时差N小时 有一份工作您无法拒绝（在线收听）

DON:Today's Moment of Science is about lightning bugs.

唐:今天的科学一刻我们要讲的是关于萤火虫。

Lightning bugs are cool because if you squish 'em you can make...oh, forget it!

萤火虫可是非常酷,因为如果你压扁它们就可以…哦,还是算了吧!

YAEL:What's the problem?

雅艾尔:出了什么问题?

DON:I'm just tired of working for A Moment of Science.

唐:我只是厌倦了今天科学一刻的工作。

Do you know how hard it is to come up with another fascinating tidbit every day?

你知道每天想出另一个引人入胜的话题有多难么?

I'm going to find a new job.

我要另谋高就了。

YAEL:I've got a job for you.

雅艾尔:我已经为你找到了一份工作。

DON:Oh yeah? Does it pay better than this one?

唐:哦,是吗?待遇可比这里更好?

YAEL:I'll let you figure that out.

雅艾尔:我会让你明白的。

The job lasts for one month, and you only get one penny on the first day.

这份工作持续一个月, 第一天你只能得到1分钱。

DON:Hey! What kind of deal is that?

唐:嘿!这是个什么活计?

YAEL:Hang on! On the second day I'll pay you twice what you made the first day. That's two pennies.

雅艾尔:坚持听完!第二天我会付给你第一天薪金的2倍。也就是2分钱。

DON:Three cents altogether-now we're getting somewhere.

唐:总共3分钱,现在我们总算有些进展。

YAEL:On the third day I'll again pay you twice what you've made the day before.

雅艾尔:第3天我会再次给你前一天的2倍。

That's four more cents.

也就是4分钱。

Every day I'll double the amount made the day before.

就这样每天我都给你前一天的2倍。

At the end of one month you're out of a job. What do you say?

月末你的工作结束。你怎么看?

Do you take the offer?

接受吗?

DON:No, of course not. Who would work for pennies?

唐:不,当然不。谁会为区区几分钱折腰?

YAEL:That's a shame, because you're not realizing how numbers work.

雅艾尔:太遗憾了,因为你没有意识到这些数字是如何变化的。

When a number continually doubles itself we say it is "increasing geometrically."

当一个数字本身不断翻倍我们说它是以几何数字增加。

That means the larger the number becomes, the faster it rises with each additional day.

这意味着数字越大,每一天的额外增长就越快。

How much would you guess you would earn just on the last day of the month?

你猜在月底最后一天你会赚多少钱?

DON:Um...ten bucks?

唐:嗯…十块钱?

YAEL:Over ten million dollars!

雅艾尔:超过一千万美元!

DON:Ten million dollars? Starting from a penny!?!

唐:拿到一千万美元吗?从一分钱开始？

YAEL:That's geometric increase.

雅艾尔:几何增长嘛。

DON:Hmmm...do I get health insurance too?

唐:额…我自己上了健康保险没?