏转 沿着空间中被弯折的路径运动。
mass:n.块,团; adj.群众的,民众的; v.聚集起来,聚集; deflected:adj.偏离的,偏向的;v.打歪(deflect的过去分词); curves:n.曲线; v.(使)沿曲线运动; (curve的第三人称单数和复数)
It was Einstein's great general theory of relativity . 这就是爱因斯坦伟大的广义相对论。
relativity:n.相对论;相关性;相对性;
Now even light will be bent by those paths. 甚至光的路径也会被弯折。
And you can be bent so much that you're caught in orbit around the Sun, as the Earth is, or the Moon around the Earth. 当弯折大到一定程度时 就会围绕着太阳运动的轨道转, 就像地球绕着太阳转,月球绕着地球转。
orbit:n.轨道;眼眶;势力范围;生活常规;vi.盘旋;绕轨道运行;vt.绕…轨道而行;
These are the natural curves in space. 这是宇宙中自然的曲线。
What Einstein did not realize was that, if you took our Sun and you crushed it down to six kilometers -- so you took a million times the mass of the Earth and you crushed it to six kilometers across, you would make a black hole, an object so dense 不过爱因斯坦并没有意识到 如果你把太阳 压缩成直径6公里的球 – 也就是说你把相当于地球质量一百万倍的物质 压缩成直径6公里的球, 你将制造出一个黑洞, 这个物体的密度非常之大
crushed:v.压坏;压伤;挤压变形;(crush的过去分词和过去式) dense:adj.稠密的;浓厚的;愚钝的;
that if light veered too close, it would never escape -- a dark shadow against the universe. 以至于如果光离它太近,也将无法逃脱－ 在宇宙中留下一个巨大的黑影,
veered:vi.转向; vt.使转向; n.转向;
It wasn't Einstein who realized this, it was Karl Schwarzschild who was a German Jew in World War I -- joined the German army already an accomplished scientist, working on the Russian front. 其实意识到这一点的人并非爱因斯坦, 而是卡尔·史瓦西 他是一个德国犹太人,在一战中– 他加入德军,在俄国前线工作, 那时已经是位非常杰出的科学家了。
Jew:v.(集合词)犹太人;犹太人的世界;犹太教;-dom;n.犹太人;犹太教徒; accomplished:adj.完成的;有技巧的;有学问的;v.完成;(accomplish的过去分词和过去式)
I like to imagine Schwarzschild in the war in the trenches calculating ballistic trajectories for cannon fire, and then, in between, calculating Einstein's equations -- as you do in the trenches. 我乐于想象史瓦西躺在战壕里 计算着加农炮的弹道轨迹, 然后再时不时地, 算算爱因斯坦方程– 试想一下那是什么样的一个情景。
trenches:n.战壕(trench复数); v.挖战壕于…; ballistic:adj.弹道的;射击的; trajectories:n.轨迹;轨道线(trajectory的复数形式); cannon:n.(通常装有轮子并发射铁弹或石弹的旧式)大炮;v.猛撞;碰撞; equations:n.方程式;等式;均等;均势(equation的复数形式);
And he was reading Einstein's recently published general theory of relativity, and he was thrilled by this theory. 他当时正在读爱因斯坦刚发表的 广义相对论, 他被这个理论震惊了。
recently:adv.最近;新近; thrilled:adj.非常兴奋; v.使非常兴奋; (thrill的过去分词和过去式)
And he quickly surmised an exact mathematical solution that described something very extraordinary : curves so strong that space would rain down into them, space itself would curve like a waterfall flowing down the throat of a hole. 并且很快推导出 一个精确的数学解 描述了一个非常异常的结果: 如果弯折过于强烈 宇宙将向内部塌陷, 宇宙本身将弯曲得像一个瀑布一样 流入一个洞中。
surmised:v.推测;猜测;(surmise的过去分词和过去式) mathematical:adj.数学的,数学上的;精确的; solution:n.解决方案;溶液;溶解;解答; described:v.描述;形容;把…称为;做…运动;(describe的过去分词和过去式) extraordinary:adj.非凡的;特别的;离奇的;临时的;特派的; waterfall:n.瀑布;瀑布似的东西;
And even light could not escape this current. 光甚至都不能逃脱这股暗流。
Light would be dragged down the hole as everything else would be, and all that would be left would be a shadow. 光会被拉入这个洞中 就像其他所有东西一样, 唯一留下的只是一个影子。
Now he wrote to Einstein, and he said, "As you will see, the war has been kind to me enough. 他写信给爱因斯坦, 他说:“正如你将看到的, 战争对我还是挺仁慈的,
Despite the heavy gunfire , 尽管周围的炮火很猛烈。
Despite:prep.尽管,不管;n.轻视;憎恨;侮辱; gunfire:n.炮火;炮火声;
I've been able to get away from it all and walk through the land of your ideas." 但我已经习惯了不去想它 把精力用来思考你所提出的想法。”
And Einstein was very impressed with his exact solution, and I should hope also the dedication of the scientist. 爱因斯坦被他的精确解深深吸引, 我想同时也被他那种科学家的执着所吸引。
impressed:adj.印象深刻; v.使钦佩; (impress的过去分词和过去式) dedication:n.奉献;献身;(建筑物等的)落成典礼;(书、音乐或演出前部的)献词;
This is the hardworking scientist under harsh conditions. 这是一个在恶劣环境中仍努力工作的科学家。
harsh:adj.严厉的;严酷的;刺耳的;粗糙的;刺目的;
And he took Schwarzschild's idea to the Prussian Academy of Sciences the next week. 爱因斯坦第二周将史瓦西的想法 带到了普鲁士科学院。
Prussian:adj.普鲁士的;普鲁士语的;n.普鲁士人;普鲁士语; Academy:n.学院;研究院;学会;专科院校;
But Einstein always thought black holes were a mathematical oddity . 不过爱因斯坦一直认为黑洞只是一个数学奇点。
oddity:n.奇异;古怪;怪癖;
He did not believe they existed in nature. 他并不相信真的存在黑洞。
He thought nature would protect us from their formation . 他相信大自然会阻止黑洞的形成以保护我们。
formation:n.形成;编队;组成;队形;
It was decades before the term "black hole" was coined and people realized that black holes are real astrophysical objects -- in fact they're the death state of very massive stars that collapse catastrophically at the end of their lifetime. 人们在数十年之后 才开始使用“黑洞”这一名词 并且意识到 黑洞是真实存在的天体 – 事实上,它们是一些质量极大的恒星 在它们生命的终点 发生灾难性坍缩后的 死亡状态。
astrophysical:adj.天体物理学的; massive:adj.大量的;巨大的,厚重的;魁伟的; collapse:vi.倒塌;瓦解;暴跌;vt.使倒塌,使崩溃;使萎陷;折叠;n.倒塌;失败;衰竭; catastrophically:灾难性地;
Now our Sun will not collapse to a black hole. 我们的太阳不会坍缩形成黑洞。
It's actually not massive enough. 它的质量其实不足够大。
But if we did a little thought experiment -- as Einstein was very fond of doing -- we could imagine putting the Sun crushed down to six kilometers, and putting a tiny little Earth around it in orbit, maybe 30 kilometers outside of the black-hole sun. 但是,如果我们做了一些思想实验 – 爱因斯坦非常喜欢这样做 – 我们可以假想 把太阳粉碎后压缩在六公里的范围内, 然后在围绕它的轨道上放一个小小的地球, 比如放在离黑洞太阳 30公里远的轨道上。
And it would be self-illuminated, because now the Sun's gone, we have no other source of light -- so let's make our little Earth self-illuminated. 地球将自己发光, 因为现在太阳已经不见了,我们没有其他光源 – 因此,我们小小的地球得自己发光。
source:n.来源;水源;原始资料;
And you would realize you could put the Earth in a happy orbit even 30 km outside of this crushed black hole. 你会发现,你甚至可以把地球放在离黑洞 30公里外的轨道上 并且让它开心地绕轨道运行。
This crushed black hole actually would fit inside Manhattan, more or less . 这个黑洞 其实只有差不多曼哈顿那么大。
more or less:或多或少;
It might spill off into the Hudson a little bit before it destroyed the Earth. 在它摧毁地球之前, 它可能会膨胀到哈德森大街。
spill:v.溢出;涌出;蜂拥而出;n.跌落;洒出(量);泼出(量);溢出(量); Hudson:n.哈得孙河;
But basically that's what we're talking about. 但基本上这就是我们在讨论的东西。
basically:adv.主要地,基本上;
We're talking about an object that you could crush down to half the square area of Manhattan. 我们讨论的是一个被压缩到 曼哈顿一半那么大的一个物体。
crush down:v.压倒;碾碎;
So we move this Earth very close -- 30 kilometers outside -- and we notice it's perfectly fine orbiting around the black hole. 所以我们把这个地球移动到离黑洞接近的地方 – 30公里处 – 我们注意到它沿着完美的轨道绕黑洞运行。
orbiting:v.[航][天]轨道运行;轨道运动;转圈(orbit的ing形式);
There's a sort of myth that black holes devour everything in the universe, but you actually have to get very close to fall in. 有一些传言 说黑洞将吞噬宇宙中的一切, 但实际上你必须离得非常近才会真的掉进去。
myth:n.神话;虚构的人,虚构的事; devour:v.狼吞虎咽地吃光;津津有味地看;吞没;毁灭;
But what's very impressive is that, from our vantage point , we can always see the Earth. 但令人印象深刻的是,从我们的角度来看, 我们总能看到地球。
impressive:adj.感人的;令人钦佩的;给人以深刻印象的; vantage point:n.(观察事物的)有利地点;(尤指考虑旧时事物的)有利时刻;
It cannot hide behind the black hole. 它无法躲在黑洞后面。
The light from the Earth, some of it falls in, but some of it gets lensed around and brought back to us. 从地球发出的光,一部分落入黑洞, 但还有一部分被黑洞弯折后被我们看到。
lensed:n.透镜; (lens的过去分词)
So you can't hide anything behind a black hole. 所以你不能在一个黑洞后面藏任何东西。
If this were Battlestar Galactica and you're fighting the Cylons, don't hide behind the black hole. 如果这是太空堡垒卡拉狄加中的剧情 而你正和赛昂人战斗, 不要躲在黑洞后面。
Battlestar:n.太空堡垒; Galactica:银河号;
They can see you. 它们可以看到你。
Now, our Sun will not collapse to a black hole -- it's not massive enough -- but there are tens of thousands of black holes in our galaxy . 我们的太阳不会坍缩成一个黑洞; 它的质量不够大, 但在我们的银河系中有数以万计的黑洞。
galaxy:n.银河;[天]星系;银河系;一群显赫的人;
And if one were to eclipse the Milky Way , this is what it would look like. 如果其中的一个在吞噬银河系, 它看上去将会是这个样子。
eclipse:v.使黯然失色;形成蚀;n.日蚀,月蚀;黯然失色; Milky Way:na.[天]银河;
We would see a shadow of that black hole against the hundred billion stars in the Milky Way Galaxy and its luminous dust lanes . 我们将会看到一个黑洞的影子 投在银河系中数千亿颗恒星 以及恒星照亮的尘埃带上。
luminous:adj.发光的;明亮的;清楚的; lanes:n.线路,跑道(lane复数形式);
And if we were to fall towards this black hole, we would see all of that light lensed around it, and we could even start to cross into that shadow and really not notice that anything dramatic had happened. 如果我们坠向这个黑洞, 我们会看到光在黑洞周围被折射, 我们甚至在开始进入这个阴影的时候 完全不会感觉到一些巨大的变化正悄然发生。
It would be bad if we tried to fire our rockets and get out of there because we couldn't, anymore than light can escape. 如果我们试图启动火箭并离开那里,结果不会很好, 因为我们不可能逃离, 连光也不可能逃离。
But even though the black hole is dark from the outside, it's not dark on the inside, because all of the light from the galaxy can fall in behind us. 虽然黑洞从外面看是漆黑的, 但是在里面看并非如此, 因为所有星系的光线都可以随着我们一起落入黑洞。
And even though, due to a relativistic effect known as time dilation , our clocks would seem to slow down relative to galactic time, it would look as though the evolution of the galaxy had been sped up and shot at us, right before we were crushed to death by the black hole. 而且即便如此,由于相对论的时间膨胀效应, 我们的时钟相比银河系的时间而言 似乎变慢了, 这看起来就好像 外面的星系在加速变化, 就在我们自己被黑洞摧毁之前。
relativistic:adj.相对的;相对论的; dilation:n.扩张,扩大;膨胀;详述; relative:adj.相对的;有关系的;成比例的;n.亲戚;相关物;[语]关系词;亲缘植物; evolution:n.演变;进化;发展;渐进;
It would be like a near-death experience where you see the light at the end of the tunnel , but it's a total death experience. 这就像体验濒临死亡的感觉, 你看到了隧道尽头的光明, 不过这可是一个完整的死亡体验。
near-death experience:n.濒死经历(常留下灵魂出窍或坠入隧道的回忆); tunnel:n.地下通道;地道;隧道;(动物的)洞穴通道;v.开凿隧道;挖地道;
(Laughter) （笑声）
And there's no way of telling anybody about the light at the end of the tunnel. 你没有办法告诉任何人 你在隧道尽头看到了光明。
Now we've never seen a shadow like this of a black hole, but black holes can be heard, even if they're not seen. 到目前为止,我们从来没有见过这样一个黑洞留下的阴影, 但黑洞可以被听到, 即使它们不能被看到。
Imagine now taking an astrophysically realistic situation -- imagine two black holes that have lived a long life together. 想象一下,在一个真实的天文学景象里 – 想象两个已经一起存在了很长时间的黑洞。
realistic:adj.现实的;现实主义的;逼真的;实在论的;
Maybe they started as stars and collapsed to two black holes -- each one 10 times the mass of the Sun. 也许它们以前是恒星 之后坍缩成了两个黑洞 – 每一个的质量都是太阳的10倍。
collapsed:v.倒塌,坍塌;倒下,昏倒;坐下;(collapse的过去分词和过去式)
So now we're going to crush them down to 60 kilometers across. 现在我们把它们压缩到60公里之内。
They can be spinning hundreds of times a second. 它们每秒可以 旋转数百次。
spinning:n.纺纱(手艺):纺线v.(使)旋转:纺线:纺纱;(spin的现在分词)
At the end of their lives, they're going around each other very near the speed of light. 在生命的尽头, 它们以光速彼此靠近。
So they're crossing thousands of kilometers in a fraction of a second, and as they do so, they not only curve space, but they leave behind in their wake a ringing of space, an actual wave on space-time. 在几分之一秒内 就能穿越了数千公里。 在这个过程中,它们不仅会使空间发生弯曲, 还会在身后的尾流中 造成空间的振动, 一种真实存在的时空波。
fraction:n.分数;小部分;小数;少量; leave behind:留下,丢下
Space squeezes and stretches as it emanates out from these black holes banging on the universe. 黑洞在和宇宙 发生撞击的时候 使得空间发生挤压和拉伸。
squeezes:v.挤; n.压榨; (squeeze的第三人称单数和复数) stretches:v.拉长; n.一片; (stretch的第三人称单数和复数) emanates:vt.放射; banging:v.猛敲;砸;(把…)砰的关上;猛摔;砰地一扔;(bang的现在分词)
And they travel out into the cosmos at the speed of light. 这些振动以光速 在太空中传播。
cosmos:n.宇宙;和谐;秩序;大波斯菊;
This computer simulation is due to a relativity group at NASA Goddard. 这个计算机模拟是 由国家航空航天局戈达德的相对论组完成的。
simulation:n.仿真;模拟;模仿;假装;
It took almost 30 years for anyone in the world to crack this problem. 解决这个问题前后花了近30年的时间。
crack:v.使破裂;打开;变声;n.裂缝;声变;噼啪声;adj.最好的;高明的;
This was one of the groups. 这是众多小组中的一个。
It shows two black holes in orbit around each other, again, with these helpfully painted curves. 它展示了两个黑洞围绕着对方转动, 这些是想象中的曲线。
helpfully:adv.有益地;有用地;
And if you can see -- it's kind of faint -- but if you can see the red waves emanating out, those are the gravitational waves. 正如你所看到的 – 可能有些模糊 – 你能看到由红色的波被发射出来, 这些就是引力波。
faint:n.昏厥;v.昏厥;adj.昏眩;(光,声,味)微弱的;微小的;可能性不大的; emanating:从...处传出,传出(emanate的现在分词); gravitational:adj.[力]重力的,[力]引力的;
They're literally the sounds of space ringing, and they will travel out from these black holes at the speed of light as they ring down and coalesce to one spinning, quiet black hole at the end of the day. 它们是实实在在的宇宙的声音, 这些声音将在黑洞相互融合的过程中 以光速从这些黑洞向外传播, 直到这两个黑洞融为一体 成为一个安静地旋转着的黑洞。
literally:adv.按字面:字面上:确实地: coalesce:vi.合并;结合;联合;vt.使…联合;使…合并;
If you were standing near enough, your ear would resonate with the squeezing and stretching of space. 如果你站得足够近, 你的耳朵会与 这些空间的挤压和拉伸产生共鸣。
resonate:vt.共鸣;共振;vi.共鸣;共振; squeezing:v.挤压;捏;榨出,挤出,拧出;(squeeze的现在分词) stretching:v.拉长;撑大;有弹性;拉紧;拉直;(stretch的现在分词)
You would literally hear the sound. 你真的能够亲耳听到这些声音。
Now of course, your head would be squeezed and stretched unhelpfully, so you might have trouble understanding what's going on. 当然,你会无助地发现你的头也被挤压和拉伸, 所以你可能无法理解究竟发生了什么。
squeezed:v.挤压;捏;榨出,挤出,拧出;挤入;(squeeze的过去分词和过去式) stretched:v.拉长;撑大;有弹性(或弹力);拉紧;(stretch的过去式和过去分词)
But I'd like to play for you the sound that we predict. 不过我愿意为你们播放一下 我们预测的声音。
This is from my group -- a slightly less glamorous computer modeling. 这是我的小组的研究成果 - 一个相对简略的计算模型。
slightly:adv.些微地,轻微地;纤细地; glamorous:adj.迷人的,富有魅力的;
Imagine a lighter black hole falling into a very heavy black hole. 想象一个质量较小的黑洞 落入一个质量较大的黑洞。
The sound you're hearing is the light black hole banging on space each time it gets close. 你听到的声音 来自小质量黑洞在靠近大质量黑洞的过程中 与空间发生的碰撞。
If it gets far away, it's a little too quiet. 如果它们距离很远,声音会非常小。
But it comes in like a mallet, and it literally cracks space, wobbling it like a drum. 但渐渐的声音变得像一个鼓槌 敲打着空间, 让空间像鼓一样发生振动。
cracks:n.裂纹; v.破裂; (crack的第三人称单数和复数) wobbling:adj.摇晃的;颤动的;n.摆动;颤动;v.蹒跚;晃动;踌躇(wobble的ing形式);
And we can predict what the sound will be. 我们可以预测这个声音会变成什么样。
We know that, as it falls in, it gets faster and it gets louder. 我们知道,在坠落的过程中, 小质量黑洞会越来越快,发出的声音也更响亮。
And eventually , we're going to hear the little guy just fall into the bigger guy. 最终, 我们将听到小黑洞完全掉进了大黑洞。
eventually:adv.最后,终于;
(Thumping) （咚）
Then it's gone. 它们不见了。
Now I've never heard it that loud -- it's actually more dramatic. 我从来没觉得这声音有这么响 - 在这儿它实际上被放大了。
At home it sounds kind of anticlimactic . 在家里听的时候,觉得这声音有些不给力。
anticlimactic:adj.虎头蛇尾的;突降法的;突减的;
It's sort of like ding, ding, ding. 听起来就像,叮,叮,叮。
This is another sound from my group. 这是我们研究小组模拟的另一个声音。
No, I'm not showing you any images , because black holes don't leave behind helpful trails of ink, and space is not painted, showing you the curves. 我在这儿并不会给大家展示图像, 因为黑洞不会留下 任何有用的踪迹, 真正的空间也不会向你展示 那些虚拟的曲线。
images:n.印象;声誉;形象;画像;雕像;(image的第三人称单数和复数) trails:n.山径;踪迹(trail的复数)vt.拖尾(trail的第三人称单数);
But if you were to float by in space on a space holiday and you heard this, you want to get moving. 不过如果你在宇宙中度假的时候 听到这个声音, 我建议你赶快跑。
(Laughter) （笑）
Want to get away from the sound. 最好赶快远离这声音。
Both black holes are moving. 这两个黑洞都在移动。
Both black holes are getting closer together. 两个黑洞在向彼此靠近。
In this case, they're both wobbling quite a lot. 在这种情况下,它们都在猛烈地摇晃。
And then they're going to merge . 然后,它们将融为一体。
merge:vt.合并;使合并;吞没;vi.合并;融合;
(Thumping) （咚）
Now it's gone. 它们不见了。
Now that chirp is very characteristic of black holes merging -- that it chirps up at the end. 那个尖锐的声音是黑洞融合的标志 - 融合结束的时候就会发出尖锐的响声。
merging:v.合并,结合,并入;相融;(merge的现在分词) chirps:n.啾啾;
Now that's our prediction for what we'll see. 这是我们对我们将会看到的东西 所做出的预测。
Luckily we're at this safe distance in Long Beach, California. 幸运的是我们在加州长滩非常安全。
And surely, somewhere in the universe two black holes have merged . 毋庸置疑,在宇宙的某个地方两个黑洞 已经融合在一起。
merged:adj.(美俚)结了婚的;v.(使)合并,并入;相融;(merge的过去分词和过去式)
And surely, the space around us is ringing after traveling maybe a million light years, or a million years, at the speed of light to get to us. 同样毋庸置疑的是,我们周围的空间 也能感受到这些穿越一百万光年的, 或者说来自一百万年前的振动, 它们以光速传播并最终与我们相遇。
But the sound is too quiet for any of us to ever hear. 但这些声音太小,以至于我们根本听不到。
There are very industrious experiments being built on Earth -- one called LIGO -- which will detect deviations in the squeezing and stretching of space at less than the fraction of a nucleus of an atom over four kilometers. 世界上有些实验需要耗费很多心血才能搭建起来 – 其中有一个叫LIGO的的实验 - 它将能检测到 每四公里的距离上 小于一个原子核范围的 空间振动。
industrious:adj.勤奋的;勤劳的;忙碌的; detect:vt.察觉;发现;探测; deviations:n.差异,偏差(deviation复数); nucleus:n.核,核心;原子核; atom:n.原子;
It's a remarkably ambitious experiment, and it's going to be at advanced sensitivity within the next few years -- to pick this up. 这是一个非常大胆的尝试, 它的灵敏度在未来几年里 将不会被超越 - 它将用来检测空间振动。
remarkably:adv.非常;极为;格外;出乎意料地 ambitious:adj.野心勃勃的;有雄心的;热望的;炫耀的; advanced:adj.先进的; v.前进; (advance的过去式和过去分词形式) sensitivity:n.敏感;敏感性;过敏;
There's also a mission proposed for space, which hopefully will launch in the next ten years, called LISA. 另外一个关于宇宙的研究项目 有望在未来十年内启动, 这个项目叫LISA。
mission:n.使命,任务;代表团;布道;v.派遣;向…传教; proposed:adj.建议的;推荐的;v.提议;建议;计划;求婚;(propose的过去分词和过去式) launch:v.发射(导弹,火箭等); n.发射;
And LISA will be able to see super-massive black holes -- black holes millions or billions of times the mass of the Sun. LISA将可以看到超大质量的黑洞 - 那些质量是太阳的 几百万倍甚至几十亿倍的黑洞。
In this Hubble image, we see two galaxies . 从哈勃望远镜传回的图像里,我们看到这两个星系。
galaxies:n.银河; (galaxy的复数)
They look like they're frozen in some embrace . 看起来它们像是静止地拥抱在一起。
embrace:n.拥抱,怀抱;v.拥抱;乐意采纳(思想、建议等);信奉;包括;
And each one probably harbors a super-massive black hole at its core . 它们的中心可能分别存在着 一个质量巨大的超级黑洞。
harbors:n.海港(harbor的名词复数);海湾;避难所;躲藏处; core:n.核心;要点;果心;[计]磁心;vt.挖...的核;
But they're not frozen; they're actually merging. 但它们并非静止不动, 实际上它们正在融合。
These two black holes are colliding , and they will merge over a billion-year time scale . 这两个黑洞将发生碰撞, 它们的融合将经历数十亿年的时间。
colliding:adj.对撞的;v.碰撞(collide的现在分词);冲突;n.碰撞;冲撞; scale:n.规模;比例;鳞;刻度;天平;数值范围;v.衡量;攀登;剥落;生水垢;
It's beyond our human perception to pick up a song of that duration . 因此搜集它们发出的声音 已经超出了我们人类的感知极限。
perception:n.感知;知觉;看法;洞察力; duration:n.持续时间;期间;
But LISA could see the final stages of two super-massive black holes earlier in the universe's history, the last 15 minutes before they fall together. 但LISA可以看到 两个在很早之前就开始 发生融合的超大质量黑洞的最后阶段, 也就是它们融合前的15分钟。
And it's not just black holes, but it's also any big disturbance in the universe -- and the biggest of them all is the Big Bang. 这种探测并不只限于黑洞, 它还能用来探测宇宙中任何大的扰动 - 其中最大的扰动要数“宇宙大爆炸”了。
disturbance:n.干扰;骚乱;忧虑;
When that expression was coined, it was derisive -- like, "Oh, who would believe in a Big Bang?" 当这个词语被创造出来的时候,有些人嘲弄说 - “噢,谁会相信宇宙大爆炸？”
expression:n.表现,表示,表达; derisive:adj.嘲笑的,嘲弄的;可付之一笑的;
But now it actually might be more technically accurate because it might bang. 但现在看来这个词语其实从字面上来看可能是非常准确的, 因为它确实可能爆炸;
accurate:adj.精确的;
It might make a sound. 发出砰的一声。
This animation from my friends at Proton Studios shows looking at the Big Bang from the outside. 这个有我在Proton Studios的朋友制作的动画短片 展示了从外部观看大爆炸的情景。
animation:n.活泼,生气;激励;卡通片绘制; Proton:n.[物]质子; Studios:n.工作室(studio的复数);
We don't ever want to do that actually. We want to be inside the universe because there's no such thing as standing outside the universe. 我们其实绝不会愿意真的这样;我们希望置身于宇宙的内部, 因为根本不存在置身宇宙之外这样的情况。
So imagine you're inside the Big Bang. 所以,想象一下你置身于大爆炸之中。
It's everywhere, it's all around you, and the space is wobbling chaotically . 宇宙无处不在,世间万物都环绕在你的周围, 空间在无序地摇摆。
chaotically:adv.混乱地;
Fourteen billion years pass and this song is still ringing all around us. 140亿年过去了, 而这声音依然萦绕在我们身边。
Galaxies form, and generations of stars form in those galaxies, and around one star, at least one star, is a habitable planet. 星系逐渐形成, 一批一批的恒星在星系中形成。 在某个星球上, 至少存在一个这样的星球, 适合生命居住。
habitable:adj.可居住的;适于居住的;
And here we are frantically building these experiments, doing these calculations, writing these computer codes. 在这里,我们疯狂地搭建实验, 做计算,写计算机代码。
frantically:adv.疯狂似地;狂暴地;
Imagine a billion years ago, two black holes collided . 想象一下,十亿年前, 两个黑洞相撞。
collided:v.碰撞,冲突(collide的过去分词);
That song has been ringing through space for all that time. 这声音一直以来 都在时空中穿梭。
for all that:尽管;虽然如此;
We weren't even here. 我们甚至都没出现在这里。
It gets closer and closer -- 40,000 years ago, we're still doing cave paintings. 它越来越近 - 40,000年前,我们还在洞穴的石壁上画画。
It's like hurry, build your instruments . 画上的人仿佛在说“快,把仪器搭建起来。”
instruments:n.器械;仪器;器具;手段(instrument的复数)
It's getting closer and closer, and in 20 ... 时间进一步推进,
whatever year it will be when our detectors are finally at advanced sensitivity -- we'll build them, we'll turn on the machines and, bang, we'll catch it -- the first song from space. 在20XX年...未来的某一年 我们终于拥有了高灵敏度的先进探测器 - 我们建造这些探测器,打开开关, 砰,我们捕捉到了这个声音 - 来自太空的第一首歌曲。
detectors:n.探测器;侦测设备(detector的复数); finally:adv.终于;最终;(用于列举)最后;彻底地;
If it was the Big Bang we were going to pick up, it would sound like this. 如果我们所要获取的声音是宇宙大爆炸发出的, 它听起来会像这样。
(Static) It's a terrible sound. （抨击声）这声音真难听。
It's literally the definition of noise. 严格地讲,它就是噪声。
definition:n.定义;清晰度;(尤指词典里的词或短语的)释义;解释;
It's white noise; it's such a chaotic ringing. 这是一种白噪声,一种混乱的铃声。
But it's around us everywhere, presumably , if it hasn't been wiped out by some other process in the universe. 但它在我们周围无处不在, 只要它没有被宇宙中的 某些其他过程所抵消的话。
presumably:adv.大概;推测起来;可假定; process:v.处理;加工;列队行进;n.过程,进行;方法,adj.经过特殊加工(或处理)的;
And if we pick it up, it will be music to our ears because it will be the quiet echo of that moment of our creation , of our observable universe. 如果我们能够探测到这些声音,对我们的耳朵来说这将像音乐一般, 因为这安静的回声 来自于我们被创造的瞬间, 来自于我们抬头遥望的宇宙。
echo:vt.反射;重复;vi.随声附和;发出回声;n.回音;效仿; creation:n.创造,创作;创作物,产物; observable:adj.显著的;觉察得到的;看得见的;n.[物]可观察量;感觉到的事物;
So within the next few years, we'll be able to turn up the soundtrack a little bit, render the universe in audio . 因此在未来的几年里, 我们将能把这些配乐的音量调大一点点, 让宇宙以音频的形式呈现给我们。
render:v.提供;给予;提交;翻译;n.粉刷;[建](墙壁的)初涂;抹灰;精制油; audio:adj.声音的;录音的;
But if we detect those earliest moments, it'll bring us that much closer to an understanding of the Big Bang, which brings us that much closer to asking some of the hardest, most elusive , questions. 但是,如果我们能够探测到那些最早的瞬间, 它还将使我们 离理解大爆炸更进一步, 使我们能够去追问一些最为困难, 同时也最为飘渺的问题。
elusive:adj.难懂的;易忘的;逃避的;难捉摸的;
If we run the movie of our universe backwards, we know that there was a Big Bang in our past, and we might even hear the cacophonous sound of it, but was our Big Bang the only Big Bang? 如果我们倒着播放宇宙的历程, 我们可以知道过去曾有过一次大爆炸, 我们甚至可以听到它那吵杂的声音, 但我们的大爆炸是宇宙中唯一的大爆炸吗？
cacophonous:adj.粗腔横调的;发音不和谐的;
I mean we have to ask, has it happened before? 我的意思是我们不禁会问,在那之前有没有发生过类似的大爆炸呢？
Will it happen again? 将来会不会再次发生呢？
I mean, in the spirit of rising to TED's challenge to reignite wonder, we can ask questions, at least for this last minute, that honestly might evade us forever. 我想说如果把这个问题的意义上升到 TED所倡导的引发人们重新思考的这个层面, 至少在这最后一分钟里,我们可以提出一些问题, 那些我们确实可能永远也回答不了的问题。
reignite:vt.再次点燃;重新激起…;再点火; evade:vt.逃避;躲避;逃脱;回避;想不出
But we have to ask: 但我们不禁要问:
Is it possible that our universe is just a plume off of some greater history? 我?们的宇宙会不会 只是一部更宏大的历史中的一段插曲？
plume:vt.用羽毛装饰;n.羽毛;vi.骚首弄姿;
Or, is it possible that we're just a branch off of a multiverse -- each branch with its own Big Bang in its past -- maybe some of them with black holes playing drums, maybe some without -- 又或者说,我们会不会只是多元宇宙中的一个分支 – 每个分支都曾经历过自己的大爆炸 – 也许它们中的一些存在嗡嗡作响的黑洞, 也许有些没有 –
multiverse:n.多元宇宙;
maybe some with sentient life, and maybe some without -- not in our past, not in our future, but somehow fundamentally connected to us? 也许一些存在有意识的生命,也许有些不存在 – 它们不属于我们的过去,也不存在于我们的未来, 而是以某种方式与我们联系在一起？
sentient:adj.有感情的;有感觉力的;意识到的;n.有知觉的人; somehow:adv.以某种方法;莫名其妙地; fundamentally:adv.从根本上;基础地;重要地
So we have to wonder, if there is a multiverse, in some other patch of that multiverse, are there creatures ? 因此,我们忍不住会猜测,如果存在一个多元宇宙, 在这个多元宇宙中的其他分支中, 存在生命吗？
patch:n.补丁;小片;眼罩;色斑;v.修补;打补丁;缝补; creatures:n.生物;动物;(具有某种特征的)人(creature的复数)
Here's my multiverse creatures. 这是我们这个多元宇宙中生命。
Are there other creatures in the multiverse, wondering about us and wondering about their own origins ? 多元宇宙中是否还有其他生命, 他们会不会也在猜测我们的存在, 思考着他们自己的起源？
origins:n.起源; (origin的复数)
And if they are, 如果是这样的,
I can imagine them as we are, calculating, writing computer code, building instruments, trying to detect that faintest sound of their origins and wondering who else is out there. 我能想象他们与我们一样, 做计算,编写计算机代码, 搭建实验仪器, 试图探测那些 来自于他们起源时的微弱声音, 并怀疑还有谁在那里。
faintest:adj.一点也不的(用于否定句,加强语气);极小的;
Thank you. Thank you. 谢谢。谢谢大家。
(Applause) （掌声）