宇宙的奇迹（2011）

coupled with the constantly shifting shape of the sandbanks,
会与形状不断变化的沙丘融合
meant that over the years,
据文字记载 多年以来
literally thousands of ships were wrecked along this coastline.
无数船只在这个海岸附近失事
And even if you made it to shore,
然而就算你靠了岸
that wasn't the end of your problems
问题也还没解决
because the currents are so strong here
因为这里的浪潮非常猛烈
that there is no way of rowing back out to sea.
根本无法将船驶回大海
If you look that way,
你看那边
there's just hundreds of miles of inhospitable desert.
方圆几百英里尽是一片荒漠
So, it genuinely was a place of no return.
这就是个有来无回的地方
If you were shipwrecked here, this was the end of your universe.
如果在这里搁浅 那就是你的末日了
This is the Eduard Bohlen.
这是爱德华·博伦号♥
She was once an ocean-going steamer,
她曾是一艘远洋轮
ferrying passengers and cargo between here and Europe.
运送乘客及货物往返欧洲
On 5th September, 1909 she ran aground in thick fog.
1909年9月5日 她在浓雾中搁浅了
Yet, like all the vessels wrecked along this shoreline,
然而 与所有在沿岸失事的船只一样
the time it takes her to decay to nothing
她在这里腐朽殆尽所耗的时间
will be far longer than her time at sea.
远远多于她在海上航行的时间
In the far future of the cosmos,
在宇宙遥远的未来里
a similar destiny awaits the remaining white dwarfs.
残余的白矮星也将面临相似的命运
A black dwarf will be the final fate of those last stars.
那些残存到最后的恒星最终将变成黑矮星
White dwarfs that have become so cold
白矮星的温度会降至非常低
that they barely emit any more heat or light.
几乎不放出任何光或热
Black dwarfs are dark,
黑矮星是简并物质中一种黑暗的
dense decaying balls of degenerate matter,
密集性消散的球体
little more than the ashes of stars.
只比星尘略大一点
Their constituent atoms are so severely crushed
构成它们的原子被严重压缩
that black dwarfs are a million times denser than our sun.
因此黑矮星比太阳密度大一百万倍
Stars take so long to reach this point,
要达到这个点需要很长时间
that after nearly 14 billion years
乃至一百四十亿年后的今天
we believe there are currently no black dwarfs in the universe.
我们也相信 目前宇宙中还没有黑矮星
But despite never seeing one,
尽管没见过黑矮星
we can still predict how they will end their days.
但我们仍旧可预见它们的结局
Just as the iron that makes up this ship
如同制成这艘船的钢铁
will eventually rust and be carried away by the desert winds,
终将锈腐 被风沙吹散一样
so we think that the matter inside black dwarfs,
我们认为黑矮星内部的物质
the last matter in the universe,
即宇宙最后的物质
will eventually evaporate away
终将消失
and be carried off into the void as radiation,
变成放射物进入虚无的空间里
leaving absolutely nothing behind.
什么都不会残留
With the black dwarfs gone,
黑矮星消失后
there won't be a single atom of matter left.
不会残留哪怕一粒原子
All that will remain of our once rich cosmos
我们曾经繁荣的宇宙
will be particles of light and black holes.
将只剩下光的微粒 以及黑洞
After an unimaginable length of time,
再经过一段长得无法想象的时间后
even the black holes will have evaporated
甚至连黑洞都将消失
and the universe will be nothing but a sea of photons,
宇宙将变成一片纯粹的光海
gradually tending towards the same temperature,
温度渐渐趋于一致
as the expansion of the universe cools them towards absolute zero.
随宇宙膨胀将温度降至绝对零度
And when I say "Unimaginable period of time,"
我说"长得无法想象的时间"
I really mean it.
是真的长得无法想象
It's 10,000 trillion trillion trillion
一万亿亿亿亿
trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion years.
亿亿亿亿亿亿亿亿年
How big's that number?
这是多大的数字啊
If I were to start counting with a single atom representing one year
如果我用一个原子代表一年开始计算
then there wouldn't be enough atoms in the entire universe
那么整个宇宙中所有的原子加起来
to get anywhere near that number.
都无法接近那个数字
Once the very last remnants of the very last stars
当最后一刻恒星残留的最后一点物质
have finally decayed away to nothing,
完全消失殆尽
and everything reaches the same temperature,
当所有物质都达到同一温度
the story of the universe finally comes to an end.
宇宙的故事就彻底完结了
For the first time in its life,
在整个宇宙历史中
the universe will be permanent and unchanging.
宇宙将第一次成为永恒不变的
Entropy finally stops increasing
最终 熵值将不能再增大
because the cosmos cannot get any more disordered.
因为宇宙再也无法变得更加无序
Nothing happens and it keeps not happening.
什么也不会发生 永远都不会发生什么
Forever.
永远
It's what's known as the Heat Death of the Universe,
这便是众所周知的"宇宙热寂"
an era when the cosmos will remain
在那之后 宇宙将变得
vast and cold and desolate for the rest of time.
广阔无垠 寒冷无比 荒芜而凄凉
But that's because there is no
因为到那时
difference between the past, the present and the future.
过去 现在和将来已经没有什么不同
There's no way of measuring the passage of time
无法计算时光的流逝
because nothing in the cosmos changes.
因为宇宙已没有任何变化
The arrow of time has simply ceased to exist.
时间箭头由此不复存在
It's an inescapable fact of the universe,
这是宇宙无法避免的真♥相♥
written into the fundamental laws of physics.
也被写入了物理学基本定律
The entire cosmos will die.
整个宇宙将消亡
Every single one of the 200 billion stars in our galaxy will go out.
银河系中的两千亿恒星将全部消亡
And just as the death of the sun means the end of life on our planet,
如同太阳末日 便是地球末日
so the death of every star
每一颗恒星的灭亡
will extinguish any possibility of life in the universe.
都可能预示着宇宙中其他某种生命的灭亡
The fact that the sun will die and it will incinerate the Earth
太阳将会灭亡 会把地球烧成灰烬
and obliterate all life on our planet in the process,
会消灭地球上所有的生命
might sound a bit depressing to you.
也许这让人有点沮丧
You might legitimately ask,
当然你也许会问
"Well, surely you could build a universe in a different way?"
"肯定能用另一种方式构建宇宙吧"
"Surely you could build it so it didn't have to descend from order into chaos?"
"肯定能构建一个不必从有序走向无序的宇宙吧"
Well, the answer is "No, you couldn't,"
答案是"不能"
if you wanted life to exist in it.
除非你想让宇宙中的生命都灭绝
The arrow of time, the sequence of changes
时间箭头和不断发生的变化
that slowly leads the universe to its death,
将宇宙慢慢推向死亡
is the very same thing that creates the conditions for life in the first place.
这与最初生命起源的条件几乎相同
Because it takes time for matter to form
物质形成需要时间
and it takes time for gravity to pull it together into stars and planets.
重力将物质集中成恒星和行星也需要时间
The arrow of time creates a
在宇宙的青春期
bright window in the universe's adolescence.
时间箭头创造了一扇明亮的窗口
During which, life is possible.
在这个时期 生命成为可能
But it's a window that doesn't stay open for long.
但那不是一扇永远敞开的窗口
As a fraction of the lifespan of the universe,
作为宇宙生命过程中的一小部分
as measured from its beginning to the evaporation of the last black hole,
从宇宙起源到最后一个黑洞消失的这个过程中
life, as we know it, is only possible
生命 正如我们所知
for one thousandth of a billion billion billionth
只有百分之千亿分之
billion billion billionth billion billion billionth of a per cent.
千亿分之千分之一的可能性
And that's why, for me,
所以对于我来说
the most astonishing wonder of the universe isn't a star
宇宙中最惊人的奇迹不是恒星
or a planet or a galaxy.
不是行星 也不是星系
It isn't a thing at all.
甚至根本就不是一个物质
It's an instant in time.
而是时间里的一瞬间
And that time is now.
那个瞬间 就是现在
Humans have walked the earth
人类存在于地球的这段时期
for just the smallest fraction of that briefest of moments in deep time.
只是这时间长河中简短的片刻中最小的一部分
But in our 200,000 years on this planet,
但我们在地球上的短短二十万年里
we've made remarkable progress.
取得了非凡的进步
It was only 2,500 years ago
仅仅在两千五百年前
that we believed that the sun was a god
我们还坚信太阳是个神
and measured its orbit with stone towers, built on the top of a hill.
还在山顶上建造石塔 测量它的轨道
Today, the language of curiosity is not sun gods, but science.
如今 我们好奇的不是太阳神 而是科学
And we have observatories
我们有了天文台
that are almost infinitely more sophisticated than the 13 towers,
它们比这十三座塔楼复杂精细得多
that can gaze out deep into the universe.
可以通过它们瞭望宇宙深处
And, perhaps even more remarkably,
更值得一提的是
through theoretical physics and mathematics,
通过物理和数学理论
we can calculate what the universe will look like in the distant future.
我们能预测出宇宙在遥远的未来会是什么样子
And we can even make concrete predictions about its end.
甚至可以具体预测它的结局
And I believe
我相信
it's only by continuing our explanation of the cosmos
只要我们继续探索宇宙
and the laws of nature that govern it,
解开其运行的自然规律
that we can truly understand
我们就能真正理解
ourselves and our place in this universe of wonders.
在这个充满奇迹的宇宙中存在的人类和地球