万物简史 第209期:威力巨大的原子(23)

 　　"Quantum theory is very worthy¹ of regard," he observed politely, but he really didnt like it. "God doesnt play dice²," he said. Or at least that is how it is nearly always rendered. The actual quote was: "It seems hard to sneak³ a look at Gods cards. But that He plays dice and uses ‘telepathic methods. . . is something that I cannot believe for a single moment."

　　“量子理论很值得重视。”他彬彬有礼地认为，但心里并不喜欢，“上帝不玩骰子。”他说。（注：至少这话的意思是很接近的。原话应该是：“似乎很难偷看上帝手里的牌。但说上帝玩骰子，使用‘传心的方法……这种事我压根儿不相信”）

　　Einstein couldnt bear the notion that God could create a universe in which some things were forever unknowable. Moreover, the idea of action at a distance—that one particle could instantaneously influence another trillions of miles away—was a stark⁴ violation⁵ of the special theory of relativity. This expressly decreed that nothing could outrace the speed of light and yet here were physicists⁷ insisting that, somehow, at the subatomic level, information could. (No one, incidentally, has ever explained how the particles achieve this feat⁸. Scientists have dealt with this problem, according to the physicist⁶ Yakir Aharanov, "by not thinking about it.")

　　爱因斯坦无法忍受这样的看法：上帝创造了一个宇宙，而里面的有些事情却永远无法知道。而且，关于超距作用的见解──即一个粒子可以在几万亿公里以外立即影响另一个粒子──完全违反了狭义相对论。什么也超不过光速，而物理学家们却在这里坚持认为，在亚原子的层面上，信息是可以以某种方法办到的。（顺便说一句，迄今谁也解释不清楚粒子是如何办到这件事的。据物理学家雅基尔·阿哈拉诺夫说，科学家们对待这个问题的办法是“不予考虑”。)

　　碳12原子

　　Above all, there was the problem that quantum physics introduced a level of untidiness that hadnt previously⁹ existed. Suddenly you needed two sets of laws to explain the behavior of the universe—quantum theory for the world of the very small and relativity for the larger universe beyond. The gravity of relativity theory was brilliant at explaining why planets orbited suns or why galaxies¹⁰ tended to cluster, but turned out to have no influence at all at the particle level.

　　最大的问题是，量子物理学在一定程度上打乱了物理学，这种情况以前是不存在的。突然之间，你需要有两套规律来解释宇宙的表现──用来解释小世界的量子理论和用来解释外面大宇宙的相对论。相对论的引力出色地解释了行星为什么绕太阳转动，星系为什么容易聚集在一起，而在粒子的层面上又证明不起作用。

1 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。

2 dice   

n.骰子；vt.把（食物）切成小方块，冒险

参考例句：

• They were playing dice.他们在玩掷骰子游戏。
• A dice is a cube.骰子是立方体。

3 sneak   

vt.潜行(隐藏,填石缝)；偷偷摸摸做；n.潜行；adj.暗中进行

参考例句：

• He raised his spear and sneak forward.他提起长矛悄悄地前进。
• I saw him sneak away from us.我看见他悄悄地从我们身边走开。

4 stark   

adj.荒凉的；严酷的；完全的；adv.完全地

参考例句：

• The young man is faced with a stark choice.这位年轻人面临严峻的抉择。
• He gave a stark denial to the rumor.他对谣言加以完全的否认。

5 violation   

n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯

参考例句：

• He roared that was a violation of the rules.他大声说，那是违反规则的。
• He was fined 200 dollars for violation of traffic regulation.他因违反交通规则被罚款200美元。

6 physicist   

n.物理学家，研究物理学的人

参考例句：

• He is a physicist of the first rank.他是一流的物理学家。
• The successful physicist never puts on airs.这位卓有成就的物理学家从不摆架子。

7 physicists   

物理学家( physicist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• For many particle physicists, however, it was a year of frustration. 对于许多粒子物理学家来说，这是受挫折的一年。 来自英汉非文学 - 科技
• Physicists seek rules or patterns to provide a framework. 物理学家寻求用法则或图式来构成一个框架。

8 feat   

n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的

参考例句：

• Man's first landing on the moon was a feat of great daring.人类首次登月是一个勇敢的壮举。
• He received a medal for his heroic feat.他因其英雄业绩而获得一枚勋章。

9 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

10 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。