万物简史 第9期:如何营造一个宇宙(1)

 　　Part I Lost in the cosmos¹

　　第一章　如何营造一个宇宙

　　They're all in the same plane.They're all going around in the same direction. . . .

　　它们都处于同一平面。 它们都在沿同一方向转动......

　　It's perfect,you know. It's gorgeous. It's almost uncanny.

　　你要知道，这真是完美无缺的，这真是不可思议的，这几乎是很神奇的。

　　Astronomer² Geoffrey Marcy describing the solar system天文学家杰弗里?马西对太阳系的描述

　　1 How to build a universe? No matter hard you try you will never be able to grasp just how tiny, how spatially³ unassuming, is a proton.

　　无论怎么努力，你都永远也想像不出质子有多么微小，占有多么小的空间。

　　It is just way too small.

　　它实在太小了。

　　A proton is an infinitesimal part of an atom, which is itself of course an insubstantial thing.

　　质子是原子极其微小的组成部分，而原子本身当然也小不可言。

　　Protons are so small that a little dib of ink like the dot on this i can hold something in the region of 500 billion of them,像字母"i"上的点这样大小的一滴墨水，就可以拥有约莫5000亿个质子，rather more than the number of seconds contained in half a million years.

　　说得更确切一点，要比组成1.5万年的秒数还多。

　　So protons are exceedingly microscopic⁴, to say the very least.

　　因此，起码可以说，质子是极其微小的。

　　Now imagine if you can (and of course you can't)现在，请你想像一下，假如你能（你当然不能）shrinking one of those protons down to a billionth of its normal size into a space so small that it would make a proton look enormous.

　　使它显得很大，然后，你把大约30克物质装进那个极小极小的空间。

　　Now pack into that tiny, tiny space about an ounce of matter.

　　把一个质子缩小到它正常大小的十亿分之一，放进一个极小的空间，Excellent. You are ready to start a universe.

　　很好，你已作好创建一个宇宙的准备。

　　I'm assuming of course that you wish to build an inflationary universe.

　　我当然估计到，你希望创建一个会膨胀的宇宙。

　　If you'd prefer instead to build a more old-fashioned, standard Big Bang universe, you'll need additional materials.

　　不过，要是你愿意创建一个比较老式而又标准的大爆炸型宇宙，你还需要别的材料。

　　In fact, you will need to gather up everything there is every last mote⁵ and particle of matter between here and the edge of creation事实上，你需要收集现有的一切东西--从现在到宇宙创建之时的每个粒子--and squeeze it into a spot so infinitesimally compact that it has no dimensions at all.

　　把它塞进一个根本谈不上大小的极小地方。

　　It is known as a singularity.",

　　这就是所谓的奇点。

 

1 cosmos   

n.宇宙；秩序，和谐

参考例句：

• Our world is but a small part of the cosmos.我们的世界仅仅是宇宙的一小部分而已。
• Is there any other intelligent life elsewhere in the cosmos?在宇宙的其他星球上还存在别的有智慧的生物吗？

2 astronomer   

n.天文学家

参考例句：

• A new star attracted the notice of the astronomer.新发现的一颗星引起了那位天文学家的注意。
• He is reputed to have been a good astronomer.他以一个优秀的天文学者闻名于世。

3 spatially   

空间地，存在于空间地

参考例句：

• A well-defined array of stable fringes results and the field is spatially coherent. 结果得到一组完全确定的稳定条纹，而光场是空间相干的。
• The units are collaged together by a serial tectonic spatially and temporally. 这些构造单元是由构造原因，依一定的时空序列拼贴在一起的。

4 microscopic   

adj.微小的，细微的，极小的，显微的

参考例句：

• It's impossible to read his microscopic handwriting.不可能看清他那极小的书写字迹。
• A plant's lungs are the microscopic pores in its leaves.植物的肺就是其叶片上微细的气孔。

5 mote   

n.微粒；斑点

参考例句：

• Seeing the mote in one's neighbor's eye,but not the beam in one's own.能看见别人眼里的尘埃，看不见自己眼里的木头。
• The small mote on her forehead distinguishes her from her twin sister.她额头上的这个小斑点是她与其双胞胎妹妹的区别。