TED演讲:我们的意识(2)

 　　Now, this nice picture shows a thought-balloon, a thought-bubble.  好了，这张图展示的是一个“思维泡泡”。

　　I think everybody understands what that means.  我想大家都知道这是什么意思。

　　That's supposed to exhibit the stream of consciousness.  它展示了意识流。

　　This is my favorite picture of consciousness that's ever been done.  这是到目前，我最喜欢的展示意识的图片。

　　It's a Saul Steinberg of course -- it was a New Yorker cover.  它是Saul Steinberg的作品——是《纽约客》的一幅封面图片。

　　And this fellow here is looking at the painting by Braque.  这个人是在看Braque的画。

　　That reminds him of the word baroque, barrack, bark, poodle,  让他想起了巴洛克、兵营、树皮、狮毛狗

　　Suzanne R. -- he's off to the races. Suzanne R. 精彩正要开始。

　　There's a wonderful stream of consciousness here  这是个极好的意识流

　　and if you follow it along, you learn a lot about this man.  如果你一直跟下去，你可以了解这个男人很多事情

　　What I particularly like about this picture, too,  我还特别喜欢这个图片里边

　　is that Steinberg has rendered the guy Steinberg in this sort of pointillist style. 把整个人渲染成一种点彩画风格

　　Which reminds us, as Rod Brooks¹ was saying yesterday:  这让我们想起，Rod Brooks昨天所说的：

　　what we are, what each of us is -- what you are, what I am --  我们是什么，我们每个人是什么——你是什么，我是什么——

　　is approximately 100 trillion little cellular² robots.  是将近一万亿亿的小细胞机器人。

　　That's what we're made of.  那就是我们的组成成分。

　　No other ingredients at all. We're just made of cells, about 100 trillion of them.  没有任何其他成分。我们就是细胞组成的，约一万亿亿个。

　　Not a single one of those cells is conscious;  这些细胞中没有任何一个有意识，

　　not a single one of those cells knows who you are, or cares.  没有一个知道你是谁，或者在乎这个。

　　Somehow, we have to explain  从某种意义上，我们需要解释

　　how when you put together teams, armies, battalions³ of hundreds of millions of little robotic unconscious cells 我们如何把数队，数军，数营的成百百亿的无意识细胞机器

　　not so different really from a bacterium⁴, each one of them the result is this. I mean, just look at it. 他们每个都与细菌没有多大区别，组合成了这个。我的意思是，就看一下。

　　The content -- there's color, there's ideas, there's memories, there's history. 这些内容——有颜色、有想法、有回忆，有历史。

　　And somehow all that content of consciousness is accomplished⁵ by the busy activity of those hoards⁶ of neurons. 从某种意义上，这些意识的内容是由那些聚集的神经元的繁忙活动完成的。

　　How is that possible? Many people just think it isn't possible at all.  这怎么可能呢？很多人认为这一点可能性都没有。

　　They think, "No, there can't be any sort of naturalistic explanation of consciousness." 他们觉得，“不，不可能有任何对意识的科学的解释。”

　　This is a lovely book by a friend of mine named Lee Siegel,  这是一本由我朋友Lee Siegel写的可爱的书，

　　who's a professor of religion, actually, at the University of Hawaii,  他是夏威夷大学的宗教方向教授，

　　and he's an expert magician, and an expert on the street magic of India, 而且还是个魔术专家，是印度街头魔术的专家，

　　which is what this book is about, "Net of Magic." 也就是这本书的内容，“魔术的网。”

　　And there's a passage in it which I would love to share with you.  我要与你们分享里面的一篇文章。

　　It speaks so eloquently⁷ to the problem.  这些话在这个问题上说的真是太好了。

　　"'I'm writing a book on magic,' I explain, and I'm asked, 'Real magic?' “‘我在写一本关于魔术的书，’我解释道，然后我又被问道，‘真正的魔术？’

　　By 'real magic,' people mean miracles, thaumaturgical acts, and supernatural powers. 真正的魔术，人们指的是奇迹、魔法，以及超自然力量。

　　'No,' I answer. 'Conjuring⁸ tricks, not real magic.' ‘不’，我回应道。‘变戏法而已，不是真正的魔术。’

　　'Real magic,' in other words, refers to the magic that is not real;  真正的魔术，换句话来说，指的是那些并不真实可行的魔法，

　　while the magic that is real, that can actually be done, is not real magic."  而那些真实可行的魔术，又不是真正的魔法。”

1 brooks   

n.小溪( brook的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Brooks gave the business when Haas caught him with his watch. 哈斯抓到偷他的手表的布鲁克斯时，狠狠地揍了他一顿。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Ade and Brooks exchanged blows yesterday and they were severely punished today. 艾德和布鲁克斯昨天打起来了，今天他们受到严厉的惩罚。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 cellular   

adj.移动的；细胞的，由细胞组成的

参考例句：

• She has a cellular telephone in her car.她的汽车里有一部无线通讯电话机。
• Many people use cellular materials as sensitive elements in hygrometers.很多人用蜂窝状的材料作为测量温度的传感元件。

3 battalions   

n.（陆军的）一营（大约有一千兵士）( battalion的名词复数 )；协同作战的部队；军队；（组织在一起工作的）队伍

参考例句：

• God is always on the side of the strongest battalions. 上帝总是帮助强者。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Two battalions were disposed for an attack on the air base. 配置两个营的兵力进攻空军基地。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

4 bacterium   

n.(pl.)bacteria 细菌

参考例句：

• The bacterium possibly goes in the human body by the mouth.细菌可能通过口进入人体。
• A bacterium is identified as the cause for his duodenal ulcer.一种细菌被断定为造成他十二指肠溃疡的根源。

5 accomplished   

adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的

参考例句：

• Thanks to your help,we accomplished the task ahead of schedule.亏得你们帮忙,我们才提前完成了任务。
• Removal of excess heat is accomplished by means of a radiator.通过散热器完成多余热量的排出。

6 hoards   

n.（钱财、食物或其他珍贵物品的）储藏，积存( hoard的名词复数 )v.积蓄并储藏（某物）( hoard的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• She hoards her money - she never spends it. 她积蓄钱，但从来不花钱。 来自辞典例句
• A squirrel hoards nuts for the winter. 松鼠为过冬贮藏坚果。 来自辞典例句

7 eloquently   

adv. 雄辩地(有口才地, 富于表情地)

参考例句：

• I was toasted by him most eloquently at the dinner. 进餐时他口若悬河地向我祝酒。
• The poet eloquently expresses the sense of lost innocence. 诗人动人地表达了失去天真的感觉。

8 conjuring   

n.魔术

参考例句：

• Paul's very good at conjuring. 保罗很会变戏法。
• The entertainer didn't fool us with his conjuring. 那个艺人变的戏法没有骗到我们。