TED演讲之说什么 语言如何改变人类(12)
There are lots and lots of ways of measuring time,
在许多计量时间的方法中
but a really bizarre base 60 system
古怪的60进制制度
known as hours and minutes and seconds is nearly universal around the world.
也就是时分秒计量单位，几乎被全世界采用
There are many, many ways of imprinting CDs or DVDs,
有很多很多方法压印CD和DVD
but those are all being standardized as well.
但它们也同样标准化了
And you can probably think of many, many more in your own everyday lives.
也许你可以想到更多生活中的例子
And so our modern world now is confronting us with a dilemma.
那么现代社会面临着一个困境
And it’s the dilemma that this Chinese man faces,
这个困境，也是这个中国人面临的
who’s language is spoken by more people in the world than any other single language,
他的口头语言比起世界上任何其他的单一语言都有更多的使用者
and yet he is sitting at his blackboard, converting Chinese phrases into English language phrases.
但是他坐在黑板前，把中文词组翻译成英文词组
And what this does is it raises the possibility to us
这个行为给我们提出了一种可能性
that in a world in which we want to promote cooperation and exchange,
在这世界上，我们想要促进合作和交流的可能性
and in a world that might be dependent more than ever before on cooperation
在一个史无前例地、依赖于合作的世界上
to maintain and enhance our levels of prosperity, his actions suggest to us
为了去维持和促进我们的繁荣程度，他的行为告诉我们
it might be inevitable that we have to confront the idea
也许我们不得不承认
that our destiny is to be one world with one language. Thank you.
我们的命运会是：一个世界一种语言。谢谢。
演讲简介：
生物学家马克·佩格尔与我们分享了一个关于人类如何发展复杂的语言系统的有趣理论。他认为，语言是一种社会技术，它帮助人类早期部落获得了一个强有力的新工具：合作。