BBC 地平线系列：时空谜团（2008）

通过空间看不见的额外的维度将我们分开
separated from us by an additional unseen dimension of space.
假如我们回到137亿年前
If we go back in time 13.7 billion years,
两个膜的碰撞产生了一个事件
it was the collision of two branes that created the event
即所谓的大爆♥炸♥
we know as the Big Bang,
就是这 带来了我们今天所见到的宇宙
and it was this that brought the universe we see today
而大爆♥炸♥的辐射和物质就是碰撞的能量
And so the radiation and matter of the Big Bang was the energy of the collision.
Um...
随着它们再次分开 现在两个膜又填满了..
And as they separated again, the two branes were now filled...
重新填补了...用物质和辐射
or replenished... with matter and radiation.
那么真的在这个图上 宇宙 全都是膜 一直存在着？是的
So literally in this picture, the universe, which is all these branes, exists for ever? Yes.
不存在时间的起点啦？对 是的
There's no beginning of time? Yes, that's right.
我认为时间或许一直存在 一直会存在
I think time probably has always been there and always will be there,
我们整个想说的就是137亿年前 发生了一些戏剧性的事情
and all we can really say is that something dramatic happened 13.7 billion years ago.
尼尔的理论是有争议的
'Neil's theory is controversial.
起源于弦理论 依赖额外的看不见的空间的维度
'Rooted in string theory and requiring additional
这是个富有挑战的东西
'unseen dimensions of space, it's challenging stuff.
然而一旦这是真的 那么时间就一直存在着
'But if it's true, time has always existed. '
不管时间是起源于大爆♥炸♥ 还是时间是永恒的
Whether time began at the Big Bang or time is eternal,
我想知道时间究竟是什么
I want to know what time actually is.
几千年以来 我们感到有必要划分时间
From decades to centuries, we feel the need to divide time.
但是如果我们开始将时间分解成小时 分 秒
But if we start to break it down to hours and minutes and seconds,
那么是否存在没法更进一步分解的那一点呢？
is there a point where we can't divide it any further?
是否存在时间的最小单位呢？
Is there a smallest unit of time?
在你观察宇宙时
When you look out into the universe,
所看到的情况都是发生在数百万 甚至数十亿年的时间尺度上的
you see things happening on time scales of millions or even billions of years.
而在地球上 我们习惯于思考东西 以天 分 甚至秒来计
Here on earth, we're used to thinking of things in days or minutes, or even seconds.
然而实际上 很多事情就发生在一秒钟之内
But actually, a lot of things can happen in a second.
就像我们要用显微镜来看小物体一样
Just as we need a microscope to see small things,
我们需要专门的工具来观察较小的时间
we need specialist kit to see smaller times.
我来用一下最新的高速摄像机
I've come to use the very latest high-speed video camera.
开始！
And... action!
通过很短时间间隔的拍摄
By filming very short time intervals,
这台摄像机能够以超慢动作进行回放
this camera can then play back action in super-slow motion.
我希望我做过60后 能够...
I'm hoping for when I'm about 60, I can go...
绝对是丑态百出！
it's an absolute outrage!
借助摄像机捕捉到毫秒为单位的世界
With the camera capturing the world in milliseconds,
这就是比我们平时看到的慢40倍的活生生的东西
this is life 40 times slower than we're used to seeing it.
他看上去有点像鱼！
He looks like some sort of fish!
开始！
Action!
你认为你的脸像什么？
What does that make you think about your face?
我从没想到会这么有弹性
It's rather more elastic than I had hitherto suspected.
把那打印出来 看另一个
Print that one and let's get another one.
随着不断地把时间切小
As we continue to divide time,
我们看到了原来难以发现的细节
we start to see previously hidden details.
由于动作放慢了80倍
With the action 80 times slower,
每毫秒都揭示出耳目一新的世界
each millisecond reveals the world in a new light.
噢！
Oh! Oh!
录制！
Cut!
世界看上去完全不一样了
The world looks completely different
此时我们所看到的时间被分解成了较小的片段
when we start to see time divided into smaller chunks,
然而我们能够将时间分解到什么程度呢？
but just how far can we keep on dividing time?
一秒钟没有什么特别之处
There's nothing special about a second.
你可以将它分解 分解成毫秒（千分之一秒）
You can break it down, you can break it down into milliseconds
微秒（百万分之一秒） 纳秒（十亿分之一秒）皮秒（百亿分之一秒） 阿秒（万亿分之一秒）
or microseconds, nanoseconds, picoseconds, attoseconds.
这些极微小的时间片段 百万级 十亿级
These tiny fractions of time, million billionths of a second
是不可能让我们的眼睛观察到了
are impossible for our eyes to perceive.
然而在原子里 每秒钟里永远充满着
But within an atom, a second is an eternity
数十亿甚至更多的相互作用
filled with billions and billions of interactions.
这是个似乎时间可以一而再 再而三进行分解的世界
This is a world where it seems that time can be divided again and again,
然而可以吗？
but can it?
我们所理解的宇宙间普遍意义上的时间最小单位
The smallest unit of time that has any sort of significance in
叫做普朗克时间
the universe as we understand it is called the plank time,
是10的-43次方分之一秒
which is ten to the -43 seconds.
那是百万百万百万百万百万百万分之一
That's a million million million million million million millionth
一秒的那么一丁点
and a little bit more of a second.
这是我们理论上能够对付的
This is the time it takes light to travel the shortest
光所经过的最短距离的时间
possible distance that our current theories can handle.
过了这一点 我们对时间的理解
Beyond this point, our understanding of time...
就没有了
.. stops.
为了掌握时间 我们过去是看太阳 星星 然而地球走时并不准
To tell the time, we used to look up at the sun and stars but the earth doesn't keep good time.
随着原子钟的出现
With the advent of atomic clocks,
我们现在能够准确的多地追逐时间 通过时间的回放
we can now track time with far greater accuracy and by looking back in time,
我们可以找到时间自身开始的那一刻
we can work out the moment when time itself began,
至少是在我们所见到的周遭的宇宙间
at least in the universe we see around us.
如果我们想知道 时间是什么 我们毫无疑问在取得进展
If we want to know, "What time is it?", we're certainly making progress.
然而还有最后一个深刻的问题 我想知道答案
But there's one last profound question I want to answer.
这真的囊括了我们的生活体验了吗
It really encapsulates our experience of life.
它切中了人类感觉的要害了吗
It cuts to the very heart of what it feels like to be human.
它是如何来界定我们人生的时间线的呢
It's how we define the time line of our lives.
为什么时间好像总是以自己的方式推移的呢
Why does time seem to tick along in the way that it does?
你想没想到过
Have you ever wondered
为什么你不得不以你自己的速率
why you have to go into the future at the rate that you do,
你自己的速度进入未来呢
at the speed that you do?
你有过起床后 看着镜子里的自己 说
Do you get up and look at yourself in the mirror and say,
为什么我在变老呢？
"Why am I getting older?"
为什么一定要走进未来呢
"Why do I have to move into the future?"
为什么我就不能回到过去呢
"Why am I not allowed to go back into the past?"
为什么我就不能把时间留住呢
"Why am I not allowed to stand still in time?"
如果你想搞明白为什么 也就是 为什么会有这样的感觉
And so if you want to understand why, you know, why existence
那么你就需要知道时间是什么 为什么它总是以自己的方式在推移
feels like this, then you need to know what time is and why it passes in the way that it does.
一百年前 爱因斯坦就着手解决这些深刻的问题
A hundred years ago, it was Albert Einstein
作为他新的自然基本理论
As part of his radical new theory of nature,
他从根本上改变了我们对时间的理解
he fundamentally altered the way we understand time.
爱因斯坦认为时间是和空间一样的维度
Einstein's picture is that time is a dimension like space,
你在其中穿行 所以你会感觉到它在推移
and you move through it and so that's how you feel it's passing.
其实你所做的就是你在其中穿行 就像是在空间中穿行一样
Really what you're doing is you're moving through it just in the same way that you can move through space.
爱因斯坦最先将时间与空间以这种独特的方法联♥系♥起来
Einstein was the first to link space and time in this unique way.
在爱因斯坦的宇宙中 只要你出现在空间里
In Einstein's universe, when you sit still in space,
你就穿行在时间中 就会就如未来
you travel through time, you travel into the future,
就会以固定的速度穿行在时间中
and you travel through time at a fixed speed.
这听起来很离奇 速度是多少 然而是这样的 这个速度就是光的速度
It sounds really weird, how you travel at a speed, but you do and that speed is the speed of light.
听上去就是不对
That just doesn't sound right.
听上去很怪 因为这是宇宙的一个定律
It does sound strange because it's one of the laws of the universe
你无法以光速行进的 对吧？
that you can't travel at the speed of light, right?
其实 你无法以光速穿行空间 所以你无法做到
Actually, you can't travel through space at the speed of light, that's what you can't do.
你能够以光速穿行在时间中
You can and do travel through time at the speed of light.
就是这产生了我们进入未来的想法
And it's this that creates our sense of moving into the future.
所以 1，2，3 时间滴答作响 也就是
So it's a "one, two, three", the time ticking on your watch, that is,
在爱因斯坦的理论里 以光速 你飞行在时间的维度里 进入未来
in Einstein's theory, you flying through the time dimension, into the future, at the speed of light.
完全是一派...
It's quite, it's quite a...
违反直觉的景象
.. counter-intuitive picture.
你不是在开玩笑吧
You're not kidding.
我们体会到时间的流逝 是因为我们完全是在时间的维度里穿行
We experience time passing because we are all travelling along the time dimension.
但奇怪的是 爱因斯坦也说过 我们完全不可能体验到同一个时间
But strangely, Einstein also said we don't all experience the same time.
对于爱因斯坦 空间和时间不是 我们所感觉的那样是各归各的东西
For Einstein, space and time are not the separate things that we feel them to be.
它们有许多相同之处
They're in many ways the same,
事实上 它们是结合在一起
and in fact, they're merged together
形成一个整体 叫做时空
into a single entity called space time.
时空被描述成像一种织物
Space time can be pictured as a sort of fabric
时间与空间不可分割地交织在一起
where time and space are inextricably woven together.
结果 空间和时间的维度就结合在了一起
As a result, the dimensions of space and time can get mixed up.
尽管我们都以光速穿行在时空中
Although we are all travelling through space time at the speed of light,
但是爱因斯坦所谓的时空的结合
it's the mixing of time and space
给每个人所带来的时间是不一样
that Einstein said causes time to tick differently for each of us.
对于爱因斯坦
For Einstein,
时间不像...人人都一样的节拍器
time wasn't like a...
你我是不一样的
It's different for you and me,
宇宙中的每一处 节拍器的节律是不尽相同的
and everywhere in the universe, the metronomes tick at different rates.
爱因斯坦说 两个人唯一永远在加速时间 节律上取得一致的前提
Einstein said that two people will only ever agree on
就是他们相互紧挨在一块
the speed time ticks if they're standing next to each other.
如果我极快地飞过你身旁 将会看到你的时间要比我的慢好多