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KaylaWolf_BadMaps_2020E-_为什么每一张世界地图都是错的_-
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| Fourteen Greenlands could fit in Africa, but you wouldn’t guess it from most maps of the world. |
非洲可以装下 14 个格陵兰岛, 但是你从多数世界地图上 绝对看不出这一点, |
| The fact is, every world map humans have ever made is wrong. |
实际上,我们所设计的 每一张世界地图都是错的。 |
| Actually, it’s impossible to make a map of the world 100% right. |
其实,世界地图是 不可能画得 100% 准确的。 |
| No, not you, globe— we know you’re accurate . |
地球仪,我们不是在说你—— 我们知道你是准确的。 |
| Not you, Google Earth, you’re just a digital globe. |
谷歌地球,我们也不是在说你, 你也只不过是个数字地球仪。 |
| We're talking about flat maps, which, let's face it, are way more convenient for a lot of things. |
我们说的是平面地图。 不得不说,在很多事情上, 平面地图方便多了。 |
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accurate:adj.精确的; Google:谷歌;谷歌搜索引擎; digital:adj.数字的;手指的;n.数字;键; convenient:adj.实用的;便利的;方便的;
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| Anyway, as we were saying, it’s impossible to make a 100% accurate flat map of a spherical planet. |
言归正传,我们刚刚说的是, 为球形的行星制作一张 100% 准确的平面地图是天方夜谭。 |
| For a long time, people didn't even try. |
过去很长一段时间里, 人们甚至都没去尝试, |
| They just plonked places down in arbitrary locations without any consistent scale . |
他们不过是在地图上草草定下各地位置, 甚至没采用标准比例尺。 |
| Then in 150 AD, the Greek mathematician and astronomer Ptolemy systematically mapped the Earth on a grid and placed locations on the grid according to coordinates , so maps could be checked against others and replicated . |
后来,在公元 150 年, 希腊数学家和天文学家托勒密 系统性地在网格上 绘制了地球的地图, 然后把各个地方的坐标 标记在网格上, 好让地图有据可循,复制共享。 |
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spherical:adj.球形的,球面的;天体的; plonked:n.[英国,澳大利亚口语]劣等廉价葡萄酒;劣质廉价酒; arbitrary:adj.[数]任意的;武断的;专制的; locations:n.地方;地点;位置;定位(location的复数) consistent:adj.始终如一的,一致的;坚持的; 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; mathematician:n.数学家;善作数字计算的人; astronomer:n.天文学家; systematically:adv.有系统地;有组织地; grid:n.网格;格子,栅格;输电网; according to:根据,据说; coordinates:n.[数]坐标;相配之衣物;v.使协调;使调和(coordinate的第三人称单数形式); replicated:重复的;
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| Ptolemy built his grid out of lines we still use today: 180 lines of latitude and 360 lines of longitude . |
托勒密画网格时 所用的线条一直沿用至今: 180 条纬线和 360 条经线。 |
| In spite of these advances, people kept getting lost. |
尽管有了这些进展, 人们还是不断迷路。 |
| Part of the problem was a— shall we say— incomplete understanding of the world’s geography. |
问题的一部分在于—— 怎么说呢—— 人们对世界地理了解得不全面。 |
| But it was also just really difficult to navigate using a map. |
但用地图来导航, 本来就是一件很困难的事情。 |
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latitude:n.纬度;界限;活动范围; longitude:n.[地理]经度;经线; In spite of:尽管;不管,不顾; incomplete:n.未完成;adj.不完整的;不完全的;不完善的; navigate:vt.驾驶,操纵;使通过;航行于;vi.航行,航空;
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| Because the Earth is round, the shortest route from one place to another is a path along a circle. |
由于地球是圆的, 两个地点之间的最短路线 会形成圆圈上的轨道。 |
| If we draw this route on a flat map, it passes through every line of longitude at a different angle. |
要是把这条路线画在平面地图上, 它与每一条经线交叉的角度就会不同。 |
| To follow the route, you’d have to constantly shift the direction you're traveling. |
要想沿着这条路线走, 你就要时时刻刻调整你前进的方向。 |
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route:n.路线;路途;固定线路;途径;v.按某路线发送; constantly:adv.不断地;时常地; shift:n.移动;变化;手段;轮班;v.移动;转变;转换;
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| Any slight error would land you in the wrong place . |
只要稍有误差,你就会走错地方。 |
| In 1569, Gerardus Mercator fixed this problem. |
1569 年,杰拉杜斯·墨卡托 （Gerardus Mercator）解决了这个问题。 |
| He created a world map proportioned so these curved navigational routes would be straight, passing through every line of longitude at the same angle and therefore allowing navigators to set a constant bearing— in other words, travel in one direction— for a whole journey . |
他制作的世界地图的比例 让这些弯曲的导航路线都变直了, 而且还会以同样的角度 与每一条经线交叉, 好让导航设下稳定的线路—— 换句话说,全程能往一个方向走。 |
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slight:adj.轻微的;略微的;细小的;纤细的;n.侮慢;冷落;轻视;v.侮慢;冷落;轻视; in the wrong place:不合适的地方; proportioned:adj.相称的;成比例的;v.使成比例;分配(proportion的过去分词); curved:adj.呈弯曲状的; v.(使)沿曲线运动; navigational:adj.航行的,航运的; routes:n.路线;途径;路途;渠道;v.按某路线发送;(route的第三人称单数和复数) navigators:n.航海家;导航器(navigator的复数); journey:n.旅行;行程;vi.旅行;
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| There was just one tiny hitch : to do this, he had to distort land masses and bodies of water so those furthest from the equator got larger and those closest to the equator shrank . |
但有个小问题: 为了这么做, 他必须调整陆地与海域, 这样距离赤道最远的 陆地与海洋面积会比实际大, 最靠近赤道的陆地 和海域面积会小于实际。 |
| In spite of its inaccuracies , Mercator’s map was very useful. |
尽管存在这些误差, 墨卡托的地图还是很管用。 |
| In fact, it’s still widely used today, including in online maps. |
事实上,它目前还在广泛使用中, 包括线上地图。 |
| But it’s still wrong! |
但是它还是存在错误的！ |
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hitch:n.故障; vt.搭便车; vi.被钩住; distort:v.使变形;扭曲;使失真;歪曲; masses:n.民众;大量(mass的复数);包块;v.集中;聚集(mass的三单形式); furthest:v.最远地; adj.最远的; shrank:v.收缩(shrink的过去式);缩小; inaccuracies:不准确;误差;
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| In 1925, the Goode Homolosine Projection was created as— get this— an interrupted pseudo-cylindrical equal area projection. |
1925 年,古蒂等面积投影 问世了——注意—— 它是一种断续的伪圆柱形等面积投影。 |
| What does that mean? Not important. |
什么意思呢？ 其实不重要。 |
| The point was to minimize distortion for the entire world. |
其旨在减少世界地图表面误差。 |
| The map can be land-oriented... or ocean-oriented. |
这张地图可以只看陆地, 也可以只显示海洋。 |
| Either way, the so-called orange peel map isn’t very easy to read. |
不管怎样,这张所谓的橙皮地图 也不太容易辨识。[02:55] |
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interrupted:v.插嘴; adj.被阻止的,中断的; (interrupt的过去分词和过去式) minimize:v.使减少到最低限度;降低;贬低;使显得不重要; distortion:n.变形;[物]失真;扭曲;曲解; so-called:adj.所谓的;号称的;
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| The Dymaxion Projection by American architect Buckminster Fuller in the 1940s is even better. |
美国建筑师巴克敏斯特·福乐 （Buckminster Fuller） 上世纪 40 年代的 戴美克森投影都比它好。 |
| Sorry, did we say better? |
抱歉,我们是说“更好”吗？ |
| It’s not better if you want to understand where things are in the world. |
如果你想知道某地在地球的位置, 这张地图并没多好, |
| It is better in the sense that there are no visibly evident distortions of the land masses. |
它好的地方是指各陆地在地图上看起来不太变形。 |
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architect:n.建筑师;设计师;创造者; visibly:adv.明显地;显然;看得见地; evident:adj.明显的;明白的; distortions:n.[物]畸变,[力]扭曲(distortion的复数);
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| Though if you wanted to know, say, how far Brazil is from Nigeria, you won’t get any sense of that from this map. |
但假如你想知道 巴西和尼日利亚之间的距离, 你从这张地图上是看不出来的。 |
| The most accurate projection to date is the AuthaGraph World Map designed by Japanese architect Hajime Narukawa in 1999. |
到目前为止,最准确的投影 是日本建筑师鸣川肇在 1999 年设计的 AuthaGraph 世界地图。 |
| The continents and oceans are almost completely in proportion, and the map is rectangular , just how we like it. |
所有陆地和海洋的比例几乎完全一致, 而且地图也是矩形的, 就像我们习惯的一样。 |
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Brazil:n.巴西(拉丁美洲国家); continents:n.[地理]大陆,大洲(continent复数); rectangular:adj.矩形的;成直角的;
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| Could this be the perfect map? |
这究竟是不是完美的地图呢？ |
| Well... no. |
嗯……并不是。 |
| Since the Mercator works for navigation and reads clearly, why bother with all these whacky maps? |
既然墨卡托投影可以用于导航, 而且清晰易用, 为什么还要用这些古怪的地图呢？ |
| Arno Peters argued that by enlarging European and North American countries, the Mercator projection gives white nations a sense of supremacy over non-white nations closer to the equator. |
阿诺·彼得斯（Arno Peters）认为, 墨卡托投影让欧洲和北美洲国家看起来更大, 使白种人所在的国家有了优越感, 可凌驾于靠近赤道的非白种人国家之上。 |
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bother:v.烦扰,打扰;使…不安;操心,麻烦;n.麻烦;烦恼; whacky:adj.发狂的;怪诞的; Mercator projection:n.墨卡托地图投影(一种传统的世界地图投影,其中一些国家的面积失真); supremacy:n.霸权;至高无上;主权;最高地位; non-white:adj.非白种的;
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| He adapted the Gall-Peters Projection, which counteracts that particular problem, but the continents are still... stretched . |
他对高尔-彼得斯投影进行了调整, 解决了这个问题, 但是各大陆还是……被拉长了。 |
| Today, we rely on maps less and less for navigation, but they still play a vital role in education. |
而今,我们找路时, 越来越少用地图了, 但是它们在教育中 仍起着至关重要的作用。 |
| Peters was definitely on to something: no matter what map we’re looking at, it’s a story told from the perspective of the map’s creator that in turn shapes—perhaps unduly— our perception of our world. |
彼得斯确实说得对: 不管我们看的是什么地图, 地图让我们看到是创作者眼中的世界, 这——或许会大大—— 改变我们对世界的看法。 |
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adapted:adj.适于…的; v.使适应,使适合; (adapt的过去分词和过去式) counteracts:v.抵制;抵消;抵抗;(counteract的第三人称单数) stretched:v.拉长;撑大;有弹性(或弹力);拉紧;(stretch的过去式和过去分词) rely:vi.依靠;信赖; vital:adj.至关重要的;生死攸关的;有活力的; definitely:adv.清楚地,当然;明确地,肯定地; no matter what:不管什么…; perspective:n.观点;远景;透视图;adj.透视的; perception:n.感知;知觉;看法;洞察力;
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| Simple changes in map design, even changes that have nothing to do with how we transfer a round Earth to a flat surface, can completely shift our point of view . |
当我们把地球转化为平面的地图, 哪怕只是设计上无关紧要的改变, 也可以彻底地改变我们的想法。 |
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have nothing to do with:与…无关; transfer:n.转移;调任;调离;[体]转会球员;v.调任;调走;转学;转移; point of view:观点;见地;立场;
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