厌倦了不断刷负面新闻？：英语精读讲义

Being a human in the 21st century often feels frustrating.

身处21世纪的人类，常常会感到沮丧。

We're clearly at the high point of our species.

我们显然正处于人类物种的巅峰。

Never have so many of us lived so well, 語法

过去从未有如此多的人生活得这般好，

been so healthy and well off. 用詞

如此健康且富足。

At the same time, 表達脈絡

与此同时，

life is incredibly hard.

生活又无比艰难。

More than 15,000 children died yesterday.

昨天有超过15000名儿童死去。

700 million people live in extreme poverty.

有7亿人生活在极端贫困之中。

Even within rich societies,

即使在富裕社会，

there's loads of unfairness and daily struggle. 用詞

也有着大量的不公与日常挣扎。

We are divided,

我们四分五裂，

unable to solve our problems while creating new ones,

无法解决我们的问题，反而制造了新问题，

destroying our world in the process.

并在这个过程中破坏着我们的世界。

In many ways,

在很多方面，

the vibe is that we live in dark times.

气氛让人觉得我们生活在黑暗时代。

It's so easy to feel disconnected and powerless

我们很容易感到脱节与无力，

in the face of problems too big to solve. 短語搭配

面对着大到无法解决的问题。

And so the state of the world fills many of us with doom, 短語搭配

因此，世界的现状让许多人充满厄运感、

hopelessness, and sadness.

绝望与悲伤。

We feel it too.

我们也有同感。

It's one of the most pervasive stories of our time, 語法

这是我们这个时代最普遍的叙事之一，

and there's a lot of truth to it. 短語搭配

而且它也包含了许多真相。

But,

但是，

as Terry Pratchett said,

正如 Terry Pratchett 所说，

we are the storytelling ape.

我们是会讲故事的猿类。

We think in narratives

我们以叙事的方式思考，

and live in a network of stories that make up our world. 短語動詞

生活在一个由故事交织而成的网络中，这构成了我们的世界。

So, without minimizing the darkness, 表達脈絡

所以，在不贬低那些黑暗面之余，

we want to add a story that we find helpful for dealing with the world.

我们想加入一个我们认为有助于应对这个世界的故事。

This is subjective and not a science video,

这是主观的，不是一期科普视频，

so you don't need to buy into it. 短語動詞

所以你不需要完全相信它。

Our story begins with the first moment that ever was.

我们的故事始于有史以来的最初时刻。

14 billion years ago,

140亿年前，

time and space began from some kind of state of pure energy.

时间和空间从某种纯能量状态开始。

From this very first moment,

从这最初的一刻起，

the universe grew and evolved.

宇宙便开始成长与演化。

Things that were one became many.

本为一体的事物化为了万物。

Energy turned into forces and particles.

能量变成了力与粒子。

Out of chaos, 語法

从混沌中，

emerged the laws of nature.

浮现了自然法则。

From these ingredients,

从这些成分中，

stars arose,

恒星诞生了，

gigantic engines turning simple stuff into complex stuff,

就像巨大的引擎将简单的物质变成复杂的物质，

only to die violently and spread the new complexity around. 語法

然后猛烈地消亡，将新的复杂物质散播开来。

Out of this more complex stuff,

从这些更复杂的物质中，

new stars and more worlds emerged,

新的恒星和更多的世界出现了，

repeating the cycle until most of the simple stuff was used up

不断重复这个循环，直到大部分简单的物质被耗尽，

and most stars that will ever be born had been born.

绝大多数会诞生的恒星都已诞生。

And then,

接着，

on one planet where the conditions were just right,

在一颗条件恰到好处的星球上，

dead particles and molecules combined to make another jump in complexity.

毫无生气的粒子与分子结合在一起，在复杂性上实现了又一次飞跃。

Maybe the laws that govern everything were destined to make life happen. 語法

也许支配万物的法则注定要让生命诞生。

Maybe it was just a cosmic dice throw.

也许这只是宇宙掷了一次骰子。

But life, now the most complex thing in existence,

但生命，现在作为现存最复杂的事物，

wasted no time and spread to even the tiniest corners. 短語搭配

毫不耽搁地蔓延到了哪怕是最微小的角落。

For billions of years,

几十亿年来，

cells held on, 短語動詞

细胞坚守着，

fighting against the elements and each other,

与恶劣环境和同类抗争，

evolving in the process,

在此过程中不断进化，

until one day they came together and made another jump in complexity to plants,

直到有一天，它们聚集在一起，再次实现了复杂性的飞跃，变成了植物、

animals, and fungi.

动物和真菌。

First in the oceans,

先是在海洋中，

then on the land.

然后到了陆地上。

Earth was now the stage of something grand.

地球现在成了一些宏大事物的舞台。

A complexity acceleration machine going at full speed.

一台全速运转的复杂性加速机器。

Millions of new species emerged and vanished.

数以百万计的新物种出现又消失。

Life was beaten down over and over, 表達脈絡

生命一次又一次被击垮，

but every time it came back stronger,

但每一次它都会变得更强大地归来，

resettling niches filled with corpses of the ones that came before.

重新在被前任尸骸填满的生态位中安顿下来。

Most of these beings are hidden in time forever.

这些生命大多数永远地隐藏在了时间里。

We only know their faint echoes. 習語

我们只知道它们微弱的回音。

Until a few million years ago,

直到几百万年前，

an animal looked to the night sky.

一只动物仰望夜空。

It looked at its hands.

它看了看自己的双手。

It saw its reflection in a puddle

它在水洼里看到了自己的倒影，

and it realized it existed,

它意识到自己存在着，

that it was alive,

自己是活着的，

here and now.

就在此时此地。

You probably had such a moment as a small child,

你在小时候可能也有过这样的时刻，

mundane and majestic at the same time.

既平凡又壮丽。

This is where the human story begins,

这就是人类故事的开端，

about 6 million years ago,

大约600万年前，

with the hominins.

伴随着古人类的出现。

Still just another animal among many others.

那时他们还只是众多动物中的一种。

They split into many families and lineages,

他们分裂成许多家族和谱系，

evolving further or disappearing again.

进一步进化或者再次消失。

But for some reason,

但出于某种原因，

their evolutionary niche enabled their brains to grow 用詞

他们的生态位让他们的大脑得以生长，

and they learned more about this strange world.

他们对这个奇异世界了解得更多了。

They prayed to the stars.

他们向星星祈祷。

They tamed fire

他们驯服了火，

and turned stones into tools. 語法

把石头变成工具。

They celebrated and cried together.

他们一起庆祝，一起哭泣。

Life was hard and brutally short,

生活艰难且残酷地短暂，

but together they endured,

但他们团结在一起撑了下来，

probably by telling themselves stories about the world.

也许是通过给彼此讲述关于这个世界的故事。

For almost 250,000 generations,

在将近25万代的岁月里，

they built a biological foundation.

他们建立了生物学基础。

And then at some point,

接着在某个时刻，

200,000 years or about 10,000 generations ago,

20万年前或者说大约1万代以前，

they became us.

他们变成了我们。

Humanity had arrived.

人类登场了。

Our ancestors didn't waste any time.

我们的祖先没有浪费任何时间。

Their world was still hard and unforgiving,

他们的世界依然艰难且无情，

but out of pure stubbornness,

但出于纯粹的倔强，

they didn't accept that.

他们没有接受这一切。

They wanted their lives to be better,

他们希望生活变得更好，

so they made better tools and learned to preserve their knowledge beyond death.

所以制造了更好的工具，并学会了让知识在死后传承。

Progress started slow

进步起初很慢，

and then suddenly they,

然后突然之间，他们，

or better,

或者更确切地说，

we made the planet our own. 習語

我们把这颗星球据为己有。

Agriculture and the first villages and temples snowballed into civilization, 習語

农业以及最早的村落和庙宇滚雪球般发展成文明、

kingdoms and empires,

王国和帝国、

technology, writing, astronomy, medicine, philosophy.

技术、文字、天文学、医学、哲学。

A hot second later, 用詞

紧接着的一瞬间，

science, industrialization,

科学、工业化、

the modern world,

现代世界、

the information age,

信息时代，

where we are today.

来到了我们今天的所在。

Earth is truly ours now.

地球现在真的属于我们了。

We changed it in ways unfathomable a few short generations ago.

我们以短短几代人以前无法想象的方式改变了它。

We turned the land into fields worked by millions of machines,

我们把土地变成了由数百万台机器劳作的农田，

built thousands of gigantic jungles made of sand and metal. 習語

建造了数千座由沙子和金属构成的巨型丛林。

We split the atom and traveled to other worlds.

我们分裂了原子，前往了其他世界。

Everything is different today,

今天的一切都不一样了，

except us, of course.

当然，除了我们自己。

We humans have not changed.

我们人类并没有改变。

We were molded by a cold and unforgiving world

我们是由一个冰冷无情的世界塑造出来的，

where we needed to be hard and brutal to survive.

在那里我们需要变得冷酷残暴才能生存。

We are still bound to our nature that made us so successful. 習語

我们依然被那让我们如此成功的本性所束缚。

We still tell stories,

我们依然讲着故事，

are hungry for food,

渴望食物，

greedy for resources,

贪图资源，

desperate to be accepted by our peers.

拼命想要被同伴接纳。

We're scared by the dangers that lurk in the dark,

我们害怕潜伏在黑暗中的危险，

imagined and real ones.

无论是想象的还是真实的。

We're still brutal to each other and the animals we hold power over. 短語搭配

我们对彼此以及我们掌控的动物依然残暴。

We're still territorial and possessive.

我们依然有领地意识和占有欲。

We fear losing what we have

我们害怕失去所拥有的东西，

and we fear change.

我们也害怕改变。

We downplay the damage we cause 短語搭配

我们淡化我们造成的破坏，

and ignore the people in need outside our tribes.

并无视部落外需要帮助的人。

Humans are not nice.

人类并不友善。

And if we look at our history,

而如果我们看看我们的历史，

how could we expect ourselves to be? 表達脈絡

我们又怎能指望自己友善呢？

In nature,

在自然界中，

we see great beauty,

我们看到了无与伦比的美丽，

but also endless violence and struggle,

却也看到了无尽的暴力与斗争，

devoid of morals or kindness. 用詞

缺乏道德或仁慈。

We are an instinct-driven apex predator that survived in an uncaring world,

我们是一个受本能驱使、在一个漠不关心的世界中幸存下来的顶级捕食者，

only now we have coal plants, nuclear weapons, and social media.

只不过现在我们拥有了煤电厂、核武器和社交媒体。

This would be hard to handle for any animal,

这对任何动物来说都难以掌控，

so it makes sense that we continue to follow the impulses so deeply ingrained in us. 短語搭配

所以我们继续顺从深植于心的冲动，也是有道理的。

But this is only because we've not yet caught up with the mind-numbing gift we've been handed. 講解

但这仅仅是因为我们还没能适应我们被赋予的那令人震撼的天赋。

The real tragedy of humanity today

如今人类真正的悲剧，

is that we are these amazingly powerful beings that have not awoken to their potential. 習語

是我们这些极其强大的生物还没觉醒自己的潜力。

We're trapped in the present and the mindset of a scarce world.

我们被困在当下和那个匮乏世界的思维模式中。

But aside from the physical limits of the universe, 表達脈絡

但是，除了宇宙的物理极限之外，

there's nothing stopping us from creating a literal paradise for ourselves. 語法

没有任何东西能阻止我们为自己创造一个真正的天堂。

This seems so daft, 用詞

这听起来很愚蠢，

but it's true.

但这是真的。

If we dare to tell ourselves a different story 習語

只要我们敢于给自己讲一个不同的故事，

about who we are and who we could be.

一个关于我们是谁以及我们能成为谁的故事。

Humans throughout history felt like they would witness the apocalypse,

纵观历史，人类总觉得自己会目睹世界末日，

and this feels especially true today,

今天这种感觉尤其强烈，

but you're probably not living in the end times. 文化背景

但你多半并没有生活在末世。

There's a solid chance that humanity will persist for thousands, 短語搭配

人类很有可能还会延续几千年，

maybe millions of years.

甚至几百万年。

If this might be the very start of our history,

如果这可能只是我们历史的开端，

what can we dream of achieving?

我们可以梦想实现什么呢？

Just like our very first ancestors 6 million years ago,

就像我们600万年前的第一批祖先一样，

we may be the ancestors of another 250,000 generations of people.

我们可能会成为未来25万代人的祖先。

But while the hominins found themselves powerless in a world they had to adapt to, 語法

但是，当古人类在一个他们必须适应的世界里感到无能为力时，

our starting conditions could not be more different. 語法

我们的初始条件却截然不同。

It's like we got handed a save file of a game where others put in millions of hours of work 文化背景

就像是我们拿到了一个游戏存档，别人已经在里面投入了数百万小时的工作，

and where we can decide what game we want to play in the future.

而我们可以决定将来想玩什么样的游戏。

The world is still horrible

这个世界依然很糟糕，

and it's also the best world that's ever existed.

但它也是有史以来最好的世界。

And we can make it so much better.

而我们可以让它变得更好。

An optimistic person living in the year 1924

一个生活在1924年的乐观主义者，

would not believe the progress we've made in just a century.

绝对无法相信我们在仅仅一个世纪里所取得的进步。

How much we reduced poverty,

我们多大程度上减少了贫困，

how many diseases we cured,

我们治愈了多少疾病，

how much free time we have,

我们有多少闲暇时间，

what kind of luxuries are ordinary to us,

什么样的奢侈品对我们来说已是寻常，

what technological wonders we take for granted, 習語

哪些技术奇迹被我们视为理所当然，

how few of us die in war,

我们中死于战争的人是多么的少，

how many live in a democracy.

有多少人生活在民主制度中。

And today,

而今天，

we might very well be gearing up for a jump like our ancestors 10,000 years ago, 講解

我们很可能正在为一次飞跃做准备，就像我们1万年前的祖先一样，

when agriculture changed everything for everybody.

当时农业改变了所有人的生活。

From AI possibly transforming the information age 表達脈絡

从人工智能可能改变信息时代，

to biotechnology enabling us to manipulate the language of life itself 習語

到生物技术让我们能够操纵生命本身的语言，

to new sustainable ways of harvesting the energy we crave.

再到收集我们渴望的能源的全新可持续方式。

If we start thinking in decades and centuries, 短語搭配

如果我们开始以几十年或几个世纪为单位思考，

it's perfectly reasonable that we'll solve our problems.

我们解决问题是完全合情合理的。

We can eliminate poverty,

我们可以消除贫困，

maybe all material needs,

也许是所有的物质需求，

defeat all diseases,

战胜所有疾病，

maybe even death itself.

甚至可能是死亡本身。

We have the potential to restore balance to the climate and heal the planet again.

我们有潜力恢复气候平衡，并让地球重获生机。

We may be able to adapt to the information age and make lasting peace.

我们也许能够适应信息时代并创造持久的和平。

None of this is guaranteed

这些都并非板上钉钉，

and it will be hard and full of failure and setbacks.

这将充满艰难，充满失败与挫折。

Some things will get worse before they get better. 習語

有些事情在变好之前会变得更糟。

We'll run up against our nature over and over again. 短語動詞

我们会一次又一次地与我们的本性发生冲突。

But if we manage to clean up our act, 習語

但如果我们能够规范自己的行为，

we could create a world better than we dare hope for. 語法

我们就能创造出一个比我们敢于期盼的还要美好的世界。

You get to do that. 語法

你有机会参与其中。

You get to live in a world that's deeply flawed,

你生活在一个有深层缺陷的世界里，

but also the best it ever was.

但这也是它有史以来最好的状态。

And you get the opportunity to make it better.

你有机会让它变得更好。

A world with the smallest amount of suffering possible

一个苦难被降到最低的世界，

that fits our nature and inspires us to be the best version of ourselves.

契合我们的本性，并激励我们成为最好的自己。