公众人物毕业演讲 第171期:比尔·奈马萨诸塞大学2014(18)

 　　but perhaps you are hoping to remotely touch someone you'll never meet

　　有可能 你会同遥远的未曾相识的人产生联系。

　　the Spirit, Opportunity and Curiosity rovers which are on Mars

　　勇气号 机遇号 好奇号火星探测器。

　　are each fitted with a photometric calibration target

　　都载有一个光度校准目标。

　　a test pattern for the cameras

　　一个摄像机测试图案。

　　which also serves as a sundial

　　同时作为日冕。

　　and along the aluminum¹ of each Mars dial

　　此外 在每个火星日冕的铝制部分。

　　it says in very small letters, to those who visit here

　　都用很小的字母写到 致到访此处的任何人。

　　we wish a safe journey and the joy of discovery

　　我们愿你的发现之旅安全而愉快。

　　and that, my friends, is the essence of science

　　朋友们 这就是科学的精髓。

　　The joy of knowing, that's what drives us

　　获得知识的乐趣 这就是我们的驱动力。

　　That's science. It brings out the best in us

　　这就是科学 它能让我们发挥出最大潜能。

　　It makes our species worthy² of the future

　　让我们人类值得拥有美好未来。

　　And I often reflect on the words of my 3rd grade teacher, Mrs. Cochran

　　我经常想起我三年级老师科克伦女士的话。

　　and she told us

　　她告诉我们。

　　there are more stars in the sky than grains of sand on the beach

　　天空中的繁星比海滩上的沙粒还要多。

　　and there are by any measure a lot of grains of sand on the beach

　　怎么看 海滩上的沙粒都太多了。

　　I mean, there are more than you can count for sure

　　你绝对数不完。

　　but for most of us, there are more than you can imagine

　　甚至连想都无法想象。

　　I stood on the beach. It was in Delaware that summer

　　那年夏天 我站在特拉华的海滩上。

　　and I got to thinking about her assertion

　　思考她的那句话。

　　Does she mean all of the grains of sand that I can see?

　　她说的是我能看到的所有沙粒吗。

　　Does she mean the ones I can't see

　　她说的包不包括。

　　the ones that must cover the beach a few meters deep?

　　深埋在几米以下的沙粒。

　　And when the tide goes out, there's more sand

　　而且潮水退去时 沙粒又会增多。

　　And I look behind me, there's sand sand sand

　　我往后看 到处都是沙 沙 沙。

　　I look this way, 1000 nautical³ miles, that way, 1000... they're sand

　　这边有1000海里的沙子 这边也是 到处都是沙。

　　Are you telling me, Mrs. Cochran, there are more stars than all of that?

　　科克伦老师 星星真的比所有这些沙粒还多吗。

　　Well, apparently⁴ there are by about a factor of 10

　　没错 而且根据现有估计 大约多一个数量级。

　　So in that long ago moment, I was paralyzed by self doubt

　　在很久之前的那时 我被这些疑虑镇住了。

　　I mean. I was just a little kid

　　我只是一个小孩。

　　standing⁵ on the beach

　　站在沙滩上。

　　and that beach is one of many beaches on the planet that turns out

　　而这个沙滩又只是地球上众多沙滩中的一个。

　　to be in the cosmic scheme of things pretty small planet

　　而地球在整个宇宙中来看 只是一颗很小的行星。

　　a speck⁶ really

　　可以说是一粒尘埃。

　　Furthermore, my home speck, the earth

　　更进一步 我们的地球。

　　is orbiting a star that is completely unremarkable. It's just another speck

　　正绕一颗不起眼的恒星公转 而太阳只是另一粒尘埃。

　　and is in a galaxy⁷ full of other specks⁸

　　处在充满其它尘埃的银河系中。

　　with a vastness of space for more galaxies⁹

　　银河系外又有无尽的太空和更多星系。

　　I'm a speck on a speck orbiting a speck

　　我是一粒尘埃 处在一粒尘埃上 绕一粒尘埃旋转。

　　with a bunch of other specks in the vast emptiness of specklessness

　　在无尽的尘埃空间中 数不尽的尘埃一同存在着。

　　But wait. But wait wait wait

　　但是等等。

1 aluminum   

n.(aluminium)铝

参考例句：

• The aluminum sheets cannot be too much thicker than 0.04 inches.铝板厚度不能超过0.04英寸。
• During the launch phase,it would ride in a protective aluminum shell.在发射阶段，它盛在一只保护的铝壳里。

2 worthy   

adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的

参考例句：

• I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
• There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。

3 nautical   

adj.海上的，航海的，船员的

参考例句：

• A nautical mile is 1,852 meters.一海里等于1852米。
• It is 206 nautical miles from our present location.距离我们现在的位置有206海里。

4 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

5 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

6 speck   

n.微粒，小污点，小斑点

参考例句：

• I have not a speck of interest in it.我对它没有任何兴趣。
• The sky is clear and bright without a speck of cloud.天空晴朗，一星星云彩也没有。

7 galaxy   

n.星系；银河系；一群(杰出或著名的人物)

参考例句：

• The earth is one of the planets in the Galaxy.地球是银河系中的星球之一。
• The company has a galaxy of talent.该公司拥有一批优秀的人才。

8 specks   

n.眼镜；斑点，微粒，污点( speck的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Minutes later Brown spotted two specks in the ocean. 几分钟后布朗发现海洋中有两个小点。 来自英汉非文学 - 百科语料821
• Do you ever seem to see specks in front of your eyes? 你眼睛前面曾似乎看见过小点吗？ 来自辞典例句

9 galaxies   

星系( galaxy的名词复数 )； 银河系； 一群（杰出或著名的人物）

参考例句：

• Quasars are the highly energetic cores of distant galaxies. 类星体是遥远星系的极为活跃的核心体。
• We still don't know how many galaxies there are in the universe. 我们还不知道宇宙中有多少个星系。