研究生科技英语阅读课文翻译(1、2、4、8、10)(3)

7

nd you add the second dimension. Drive up or down a twisty mountain road and that a dds height, so that's travelling in all three dimensions. But how on Earth do we travel i n time? How do we find a path through the fourth dimension?

要想搞明白这一点，我们可以想象正在从事一种日常活动，比如开车。开车沿直线行驶，是在一维中旅行。向左转或是向右转，则是二维旅行。驱车上下山路意味着又多增加了高度，所以是在三维空间内。那么我们怎样才能实现时间旅行？怎样才能发现穿越第四维的通道呢？

Let's indulge in a little science fiction for a moment. Time travel movies often fea ture a vast, energy-hungry machine. The machine creates a path through the fourth di mension, a tunnel through time. A time traveller, a brave, perhaps foolhardy individua l, prepared for who knows what, steps into the time tunnel and emerges who knows w hen. The concept may be far-fetched, and the reality may be very different from this, b ut the idea itself is not so crazy.

让我们暂时从科幻电影中寻找答案吧。在此类电影中，通常会有一台巨大而高能耗的时间机器，这台机器产生通往第四维的通道——“时光隧道”。时光旅行者——勇敢但可能有些鲁莽的人，做好我们大家所知道的准备，然后走进时光隧道，来到一个他们想要到达的时间里。这一概念可能有些牵强，事实可能与之存在着天壤之别，但该想法本身不是那么的疯狂。

Physicists have been thinking about tunnels in time too, but we come at it from a different angle. We wonder if portals to the past or the future could ever be possible w ithin the laws of nature. As it turns out, we think they are. What's more, we've even gi ven them a name: wormholes. The truth is that wormholes are all around us, only they 're too small to see. Wormholes are very tiny. They occur in nooks and crannies in spa ce and time. You might find it a tough concept, but stay with me.

物理学家们也在思考时光隧道，但我们的角度不同。我们想搞清过去或未来的通道是否存在于自然规律中？事实证明，我们认为确实是这样的。而且，我们还给它们起了一个名字：虫洞。其实，虫洞无处不在，只是因为太小，我们肉眼看不到罢了。虫洞非常小，存在于时空的隐蔽处和缝隙里。你或许认为这是一个难以理解的概念，请耐心听我继续解释吧。

Nothing is flat or solid. If you look closely enough at anything you'll find holes a nd wrinkles in it. It's a basic physical principle, and it even applies to time. Even some thing as smooth as a pool ball has tiny crevices, wrinkles and voids. Now it's easy to s how that this is true in the first three dimensions. But trust me, it's also true of the four th dimension. There are tiny crevices, wrinkles and voids in time. Down at the smalles t of scales, smaller even than molecules, smaller than atoms, we get to a place called t

8

he quantum foam. This is where wormholes exist. Tiny tunnels or shortcuts through s pace and time constantly form, disappear, and reform within this quantum world. And they actually link two separate places and two different times.

任何物质都不是平整无暇和实心的，如果仔细观察，会发现它们上面都存在小孔和裂缝，这是一个基本的物理原理，同样适用于时间。即便是像台球一样的东西，上面也有裂缝、褶皱或空洞。现在容易说明这种情况也存在于第一个三维中。相信我，这一原理同样适用于第四维。时间也存在许多微小的裂缝、褶皱和空洞。在最小的刻度下——比分子甚至原子都小，我们来到一个称为量子泡沫(quantum foam)的地方，这是虫洞存在之处。时空中的微小隧道或捷径不停地在这个量子世界中形成、消失和重新形成。它们可以连接两个隔离的空间以及两个不同的时间。

Unfortunately, these real-life time tunnels are just a billion-trillion-trillionths of a centimetre across. Way too small for a human to pass through - but here's where the n otion of wormhole time machines is leading. Some scientists think it may be possible to capture a wormhole and enlarge it many trillions of times to make it big enough for a human or even a spaceship to enter.

不幸的是，现实生活中这种时光隧道非常狭小，即使发现了它们，我们也不能从这个缝隙穿过——可这正是“虫洞时间机器”概念的前进方向。部分科学家认为，或许有一天捕捉到一个虫洞，将它放大数万亿倍，令其足够的大，能让人甚至飞船进入。

Given enough power and advanced technology, perhaps a giant wormhole could even be constructed in space. I'm not saying it can be done, but if it could be, it would be a truly remarkable device. One end could be here near Earth, and the other far, far away, near some distant planet.

如果我们拥有足够的能量和先进的技术，将来或许甚至能在太空中建造一个巨型虫洞。我并不是说一定可以做到，但如果真的有这种装置，那么确实很了不起。一端在地球的附近，另一端则在遥远的星球附近。从理论上讲，虫洞或时光隧道不仅仅能把我们带到别的星球。一端在地球的附近，另一端则在遥远的星球附近。

Theoretically, a time tunnel or wormhole could do even more than take us to other planets. If both ends were in the same place, and separated by time instead of distance, a ship could fly in and come out still near Earth, but in the distant past. Maybe dinosaurs would witness the ship coming in for a landing.

从理论上讲，虫洞或时光隧道不仅仅能把我们带到别的星球。如果两端在同一个地方，且由时间而非距离分离，在遥远的过去，飞船就能在地球附近自由出

9

入。或许恐龙会看到飞船登陆的场景。

The fastest manned vehicle in history was Apollo 10. It reached 25,000mph. But to travel in time we'll have to go more than 2,000 times faster.

在人类历史上，速度最快的载人飞船“阿波罗”10号，速度为每小时2.5万英里(约合每小时4万公里)，但要实现在时间中旅行，我们的速度必须是“阿波罗”10号速度的2000倍。

Now, I realize that thinking in four dimensions is not easy, and that wormholes are a tricky concept to wrap your head around, but hang in there. 如今，我意识到以四维方式思考并不容易，虫洞是一个令你绞尽脑汁的概念。

A well-known problem with time travel to the past, the problem of what we call paradoxes. Paradoxes are fun to think about. The most famous one is usually called the Grandfather paradox. I have a new, simpler version I call the Mad Scientist paradox.

一个原因可能是回到过去的时间旅行所存在 …… 此处隐藏：5034字，全部文档内容请下载后查看。喜欢就下载吧 ……