宇宙时空之旅（2014）

Cosmos: A SpaceTime Odyssey S01E01

Part 5 April 25, 2021, 12:38 p.m.

出现的小行星吗
of the Solar System...
被向左推了一点点的那颗
the one that got nudged a little to the left?
它来了
Well, here it comes.
宇宙年历
It's 6:24 am
12月30日早上6点24分
on December 30th on the Cosmic Calendar.
在长达一亿多年的时间里
For more than a hundred million years,
恐龙都是地球的王者
the dinosaurs were lords of the Earth,
而我们的祖先小型哺乳动物
while our ancestors, small mammals,
只能畏手畏脚地潜行于世
scurried fearfully underfoot.
这颗小行星彻底扭转了局面
The asteroid changed all that.
假设它没有被推开
Suppose it hadn't been nudged at all.
那么就会永远和地球擦肩而过
It would have missed the Earth entirely,
我们可以推测恐龙可能继续统治地球
and for all we know, the dinosaurs might still be here
人类不会存在
but we wouldn't.
这就是极端偶然性的极好例子
This is a good example of the extreme contingency,
生存的侥幸
the chance nature, of existence.
宇宙已经135多亿岁了
The universe is already more than 13 and a half billion years old.
但仍未看见我们的身影
Still no sign of us.
在这张日历代表的浩瀚时间中
In the vast ocean of time that this calendar represents,
人类的进化在宇宙年最后一天的
we humans only evolved within the last hour
最后一小时才刚开始
of the last day of the cosmic year.
午夜11点59分46秒
11: 59: 46.
人类书写的历史仅占最后的14秒
All of recorded history occupies only the last 14 seconds,
你所听说过的每一个人
and every person you've ever heard of
活在这里的某个瞬间
lived somewhere in there.
国王与战争迁移与发明
All those kings and battles, migrations and inventions,
战争与爱情史书♥记♥载的一切
wars and loves, everything in the history books
都在这里发生
happened here, in the last seconds
在宇宙年历最后的几秒中
of the Cosmic Calendar.
但如果我们想要探索
But if we want to explore
宇宙时间中如此短暂的瞬间
such a brief moment of cosmic time...
我们必须重新设定比例尺
we'll have to change scale.
我们在宇宙中初来乍到
We are newcomers to the cosmos.
我们自身的历史始于宇宙年的最后一天
Our own story only begins on the last night of the cosmic year.
现在是新年前夕9点45分
It's 9: 45 on New Year's Eve.
三百五十万年前
Three and a half million years ago,
你我的祖先留下了这些足迹
our ancestors, yours and mine, left these traces.
我们学会了直立行走并越走越远
We stood up, and parted ways from them.
当我们开始用双腿站立
Once we were standing on two feet,
我们的眼光便不再局限在地面
our eyes were no longer fixated on the ground.
我们仰望天空并开始探索
Now we were free to look up in wonder.
人类的大部分历史
For the longest part of human existence,
例如说过去四万代人类
say the last 40,000 generations,
我们都是流浪者
we were wanderers,
猎人与采集人组成一个个小部落
living in small bands of hunters and gatherers,
制♥造♥工具使用火焰
making tools, controlling fire,
命名事物
naming things,
这一切都发生在宇宙年最后的一小时
all within the last hour of the Cosmic Calendar.
为了了解下一步的情况
To find out what happens next,
我们需要重新设定比例尺
we'll have to change scale
才能细细看清宇宙年最后一夜的
to see the last minute of the last night
最后一分钟
of the cosmic year.
11点59分
11: 59.
以宇宙时间来衡量我们仍旧十分年轻
We're so very young on the time scale of the universe
在宇宙年最后的六十秒时
that we didn't start painting our first pictures
我们甚至还未完成第一幅画作
until the last 60 seconds of the cosmic year,
在三万年前
a mere 30,000 years ago.
我们发明了天文学
This is when we invented astronomy.
其实我们都是天文学家的后裔
In fact, we're all descended from astronomers.
我们的生存依赖于了解如何解读星辰
Our survival depended on knowing how to read the stars
以此来预计冬天
in order to predict the coming of the winter
及野生动物的迁徙
and the migration of the wild herds.
然后在一万年前左右
And then, around 10,000 years ago,
我们的生活方式开始出现革命性变化
there began a revolution in the way we lived.
我们的祖先学会了如何塑造环境
Our ancestors learned how to shape their environment,
种植作物驯养动物
taming wild plants and animals,
耕种土地并定居下来
cultivating land and settling down.
这改变了一切
This changed everything.
史上第一次
For the first time in our history,
我们拥有过多事物无法携带
we had more stuff than we could carry.
我们需要记录它们
We needed a way to keep track of it.
在午夜前十四秒
At 14 seconds to midnight,
即六千年前左右我们发明了文字
or about 6,000 years ago, we invented writing.
不久后我们记录的
And it wasn't long before we started recording
就不仅仅是几担谷物
more than bushels of grain.
文字可以记录我们的思想
Writing allowed us to save our thoughts
并让它们在时间与空间中走得更远
and send them much further in space and time.
泥板上的小小的划痕
Tiny markings on a clay tablet
令我们克服了生命的短暂
became a means for us to vanquish mortality.
它震撼了世界
It shook the world.
摩西在七秒前诞生
Moses was born seven seconds ago.
佛祖在六秒前诞生
Buddha, six seconds ago.
耶稣在五秒前诞生
Jesus, five seconds ago.
穆♥罕♥默♥德♥在三秒前诞生
Mohammed, three seconds ago.
在两秒前无论是好是坏
It was not even two seconds ago that, for better or worse,
东西半球的人类发现了彼此的存在
the two halves of the Earth discovered each other.
在宇宙年的最后的一秒
And it was only in the very last second
我们才开始用科学
of the Cosmic Calendar that we began to use science
揭示自然的秘密与法则
to reveal nature's secrets and her laws.
这种科学方法是如此强大
The scientific method is so powerful
在四个世纪内
that in a mere four centuries,
便经历了从伽利略首次发明天文望远镜
it has taken us from Galileo's first look through a telescope
到我们在月球上留下第一个脚印的跨越
at another world to leaving our footprints on the Moon.
它令我们可以透过时间与空间
It allowed us to look out across space and time
来看清我们在宇宙中的时间与所在
to discover where and when we are in the cosmos.
我们进行的探索是宇宙了解其自身的一种方式
We are a way for the cosmos to know itself.
卡尔·萨根指导了上一代人
Carl Sagan guided the maiden voyage of Cosmos
对宇宙研究的初次探索
a generation ago.
他是二十世纪最成功的
He was the most successful science communicator
科学传播者
of the 20th century,
但他首先还是一名科学家
but he was first and foremost a scientist.
卡尔对关于行星的认知
Carl contributed enormously
卡尔·萨根
哈佛大学
作出了巨大贡献
to our knowledge of the planets.
他正确推测出在土星最大的卫星
He correctly predicted the existence of methane lakes
泰坦上有甲烷湖
on Saturn's giant moon Titan.
他展示了地球的早期大气
He showed that the atmosphere of the early Earth
一定含有大量温室气体
must have contained powerful greenhouse gases.
他是首位明白火星上的季节变化
He was the first to understand that seasonal changes on Mars
是因为火星风尘暴
were due to windblown dust.
卡尔是寻找
Carl was a pioneer
地外生命及智慧生物的先锋
in the search for extraterrestrial life and intelligence.
在太空时代的前40年
He played a leading role in every major spacecraft mission
他在每一项探索太阳系的重要空间任务中
to explore the Solar System during the first 40 years
都扮演重要角色
of the Space Age.
但他所做的远不止这些
But that's not all he did.
这是卡尔·萨根1975年的个人日程本
This is Carl Sagan's own calendar from 1975.
奈尔·泰森
那时我是谁
Who was I back then?
我只是纽约布朗克斯区一个十七岁的孩子
I was just a 17-year-old kid from the Bronx
梦想着成为一名科学家
with dreams of becoming a scientist,
不知怎的举世闻名的天文学家
and somehow the world's most famous astronomer found time
抽空邀请我到纽约北部的艾希卡镇
to invite me to Ithaca, in upstate New York,
并在周六与他见面
and spend a Saturday with him.
那个雪天仿佛就在昨天
I remember that snowy day like it was yesterday.
他在公交站等我
He met me at the bus stop
带我参观他在康奈尔大学的实验室
and showed me his laboratory at Cornell University.
卡尔把书桌后的这本书赠与我并题字
Carl reached behind his desk and inscribed this book for me.
"送给奈尔未来的天文学家
"For Neil, a future astronomer.
卡尔赠"
Carl."
那天晚上他开车送我到公交站