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RobinInce_2011G-_科学毁了幻想_
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| I'd like to apologize, first of all , to all of you because I have no form of PowerPoint presentation . |
首先我想先和大家道个歉 因为我没有准备 幻灯片 |
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first of all:adv.首先; presentation:n.展示;描述,陈述;介绍;赠送;
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| So what I'm going to do is, every now and again, I will make this gesture , and in a moment of PowerPoint democracy , you can imagine what you'd like to see. |
所以接下来的演讲中 在需要幻灯片展示的时候 我会作这个手势 你可以自己去发挥想象 |
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gesture:n.手势;姿势;示意动作;表示;v.做手势;用手势表示; in a moment:立刻; democracy:n.民主,民主主义;民主政治;
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| I do a radio show. |
我有一个电台节目 |
| The radio show is called "The Infinite Monkey Cage." |
叫做 无限的猴子笼. |
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Infinite:adj.无限的,无穷的; n.无限;
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| It's about science, it's about rationalism . |
是个关于科学,理性的节目 |
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rationalism:n.理性主义;唯理主义;
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| So therefore, we get a lot of complaints every single week -- complaints including one we get very often, which is to say the very title, "Infinite Monkey Cage," |
因此,我们每个礼拜 都被投诉-- 其中被投诉最多的 就是节目名称 无限的猴子笼 |
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complaints:n.不满;抱怨;投诉;控告;(complaint的复数)
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| celebrates the idea of vivisection . |
称其倡导活体解剖 |
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vivisection:n.活体解剖;
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| We have made it quite clear to these people that an infinite monkey cage is roomy . |
我们向这些投诉者明确解释 一个无限大的猴子笼是够宽广的 |
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roomy:adj.宽敞的;广阔的;宽大的;
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| (Laughter) |
:） |
| We also had someone else who said, "'The Infinite Monkey Cage' idea is ridiculous . |
还有些人说 “无限的猴子笼”的名字太荒唐了 |
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ridiculous:adj.可笑的;荒谬的;
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| An infinite number of monkeys could never write the works of Shakespeare . |
无数的猴子 根本无法写出莎士比亚的著作 |
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Shakespeare:n.莎士比亚(英国剧作家);
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| We know this because they did an experiment." |
我们这么说因为他们做过一个实验” |
| Yes, they gave 12 monkeys a typewriter for a week, and after a week, they only used it as a bathroom. |
确实,他们给12个猴子一个打字机 一个星期后,猴子只把它当厕所用 |
| (Laughter) |
:） |
| So the main element though, the main complaint we get -- and one that I find most worrying -- is that people say, "Oh, why do you insist on ruining the magic? |
我们接到的主要投诉-- 我最为担心的是-- 有人说“为什么你们坚持要 戳穿幻想？ |
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element:n.元素;要素;原理;成分;自然环境; ruining:v.毁坏;破坏;毁灭;(ruin的现在分词)
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| You bring in science, and it ruins the magic." |
你们带来了科学,却摧毁了幻想” |
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ruins:n.遗迹(ruin的复数形式);废墟;v.毁灭(ruin的三单形式);
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| Now I'm an arts graduate; |
我现在进修艺术研究生 |
| I love myth and magic and existentialism and self-loathing . |
我热爱神话和幻想 也喜欢存在主义和自我厌恶 |
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myth:n.神话;虚构的人,虚构的事; existentialism:n.存在主义; self-loathing:n.自我讨厌的;自我憎恨的;
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| That's what I do. |
我就是这样的 |
| But I also don't understand how it does ruin the magic. |
但是我还不明白 这怎么就毁了幻想了 |
| All of the magic, I think, that may well be taken away by science is then replaced by something as wonderful. |
我认为所有 可以被科学所解释的幻想 是被同样奇妙的东西所代替了 |
| Astrology , for instance : like many rationalists , I'm a Pisces . |
比如占星术 像许多理性主义者一样,我也是双鱼座 |
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Astrology:n.占星术;占星学;星座; instance:n.实例;情况;建议;v.举...为例; rationalists:n.理性主义者,唯理主义者; Pisces:n.[天]双鱼座;
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| (Laughter) |
:） |
| Now astrology -- we remove the banal idea that your life could be predicted; that you'll, perhaps today, meet a lucky man who's wearing a hat. |
如今的占星术-- 我们去除了一些陈腐的东西 比如可以预知生命之类的 你今天也许会遇到一位幸运的人 他会戴着一顶帽子 |
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banal:adj.陈腐的;平庸的;老一套的;
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| That is gone. |
现在没这些了 |
| But if we want to look at the sky and see predictions , we still can. |
但是如果我们希望通过观星象预测,还是可以的 |
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predictions:n.预测,预言(prediction复数形式);
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| We can see predictions of galaxies forming, of galaxies colliding into each other, of new solar systems. |
我们可以据此预测星系的形成 预测星系碰撞成为新的太阳系 |
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galaxies:n.银河; (galaxy的复数) colliding:adj.对撞的;v.碰撞(collide的现在分词);冲突;n.碰撞;冲撞;
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| This is a wonderful thing. |
这非常棒 |
| If the Sun could one day -- and indeed the Earth, in fact -- if the Earth could read its own astrological , astronomical chart, one day it would say, "Not a good day for making plans. |
如果有天太阳--甚至是地球-- 如果地球可以读懂它的天文图的话 某一天就可以说 “今天不是吉日 |
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astrological:adj.占星的;占星学的,占星术的; astronomical:adj.天文的,天文学的;极大的;
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| You'll been engulfed by a red giant ." |
你将被一个红巨星吞没” |
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engulfed:vt.吞没;吞食,狼吞虎咽; red giant:n.红巨星;
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| And that to me as well, that if you think I'm worried about losing worlds, well Many Worlds theory -- one of the most beautiful, fascinating , sometimes terrifying ideas from the quantum interpretation -- is a wonderful thing. |
对我来说也很棒 如果你觉得我担心世界末日 那么多世界理论-- 最棒,最吸引人 有时又让人恐怖的理论之一 出自量子力学解释-- 是个很棒的东西 |
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fascinating:adj.极有吸引力的;迷人的;v.深深吸引;迷住;(fascinate的现在分词) terrifying:adj.令人恐惧的;骇人的;极大的;v.使害怕,使恐怖;(terrify的现在分词) quantum:n.量子论;额;美国昆腾公司(世界领先的硬盘生产商); interpretation:n.解释;翻译;演出;
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| That every person here, every decision that you've made today, every decision you've made in your life, you've not really made that decision, but in fact, every single permutation of those decisions is made, each one going off into a new universe. |
在座每一位,每一个你今天作出的决定 每一个你生命中做过的决定 并不是你作出了那个决定 而是 那些决定的每一个其他可能 已经被做出,各自将在新的宇宙中发展 |
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permutation:n.[数]排列;[数]置换;
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| That is a wonderful idea. |
那是个很棒的想法 |
| If you ever think that your life is rubbish, always remember there's another you that's made much worse decisions than that. |
如果你曾经想过你的生活毫无意义 记住 还有其他的你,做出了比你现在还要糟糕的决定 |
| (Laughter) |
:） |
| If you ever think, "Ah, I want to end it all," |
如果你曾想过“啊,我想自杀, |
| don't end it all. |
不要那么做 |
| Remember that in the majority of universes , you don't even exist in the first place . |
记住在无数宇宙中的大部分里 你首先就根本没有存在过 |
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majority:n.大部分:大多数:多数票:成年人: universes:语义层;此生彼世; in the first place:首先;起初;
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| This to me, in its own strange way, is very, very comforting. |
对我来说,这虽然有点离奇 但是非常非常令人欣慰的 |
| Now reincarnation , that's another thing gone -- the afterlife . |
转世,这是另一个废弃的概念--来生 |
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reincarnation:n.再生;化身; afterlife:n.来世;死后的生活;
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| But it's not gone. |
但也没完全废弃 |
| Science actually says we will live forever. |
科学实际上也认为 我们将会永生 |
| Well, there is one proviso . |
不过有一个限制性条件 |
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proviso:n.附带条件;附文;限制性条款;
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| We won't actually live forever. You won't live forever. |
我们事实上不会永生,你不会永生 |
| Your consciousness , the you-ness of you, the me-ness of me -- that gets this one go. |
你的意识,你、我本身-- 都终将会逝去 |
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consciousness:n.意识;知觉;觉悟;感觉;
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| But every single thing that makes us, every atom in us, has already created a myriad of different things and will go on to create a myriad of new things. |
但是每一个组成我们的部分 每一个原子 已经创造了无数的不同的事物 并且还将继续创造无数新事物 |
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atom:n.原子; myriad:adj.无数的;种种的;n.无数,极大数量;无数的人或物;
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| We have been mountains and apples and pulsars and other people's knees. |
我们曾经是山脉 或苹果或脉冲星 或是别人的膝盖 |
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pulsars:n.脉冲星;
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| Who knows, maybe one of your atoms was once Napoleon's knee. |
谁知道呢,也许你其中的一个原子以前曾经是拿破仑的膝盖 |
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atoms:n.[物]原子(atom的复数);
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| That is a good thing. |
那很好 |
| Unlike the occupants of the universe, the universe itself is not wasteful . |
不像宇宙的居住者们 宇宙本身并不浪费 |
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occupants:n.居住者;购买者;租赁人(occupant的复数); wasteful:adj.浪费的,不经济的;奢侈的;
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| We are all totally recyclable . |
我们都是可循环的 |
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recyclable:adj.可回收利用的;可再循环的;
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| And when we die, we don't even have to be placed in different refuse sacs . |
当我们死后 我们甚至都不用被垃圾分类 |
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sacs:n.[生物]囊,液囊;糖精(sac的复数);
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| This is a wonderful thing. |
这是件很棒的事情 |
| Understanding, to me, does not remove the wonder and the joy. |
对我来说,理解这些 并不会失去幻想与乐趣 |
| For instance, my wife could turn to me and she may say, "Why do you love me?" |
比如,我夫人可以问我 “你为什么爱我？” |
| And I can with all honesty look her in the eye and say, "Because our pheromones matched our olfactory receptors ." |
我也可以诚实地 看着她的眼睛说 “因为我们的外激素 比较适合对方的嗅觉器官。” |
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pheromones:n.[生化]信息素(pheromone的复数形式); olfactory:adj.嗅觉的;味道的;n.嗅觉器官; receptors:n.[生化]受体;接受器;神经末梢(receptor的复数);
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| (Laughter) |
:） |
| Though I'll probably also say something about her hair and personality as well. |
也许我还会说些其他的 比如她的头发和个性什么的 |
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personality:n.性格;个性;人格;魅力;气质;名人;特色;
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| And that is a wonderful thing there. |
这是多好的事情啊 |
| Love does not die because of that thing. |
爱并不会因此而变淡 |
| Pain doesn't go away either. |
痛也同样不会消失 |
| This is a terrible thing, even though I understand pain. |
这就不怎么好了,即使我了解痛苦 |
| If someone punches me -- and because of my personality, this is recently a regular occurrence -- |
如果有人给我一拳-- 由于我的个性 这是最近经常发生的事情-- |
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punches:v.用拳猛击(punch的第三人称单数形式); n.一拳(punch的复数); recently:adv.最近;新近; occurrence:n.发生;出现;存在;发生的事情;
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| I understand where the pain comes from. |
我知道疼痛来自哪里 |
| It is basically momentum to energy where the four-vector is constant -- that's what it is. |
基本上就是动能 四向量是恒定的--就是那样 |
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basically:adv.主要地,基本上; momentum:n.势头;[物]动量;动力;冲力;
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| But at no point can I react and go, "Ha! Is that the best momentum-to-energy fourth vector constant you've got?" |
但我不可能说 “哈,这就是你能使出来的最好的动能四向量恒量吗？” |
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react:v.起反应;回应;(对食物等)有不良反应,过敏;起化学反应; vector:n.矢量;带菌者;航线;vt.用无线电导航;
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| No, I just spit out a tooth. |
不,我只是掉了颗牙 |
| (Laughter) |
:） |
| And that is all of these different things -- the love for my child. |
那就是所有不同的事情--对我孩子的爱 |
| I have a son. His name is Archie . |
我有一个儿子,叫阿奇 |
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Archie:n.高射炮(等于archibald);
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| I'm very lucky, because he's better than all the other children. |
我很幸运 他是最好的 |
| Now I know you don't think that. |
我知道你们肯定不这么想 |
| You may well have your own children and think, "Oh no, my child's best." |
因为你也许也有自己的孩子 心想,“我孩子才是最棒的” |
| That's the wonderful thing about evolution -- the predilection to believe that our child is best. |
那是关于进化论的很棒的事-- 偏向于相信自己孩子 是最好的 |
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evolution:n.演变;进化;发展;渐进; predilection:n.偏爱,嗜好;
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| Now in many ways, that's just a survival thing. |
在很多不同方面,那只是个生存问题 |
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survival:n.幸存,残存;幸存者,残存物;
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| The fact we see here is the vehicle for our genes , and therefore we love it. |
我们在这看到的是,基因的传承 所以我们才会偏爱 |
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vehicle:n.[车辆]车辆;工具;交通工具;运载工具;传播媒介;媒介物; genes:n.基因;(gene的复数)
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| But we don't notice that bit; we just unconditionally love. |
我们忽略了一点;我们是无条件的爱 |
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unconditionally:adv.无条件地;
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| That is a wonderful thing. |
那很棒 |
| Though I should say that my son is best and is better than your children. |
虽然我会说我的儿子最好 比你们的孩子更好 |
| I've done some tests. |
我做了些测试 |
| And all of these things to me give such joy and excitement and wonder. |
所有这些对我来说 给我带来了很多快乐、兴奋和奇妙 |
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excitement:n.兴奋;刺激;令人兴奋的事物;
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| Even quantum mechanics can give you an excuse for bad housework, for instance. |
甚至量子力学可以给你一个家里凌乱 的理由,比如 |
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quantum mechanics:n.量子力学;
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| Perhaps you've been at home for a week on your own. |
你已经独自在家一周了 |
| You house is in a terrible state. |
家里凌乱不堪 |
| Your partner is about to return. |
你的另一半就要回来了 |
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is about to:眼看就要;即将;正要;行将;
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| You think, what should I do? |
你想,我该做什么？ |
| Do nothing. |
什么也不做 |
| All you have to do is, when she walks in, using a quantum interpretation, say, "I'm so sorry. |
你需要做的是 当她走进来的时候,用量子学解释 说,“实在对不起 |
| I stopped observing the house for a moment, and when I started observing again, everything had happened." |
我已经有段时间没观察过房子了 当我再开始去观察它的时候 就变成这样了” |
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observing:adj.观察的;注意的;观察力敏锐的;v.观察;遵守(observe的现在分词);
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| (Laughter) |
:） |
| That's the strong anthropic principle of vacuuming . |
那是带有强烈人为意识的真空学理论 |
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anthropic:adj.有关人类的,人类的; principle:n.原理,原则;主义,道义;本质,本义;根源,源泉; vacuuming:v.用真空吸尘器清扫;(vacuum的现在分词)
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| For me, it's a very, very important thing. |
对我来说,这是非常重要的事 |
| Even on my journey up here -- the joy that I have on my journey up here every single time. |
甚至是在我来这的路上-- 我每次来这的路上都充满欢乐 |
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journey:n.旅行;行程;vi.旅行;
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| If you actually think, you remove the myth and there is still something wonderful. |
如果你真的认为,你不相信虚幻,其实仍然会有些很奇妙的东西 |
| I'm sitting on a train. |
我坐在火车上 |
| Every time I breathe in, |
我每一次呼吸 |
| I'm breathing in a million-billion-billion atoms of oxygen. |
我无数次的吸进 氧原子 |
| I'm sitting on a chair. |
我坐在椅子上 |
| Even though I know the chair is made of atoms and therefore actually in many ways empty space, |
甚至想,我知道这个椅子是有原子构造的 因此,理论上就会有许多空隙 |
| I find it comfortable. |
我发现这很有趣 |
| I look out the window, and I realize that every single time we stop and I look out that window, framed in that window, wherever we are, |
我看着窗外,意识到 每一次我们停下来注视着那扇窗外 有框的窗户 不管我们在哪 |
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framed:v.给…做框;给…镶边;制订;拟订;(frame的过去分词和过去式)
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| I am observing more life than there is in the rest of the known universe beyond the planet Earth. |
我是在观察 比超越地球的已知宇宙的总和还要多的 无数生命 |
| If you go to the safari parks on Saturn or Jupiter , you will be disappointed. |
如果你去土星或者木星 的徒步公园 你会失望 |
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safari:n.旅行;狩猎远征;旅行队; Saturn:n.[天]土星;农业之神(罗马神话中的一个形象); Jupiter:n.[天]木星;朱庇特(罗马神话中的宙斯神);
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| And I realize I'm observing this with the brain, the human brain, the most complex thing in the known universe. |
当我意识到我是在用大脑观察 人类的大脑 是在已知的宇宙中最复杂的东西 |
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complex:adj.复杂的;合成的;n.复合体;综合设施;
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| That, to me, is an incredible thing. |
那对我来说是不可思议的事情 |
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incredible:adj.难以置信的,惊人的;
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| And do you know what, that might be enough. |
你知道吗,那也许就够了 |
| Steven Weinberg, the Nobel laureate , once said, "The more the universe seems comprehensible , the more it seems pointless ." |
史蒂芬·温伯格,诺贝尔奖得主,曾经说过 “宇宙越是呈现出可理解性 就越显得没有意义” |
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laureate:adj.戴桂冠的;荣誉的;n.桂冠诗人;得奖者;vt.使戴桂冠; comprehensible:adj.可理解的; pointless:adj.无意义的;钝的;不尖的;不得要领的;
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| Now for some people, that seems to lead to an idea of nihilism . |
如今有些人 将此理解为虚无主义 |
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nihilism:n.虚无主义;无政府主义;恐怖行为;
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| But for me, it doesn't. That is a wonderful thing. |
但对我来说,不是那样的,那其实挺好的 |
| I'm glad the universe is pointless. |
我很乐于认为宇宙是无意义的 |
| It means if I get to the end of my life, the universe can't turn to me and go, "What have you been doing, you idiot ? |
即如果我到了生命尽头 宇宙不会跟我说:“你都干了什么,你这个笨蛋？ |
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idiot:n.笨蛋,傻瓜;白痴;
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| That's not the point." |
不该那么做。” |
| I can make my own purpose. |
我可以有自己的目的 |
| You can make your own purpose. |
你也可以给自己定目标 |
| We have the individual power to go, "This is what I want to do." |
我们都有自由意志 “这是我想做的事情” |
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individual:n.个人;有个性的人;adj.单独的;个别的;
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| And in a pointless universe, that, to me, is a wonderful thing. |
一个没有意义的宇宙,对我来说,其实是很棒的事 |
| I have chosen to make silly jokes about quantum mechanics and the Copenhagen interpretation. |
是我选择了讲些关于量子力学 和哥本哈根诠释的傻傻笑话 |
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Copenhagen:n.哥本哈根(丹麦首都);
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| You, I imagine, can do much better things with your time. |
那么我想 你可以更好地利用你的时间做更好的事情 |
| Thank you very much. Goodbye. |
十分感谢,拜拜 |
| (Applause) |
（掌声） |