宇宙（2021）

它只是一个无限的气体盒。
It would be just an infinite box of gas.
最初的星星是怪物……
The first stars were monsters...
..数百倍于我们的太阳质量。
..hundreds of times as massive as our sun.
他们燃烧得如此凶猛，以至于发出蓝♥光♥……
They burnt with such ferocity that they shone blue...
..表面温度超过 100,000 度。
..with surface temperatures in excess of 100,000 degrees.
它们是有史以来最大的恒星......
They were the largest stars ever to have lived...
..暴♥力♥和动荡的巨人。
..violent and volatile giants.
明星本质上是一种平衡行为。
A star is essentially a balancing act.
地心引力不断地试图让它坍塌，
The force of gravity is constantly trying to collapse it,
这推动了它的成分——主要是氢、单质子——
and that pushes its ingredients - primarily hydrogen, single protons -
离得越来越近。
closer and closer together.
现在，当这些质子靠得足够近时，
Now, when those protons get close enough together,
自然界的另一种基本力，强核力，
another of the fundamental forces of nature, the strong nuclear force,
接管，它可以将质子粘在一起。
takes over and it can stick the protons together.
这会释放能量，从而产生使恒星保持不动的压力。
That releases energy, which creates a pressure which holds the star up.
现在，恒星质量越大，向内的引力就越强，
Now, the more massive the star, the stronger the inward pull of gravity,
并且需要释放更多的能量来维持平衡，
and the more energy has to be released to maintain the balance,
所以原料用完的速度越快。
and so the faster the ingredients are used up.
这些巨星正在为生存而斗争……
These giant stars were in a struggle for survival...
..对抗地心引力...
..fighting the relentless pull of gravity...
..消耗越来越多的氢燃料
..consuming more and more hydrogen fuel
以维持他们不稳定的平衡。
to maintain their precarious equilibrium.
恒星在其生命的大部分时间里都在燃烧氢——
For most of its life, a star burns hydrogen -
最简单的化学元素，原子核中有一个质子——
the simplest chemical element, with one proton in its nucleus -
变成氦，带有两个质子。
into helium, with two protons.
现在，当核心的氢耗尽时，
Now, when it runs out of hydrogen in the core,
核心开始坍塌并升温，
the core starts to collapse and heat up,
恒星通过构建更复杂的元素来响应。
and the star responds by building ever more complex elements.
所以它制♥造♥碳，有六个质子，
So it makes carbon, with six protons,
和氧气，有八个质子，
and oxygen, with eight protons,
释放出越来越多的能量。
releasing more and more energy as it goes.
但是当恒星在其核心组装铁时，
But when the star has assembled iron in its core,
它的原子核中有 26 个质子，
with 26 protons in its nucleus,
无法释放更多能量。
no more energy can be released.
这颗恒星失去了与重力的战斗。
The star loses its battle against gravity.
它崩溃了
It collapses
在创造的最后时刻，
and in a final moment of creation,
如果你愿意，可以从它的毁灭中拯救出来，
salvaged, if you like, from its destruction,
它分配那些新铸造的重化学元素
it distributes those newly minted heavy chemical elements
进入宇宙。
out into the universe.
想象一下我们可以回到过去
Imagine we could journey back in time
并观看第一颗恒星度过其短暂而明亮的生命。
and watch the first star live out its brief, luminous life.
仅仅过了一百万年，
After only a million years,
这颗恒星耗尽了它所有的燃料......
the star used up all of its fuel...
..核心崩溃了...
..the core collapsed...
..星星爆♥炸♥了...
..the star imploded...
..然后在巨大的爆♥炸♥中反弹——
..and then rebounded in a colossal explosion -
一颗超新星。
a supernova.
在死亡中，第一批恒星开始改变宇宙，
In death, the first stars began to transform the cosmos,
丰富氢和氦的海洋，
enriching the ocean of hydrogen and helium,
用重元素填满了宇宙，
which filled the universe with heavy elements,
建造新一代更复杂的恒星。
to build new generations of more complex stars.
随着时间的推移，这些元素聚集在一起......
Over time, these elements gathered together...
..创造了丰富的气体和尘埃云。
..creating rich clouds of gas and dust.
新一代明星诞生的苗圃。
Nurseries where new generations of stars were born.
不仅是明星，还有明星家族——
And not just stars, but families of stars -
第一个星系。
the first galaxies.
而这个时候，
And around this time,
一些早期的恒星系统形成
some of the early star systems formed
在我们自己的银河系中。
in our own galaxy, the Milky Way.
宇宙中一个新的复杂时代正在来临。
A new age of complexity was dawning in the universe.
现在有不同大小的星星……
Now there were stars of different sizes...
..和不同的颜色......
..and different colours...
..而且，至关重要的是，出现了新的身体......
..and, crucially, new bodies had appeared...
..行星。
..planets.
化学元素丰富的地方
Places where the rich chemical elements
前几代星辰建造的，终于可以安家了。
built by previous generations of stars could finally find a home.
数以亿计的星辰来来去去
Countless billions of stars have come and gone
自从那些最初的巨人照亮了黑暗，
since those first giants illuminated the darkness,
每一个都用物质丰富了宇宙
each enriching the universe with the material
下一代由此形成。
out of which the next generation formed.
蓝星白星，单星，
Blue stars and white stars, single stars,
双星，甚至是相互环绕的三星系统。
double stars, even triple star systems orbiting around each other.
现在条件适合这些恒星驱动宇宙
The conditions were now right for those stars to drive the universe
进入一个新的、深刻的复杂时代。
into a new and profound age of complexity.
我们的太阳是由几代祖先的灰烬形成的。
Our Sun was formed from the ashes of generations of ancestors.
在亿万光辉神明的银河系中，只是一颗小星星。
Just one small star in a galaxy of billions of brilliant gods.
在它生命的头一百万年里，
For the first million years of its life,
太阳几乎是孤独的，
the Sun was virtually alone,
笼罩在气体和尘埃的云层中。
wreathed in clouds of gas and dust.
灰尘慢慢地聚集在一起……
The dust slowly clumped together...
..形成簇，鹅卵石的大小，
..forming clusters, the size of pebbles,
然后巨石...
then boulders...
..最后......
..and finally...
..行星。
..planets.
但行星是没有生命的岩石。
But the planets were lifeless rocks.
只有太阳有能力将它们变成世界。
Only the Sun had the power to turn them into worlds.
有些离太阳太远了。
Some were too far away from the Sun.
冰巨人——
Ice giants -
冻结，似乎，不孕不育。
frozen, seemingly, into infertility.
其他的形成得太靠近太阳，
Others formed too close to the Sun,
被无情的光灼烧。
seared by a relentless light.
他们变成了焦黑的沙漠世界，
They became scorched desert worlds,
但太阳家族中有一颗行星
but there was a planet in the Sun's family
那完全是偶然形成的，既不太近也不太远。
that quite by chance formed neither too close nor too far away.
阿卡迪亚，我们的恒星可以在那里为尘埃注入生命。
An arcadia, where our star could breathe life into dust.
行星只是恒星形成的残余物。
The planets are just the leftovers from the formation of stars.
那种碎片，如果你喜欢。
The sort of debris, if you like.
只是围绕着那些壮丽的火焰旋转的小斑点，
It's just little specks orbiting around those magnificent flames,
但行星也是宇宙中的地方
but the planets are also the places in the universe
重力集中了重元素的地方
where gravity has concentrated the heavy elements
由前几代恒星建造。
built by previous generations of stars.
这让行星成为画布
And that makes the planets the canvas
星星可以在上面创造。
on which the stars can create.
星星可以在画布上创造，
The canvas on which the stars can create,
我是什么意思？
what do I mean by that?
好吧，看看周围。
Well, just look around.
地球上的每一个角落，都充满了复杂性。
Everywhere you look on Earth, there is complexity.
不仅有山有水，
Not only mountains and rivers,
但是生物，动植物，人类，
but living things, animals and plants, human beings,
人类文明，
human civilisation,
我们所知道的宇宙中任何地方的最复杂的事物。
the most complex thing we know of anywhere in the universe.
所以你得问问自己，怎么会这么复杂
So you have to ask yourself, how can it be that such complexity
能在宇宙中完全自然地出现吗？
can emerge completely naturally in the universe?
嗯，答案其实早在 19 世纪就已经知道了，
Well, the answer, in fact, was known in the 19th century,
它来自热力学科学。
and it comes from the science of thermodynamics.
在 19 世纪，
In the 19th century,
人们对蒸汽机的效率感兴趣，
people were interested in the efficiency of steam engines,
毕竟，蒸汽机是提供动力的机器
and steam engines are, after all, the machines that powered
允许人们建造越来越复杂的东西的工厂。
the factories that allowed people to build increasingly complex things.
事实证明，对蒸汽机来说唯一重要的是，
And it turns out that the only thing that matters for a steam engine,
决定其效率的东西，
the thing that determines its efficiency,
允许它工作和构建东西的东西
the thing that allows it to do work and build things
是火与火之间的温差，
is the temperature difference between the fire,
熔炉和蒸汽机的心脏
the furnace and the heart of the steam engine
以及周围寒冷的环境。
and the cold environment surrounding it.
在宇宙中，星星是寒冷天空中的热点。
In the universe, the stars are hot spots in a cold sky.
我们坐着，在非常真实的意义上，
We are sitting, in a very real sense,
在一个巨大的蒸汽机内，由太阳的熔炉提供动力。
inside a giant steam engine, powered by the furnace of the Sun.
正是在这个意义上，星星才是创造者
And it's in that sense that the stars are the creators