科学美国人60秒 快球在一部新纪录片中获得了应有的科学性

The baseball season is almost here. To get you up to speed, the excellent new documentary Fastball opens today in select theaters.

棒球季即将来临。为了提升你的速度，优秀的新纪录片《快球》今日将会在部分影院上映。

Fastball is all about, you guessed it, the heater, the cheese, the hummer, the hard stuff, from the perspective of pitchers², hitters, umpires—and scientists, who talk about everything from the physics governing the trajectory³ of the ball to the physiology⁴ of the strain on the pitcher¹’s arm to the psychology⁵ of hurling⁶ a potentially deadly projectile⁷ at another human being to the neuroscience of the batter’s perception and reaction.

这部纪录片是从投手、击球员、裁判以以及科学家的角度才谈论加热器、奶酪、蜂鸟、威士忌的。科学家们谈论了物理控制球运行的轨道，到投手手臂牵拉的生理学解释，再到投掷致命球对另外一个人的心理意义，以及击球手的看法和反映上的神经科学意义。

At high speeds, the ball may appear to the hitter to rise. Of course, the ball is actually still going down due to gravity as it approaches the plate from any pitcher throwing overhand, no matter how fast. It’s just not falling as much as the batter’s brain is accustomed to from watching slower pitches. But I did not know til I saw the movie that, for some hitters facing the very hardest throwers, the ball can completely disappear.

高速运动的球对击球手来说，可能是上升的。当然，由于重力的作用，球在离开投手的手靠近球棒时，无论球的速度有多快，球的运动趋势是下降的。只要球不落地，击球手的大脑的反映跟看到慢球反映是一样的。但是在看过这部电影之后，我才知道面对一些困难的投手，击球者把球当做完全消失了，去击打球。

“The idea of the ball disappearing was really fascinating to me. Because all these hall of famers were talking, they all were saying the same thing, that these few really special guys, the Koufaxes and the Fellers, that the ball would disappear.”

球消失理论十分吸引我。因为所有这些被谈起的名人堂内的成员，他们都曾说过同样的一件事，对这些少数的特殊群体，如Koufaxes 和Fellers，他们说球也许会消失。

Fastball director Jonathan Hock, after a preview of the film March 22nd at the Yogi Berra Museum & Learning Center on the campus of Montclair State University in New Jersey⁸.

电影的导演乔纳森·霍克，在电影于3月22日在新泽西蒙特克莱尔州立大学的约吉贝拉博物馆&学习中心试映后，说道。

“And so I mentioned that to these professors of perception and cognition and all that, and they immediately understood. Because they explained that when the eye tracks an object in motion, you’re not actually on the ball the whole way. You’re actually racing⁹ your eyes ahead to where you think the ball’s going to go. And most of us can go about a tenth of a second ahead. And the people with the greatest vision in the world can go two-tenths of a second ahead. Which is exactly the distance, the amount of time that it basically takes to swing, like 0.17 [seconds] for the swing. So if you’re going two-tenths of a second ahead of where the ball is, and that’s when you’re triggering your swing, and then the ball isn’t there, it has literally¹⁰ disappeared in the part of your brain that registers vision. So they’re absolutely telling the truth when they say the ball disappeared.”

所以，我把上述理论讲给了感知和认知学的教授，他们迅速的理解了这一理论。因为他们解释到，眼球可以跟踪运动的物体，但是实际上，你不可能对棒球进行全程跟踪。实际上，你的眼球在向你认为球要飞向的地方快速转动。几乎我们所有人都可以提前转动十分之一秒。世界上实力最好的人可以达到二十分之一秒的速度。就是这个转动距离上的时间消耗，使我们的感知发生变化，比如0.17秒内的这种微弱的摆动。所以，如果你在二十分之一秒内摆动到了预测到的球的运动方向，而此时就是你开始摆动的时间，然后球并没有到达你预订的位置，那么球实际上就是在你大脑中预测到的定位上消失了。所以在他们说球消失的时候，并没有骗人。

In addition to opening at theaters, the movie Fastball is also available on various streaming platforms, including iTunes. Catch it!

除了公开比赛场，电影《快球》还提供多种其它流媒体宣传材料，比如iTunes。 那么，接球吧!

1 pitcher   

n.(有嘴和柄的)大水罐；(棒球)投手

参考例句：

• He poured the milk out of the pitcher.他从大罐中倒出牛奶。
• Any pitcher is liable to crack during a tight game.任何投手在紧张的比赛中都可能会失常。

2 pitchers   

大水罐( pitcher的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Over the next five years, he became one of the greatest pitchers in baseball. 在接下来的5年时间里，他成为了最了不起的棒球投手之一。
• Why he probably won't: Pitchers on also-rans can win the award. 为什麽不是他得奖：投手在失败的球队可以赢得赛扬奖。

3 trajectory   

n.弹道，轨道

参考例句：

• It is not difficult to sketch the subsequent trajectory.很容易描绘出它们最终的轨迹。
• The path followed by a projectile is called its trajectory.抛物体所循的路径称为它的轨道。

4 physiology   

n.生理学，生理机能

参考例句：

• He bought a book about physiology.他买了一本生理学方面的书。
• He was awarded the Nobel Prize for achievements in physiology.他因生理学方面的建树而被授予诺贝尔奖。

5 psychology   

n.心理，心理学，心理状态

参考例句：

• She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。
• He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。

6 hurling   

n.爱尔兰式曲棍球v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的现在分词 )；大声叫骂

参考例句：

• The boat rocked wildly, hurling him into the water. 这艘船剧烈地晃动，把他甩到水中。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Fancy hurling away a good chance like that, the silly girl! 想想她竟然把这样一个好机会白白丢掉了，真是个傻姑娘！ 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 projectile   

n.投射物，发射体；adj.向前开进的；推进的；抛掷的

参考例句：

• The vertical and horizontal motions of a projectile can be treated independently.抛射体的竖直方向和水平方向的运动能够分开来处理。
• Have you altered the plans of the projectile as the telegram suggests?你已经按照电报的要求修改炮弹图样了吗?

8 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

9 racing   

n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的

参考例句：

• I was watching the racing on television last night.昨晚我在电视上看赛马。
• The two racing drivers fenced for a chance to gain the lead.两个赛车手伺机竞相领先。

10 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。