最后与最初的人类（2020）

请耐心倾听
Listen patiently.
我们，作为最后的人
We, who are the last men,
诚恳地渴望着与你们交谈
earnestly desire to communicate with you.
我正在呼唤着你们
I am speaking to you now
来自你们未来
from a period about two thousand million
两百万陆地年的时期
terrestrial years in your future.
宇航员们发现了一个令人震惊的事
Astronomers have made a startling discovery,
这导致了人类的加速灭亡
which assigns a speedy end to humankind.
我们能帮助你们...
We can help you -
我们也需要你们的帮助
and we need your help.
当你们的作家浪漫地谈论未来时
When your writers romance about the future,
他们想象着未来会朝着某种乌托邦发展
they imagine a progress toward some kind of utopia
那里的众生生活在无尽的幸福中
where beings like themselves live in unmitigated bliss.
在你我之间相隔的亿万年之间
No such paradise existed
没有这样的悖论存在
through the eons that lie between your age and mine.
反而，我们窥见了喜悦与悲伤之间的巨大♥波♥动
Instead, we have watched huge fluctuations of joy and woe,
变换的结果不止在于人类文明
the results of changes not only in humanity's environment,
还在于其汹涌的自然
but also in its fluid nature.
人类存在不像一条愈来愈快的激流
Human existence has been less like a mountain torrent
更像一条缓慢的河流，很少被急流冲破
than a great sluggish river,seldom broken by rapids.
休眠的年龄，通常是停滞的
Ages of dormancy,often of stagnation,
充满了无数几乎相同的单调的生活问题和辛劳，
filled with monotonous problems and toils of countless almost identical lives,
被罕见的爆发所打断
were punctuated by rare bursts.
生存总是岌岌可危的
Existence has always been precarious.
在其生涯的任何阶段，人类都可能被灭绝
At any stage of its career,humanity might have been exterminated
可能由于其化学环境发生了一些轻微的改变
by some slight alteration to its chemical environment,
可能由于一种更厉害的恶性微生物
by a more than usually malignant microbe,
可能由于气候的根本性改变
by a radical change of climate,
可能是由于人类自身的各种愚蠢行为
by the manifold effects of its own folly,
又或者是某种天体事件
Or by some celestial event.
然后人类探测到了一种非荧光气体
And so it was that humanity detected a volume of non-luminous gas.
实验结果表明这种气体
Calculation showed that this object and the sun
与太阳极度接近时会相互碰撞
were approaching one another at a tangent and would collide.
因此，太阳会突然升起并膨胀
As a result of this, the sun would flare up and expand prodigiously.
任何星球都不可能适合生存
Life would be quite impossible on any of the planets
也许 只有海王星能充当庇护所
save, perhaps, Neptune.
我们的一些
Some of our predecessors,
意识到他们不能移居荒凉偏远的星球的祖先们
realizing that they themselves could never live on the inhospitably remote planet,
主张举♥行♥狂欢排队直至末日降临
advocated an orgiastic celebration of pleasure until the end.
但最终，我们的祖先们超越了自我
But at length, our earlier species excelled itself
近乎一致地决心在剩下的日子里
in an almost unanimous resolve to devote its remaining centuries
致力于创造一种全新的人类以迎接新世界的到来
to the production of a new human species into a new world.
十个物种相继称霸海王星的荒原
Ten more species succeeded one another on the plains of Neptune.
我们，作为第十八代，是最后的人类
We, the 18th, are the last men.
倘若你进入了这片末世人界
If you could enter this world of the last men,
你会发现些许熟悉之处
you would find some things familiar
但更多的是怪异扭曲与反常
and much that would seem strangely distorted and perverse.
你将邂逅形似人类的物种
You would encounter creatures recognizably human,
这在你眼里或许有些怪诞
yet in your view grotesque.
你会发现一些奇妙的物种身披鼹鼠般的绒毛
Some of these fantastic beings you would find covered with fur or mole velvet,
显露出底层的肌肉
revealing the underlying muscles.
其它的则有着褐色、黄色，或赤红的皮肤
Others display brown,yellow, or ruddy skin,
另外一些则是半透明的灰绿色
and yet others a translucent ash-green.
你可以称我们像牧神、猿猴、
You might call us faun-like, ape-like,
熊、甚至是大象
bear-like, or even elephantine.
然而 一些特征对我们所有人来说都一样
Yet some characteristics are common to all of us.
位于头骨顶上的向上观望的天文之眼会让你感到震惊
The upward-looking astronomical eye on the crown of the skull would shock you.
当这个器官完全伸展至骨骼外壳外一掌宽时
This organ, when fully extended about a hand breadth from its bony case,
就像你们的天文望远镜一样揭示苍穹的奥妙
reveals the heavens in as much detail as your astronomical telescopes.
散落在我们殖民星球的绿原上
Scattered about the green plains of our colonized planet,
许多建筑映入你眼中
you would notice many buildings.
可能这些建筑很像你们地质学里说的山丘
These buildings would seem like geometrical mountains to you.
在许多情况下，整个结构是半透明或透明的
In many cases, the whole fabric is translucent or transparent.
在内部光照下，这在晚上就像是光之建筑
So that at night, with internal illumination,it appears as an edifice of light.
从一个宽度达到二十多英里的基座上升起
Springing from a base twenty or more miles across,
观星塔甚至能达到一个突破大气层的高度
the star-seeking towers attain a height where even the atmosphere is breached.
有些观星塔几乎与我们这种物种同龄
Some of them are almost as old as our species.
有些观星塔还没建成
Some are not yet completed.
每个相继承的物种都会自我表达
Every successive culture has expressed itself
于一或多座世界之巅之上
in one or more of these supreme monuments.
巅峰之上 我们的天文学家孜孜不倦：
In their summits work the hosts of our astronomers:
他们是我们社区透过这无边无际的空间海洋所必须的视角
The essential eyes through which our community peers across the boundless ocean of space.
无论何时，我们每个人都会去那里。
Each of us goes there,at one time or another.
我们齐心协力，做出了伟大的行动
Together, we perform the symbolic acts
这在多年前取代了你们宗教的低劣仪式
which replaced the debased rites of your religions long ago.
我们的新生儿与第一代人类的新生儿很是不同
Our children are very different beings from the first human children.
相较于我们庞大的人口数量，显得他们占比极小
Their number in our world is small in relation to our immense population.
然而，看到我们每个人都有可能长生不老
Yet, seeing that every one of us is potentially immortal,
你可能会怀疑我们怎么会允许生育
you may wonder how we permit ourselves to have any children at all.
我们的政策是孕育比我们更高级的新个体。
Our policy is to produce new individuals of a higher order than ourselves.
所以，我们需要持续的新生儿供给
As a result, we need a continuous supply of children.
胎儿期占了二十年
The fetus is carried for twenty years.
婴儿期持续大约一个世纪
Infancy lasts for about a century
当身心慢慢健全时
when the foundations of body and mind are slowly laid.
当他们进入青春期 近乎距出生日一千年时
When our children attain physical adolescence,nearly a thousand years after birth,
他们离开安全的童年时光，去度过另一个千年
they leave the safe paths of childhood to spend another thousand years
在被称作“年盛之地”极地之洲之一
in one of the polar continents known as the land of the young.
在此 我们的年轻人们过着半原始 半老练的生活
There, our young people live the half-primitive, half-sophisticated life
这适配他们的天性
that suits their nature.
他们爱
They love
他们恨
and hate.
我们经受过人类犯过的所有
We live through all the mistakes of thought and action
思想与行动上的错误
that humankind has ever made.
然后 最终 我们准备好迎接一个成熟的世界。
And, at last, we emerge ready for a world of maturity.
我们物种的设计者开始创造一种
The designers of our species set out to produce a new order of mentality
以独特的大脑心灵感应统一为系统的新型思维方式
in a system of distinct brains held in telepathic unity.
我们与其他人类物种之间巨大的不同
The immense difference between ourselves and all other human species
就在于群体意识中
lies in the group-mind.
当个体参与到同时发生的思维活动中
When these individuals join in simultaneous mental unity,
整个物种的经历将变成自己的记忆
the entire past of the species appears as a personal memory.
他们能够进入过往思维
They are able to enter into past minds.
那些远离只满足于在星球表面的居民的人
Away from those contented to remain on the planet's surface are the navigators
是体现了人类在星际空间中的骄傲成绩的引路人
who embody humanity's proud mastery of interstellar space.
引路人在思想上来自我们之间的一个特殊阶层
The navigators mentally form a unique class among us
因为他们花了如此之多的时间
because they spend so much of their time
在超出心灵感应通信范围的空洞地区里
in the empty regions beyond the range of telepathic communication.
他们一类吃苦耐劳 简朴谦逊
They are a Hardy, simple,and modest folk.
最近 一艘返自穿越太空外层航线的星舰里
Recently, an exploration ship returned from a voyage into the outer tracts through space.
半数的人员都死了
Half the crew had died.
而幸存者皆憔悴不堪
The survivors were emaciated
而且思维紊乱
and mentally unbalanced.
贯穿整个航线 观测到了一场意外的天体变化
Throughout the voyage,an unexpected alteration
发生于邻星
taking place in a neighboring star was observed.
它一开始从白色变成紫色并越来越亮
It began to change from white to Violet and increase in brightness.
当星舰返回时人员们猛然打开舱门
When the ship returned,the crew flung open the ports
蹒跚地扑进人们的双臂中哭诉
and staggered blubbering into the arms of the crowd.
这些可怜的人满脸胡茬 显现出对那颗星球的畏惧
These poor human wreck shave shown a phobia of the stars
对非人类的无尽恐惧
and of all that is not human.
他们不敢在夜间外出
They dare not go out at night.
无法找到伴侣
They cannot find companionship.
可怜地依附于独处生活的美好
They cling piteously to the sweets of individual life,
依附于仅仅对现实的防御
a mere defense against reality.
请耐心倾听
Listen patiently.
引路人已做出了惊人的发现
The navigators have made a startling discovery.
这是史无前例的
It is something unprecedented:
一颗普通的恒星有着极好的加速度过程
A normal star suffering from a fantastic acceleration of its vital process.
我们希望我们的太阳足够遥远而不会受到影响
We hoped that our sun might prove too distant to be seriously influenced,
但这希望早已破灭
but this hope had to be abandoned.
在三万年以内
Within thirty thousand years,
太阳方圆一大♥片♥区域内不可能有生命存活
life will be impossible anywhere within a vast radius of the sun...