TED演讲之什么是爱:漫谈时光流逝(1)
You all know this story.
你们都知道这个故事.
In the summer of 1950,
在1950年的夏天,
Enrico Fermi, the Italian-American physicist Enrico Fermi,
美籍意大利心理学家
and atomic-pile builder,
和原子堆创造者
went to lunch at Los Alamos National Laboratory
在Los Alamos国家实验室和一些同事们共进午餐,
and joined some colleagues there, and asked them a question:
问他们一些问题:
"Where is everybody?"
"大家都在哪里?"
This confused his colleagues, obviously,
很显然,这句话把大家整蒙了.
because they were sitting right there with him.
因为他们正跟他坐在一起.
And then he had to clarify that he wasn't talking about them.
当时他不得不解释说他不是在跟他们讲话.
He was talking about the space aliens.
他当时正和太空外星人讲话.
You see, this was only a few years after
你看,这件事发生在
the supposed flying saucer crash
新墨西哥州的罗斯威尔
at Roswell, New Mexico.
飞碟坠毁事件的几年之后.
And even though that turned out to be nothing,
虽然结果是什么都没有,
nothing at all —
什么都没有–
merely a downed weather balloon
仅仅是天上掉下来的一个气象气球,
piloted by small hairless men
一个张着大嘴的秃子
with slits for mouths …
驾驶的气球.
Still, America had gone saucer-mad,
然而,美国人已经对飞碟过敏了,
even famous scientists
即使是正在吃饭的
who were eating lunch.
著名科学家.
Fermi's reasoning, if I may paraphrase badly,
Fermi的推论,恕我诠释的不好,
is that the universe is so vast
这宇宙是如此的宽广
that it stands to reason,
顺理成章
there should be other intelligent life out there.
会有其它睿智的生命存在于宇宙中.
And the universe is so old
而且宇宙是如此的古老
that unless we were the very first civilization ever to evolve,
除非我们是第一个进化的文明,
we should have some evidence of their existence by now.
我们现在应该有一些外星人存在的证据.
And yet, to the best of our knowledge, we are alone.
然而,据我们所知,我们是孤独的.
"Where is everybody?" asked Fermi,
"大家都在哪里?" Fermi问,
and his colleagues had no answer.
他和他的同事都没法回答.
Fermi then went on with the same blunt logic
Fermi之后就继续用这种愚笨的逻辑
to disprove fairies,
去反驳童话,还有
Sasquatch, God,
大脚野人,上帝,
the possibility of love —
真爱的可能性–
and thereafter, as you know,
再后来,你也知道,
Enrico Fermi ate alone.
Enrico Fermi自此独自用餐.
Now,
现在,
I am not a scientist.
我不是一名科学家.
I have never built an atomic pile.
我从来没创造过原子堆.
Although, I might argue that, technically,
虽然,我很可能会争论,技术上讲.
every pile is atomic.
任何一个堆都是由原子构成的.
However, with respect, I might point out two possibilities
无论如何,带着景仰,我要指出Enrico Fermi也许
that Enrico Fermi perhaps did not consider.
没有考虑到的两种可能.
One is that the aliens might be
一种是外星人也许
very far away.
非常非常远.
Perhaps, I dare say,
大概吧,我敢说,
even on other planets.
甚至在其它的行星上.
The other possibility —
另一种可能性 —
is, perhaps, Enrico Fermi himself
就是,有可能 Enrico Fermi本人
was an alien.
就是一个外星人.
Think about it.
想像一下.
Isn't it a little convenient
在世界大战期间,
that in the midst of the World War, out of nowhere,
一个不知道哪里来的意大利科学家
suddenly an Italian scientist showed up
突然带着一种可以改变世界的
with an amazing new technology
令人吃惊的新技术
that would transform everything in the world
出现在世界面前,
and darken the history of the human species forever after?
并且自此改变了人类历史.这是不是太轻松了?
And isn't it a little strange
并且是不是有点奇怪
that he required no payment for this?
他并不要求任何报酬?
That he asked for only one thing —
他只要求一件事:
a gift of two healthy sperm whales?
要两个健康的抹香鲸作为礼物?
That's — that's not true.
当然,那并不是真的.
But it is strange.
不过太怪异了.
And if Enrico Fermi were indeed a space alien,
并且如果 Enrico Fermi当时真是一个外星人,
wouldn't he be the first to have tried to convince
他为什么不先去
his fellow scientists
尝试说服他身边的科学家
that the space aliens are not already here?
外星人还没有来过?
For it is given in certain UFO-ology
对于发表的飞碟学说
or UFOlogy circles,
或者不明飞行物学说,
that the aliens are already here and have been for millennia;
他们认为外星人曾经来访并且千年之前就曾来过.
that they have walked among us in disguise,
他们带着伪装跟我们一起生活,
observing us, guiding our evolution
观察我们,引导我们进化
from ape to man —
从猿到人 —
if you believe in that sort of thing —
如果你相信这种东西的话.
and, occasionally, kidnapping us in their flying saucers
并且,他们偶然把我们绑架到他们的飞碟
and taking us away to have sex with us in pyramids.
并把我们带到金字塔里发生性关系.
It's a difficult theory to discount,
这是一个没有人相信的深奥的理论,
I think you'll agree.
我想你也这么认为的.
For even in my own life,
即使在我的生活中
there are memories I have
也有些回忆是我很难
that are difficult to explain —
能够解释的通的 —
happenings that are so odd and unaccountably weird,
有些事情就那么非常神奇的,莫明奇妙的发生了.
that it is difficult to imagine
所以很难想像
they were not the result
我们的一生中,
of prolonged and frequent contact with aliens throughout my life.
他们始终坚持并且频繁的联系外星人
For how else will you explain
对于其它你要说的
the amazing and absolutely true
那些我亲身经历的
close encounters that I had
令人吃惊并且绝对真实的遭遇
and will describe to you now?
我现在就告诉你.
演讲简介：
幽默家John Hodgman通过一个关于外星人,医疗,时间,空间的方法讲述了一个甜蜜,完美的爱情故事.
重点讲解：
1.go to lunch 吃午饭
例句：We're going to go to lunch in a few minutes, honey.
我们一会就去吃午餐，亲爱的。
2.turn out to be 结果是
例句：Sometimes the children of a genius turn out to be cretins .
有时一个天才的孩子会是白痴。
3.stand to reason 合乎道理；合道理
例句：It stand to reason that with such a good plan I should make the best of my vacation time.
这也是我要好好计划以充分利用我的暑假的最好理由。
4.point out 指出
例句：The sanguine point out that this has no effect on cashflow, since such charges are non-cash items.
乐观人士指出这对企业的现金流没有影响，因为这种减值准备是非现金流项目。
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