球形镜子内部是什么样的？：英语精读讲义

Hey,

嘿，

Vsauce.

Vsauce。

Michael here.

我是 Michael。

But you are actually right there.

但其实，你就在那儿。

Well, at least the camera is.

好吧，至少摄像机在那儿。

Mirrors are amazing.

镜子太神奇了。

In fact, the word mirror comes from Latin mirari, 短語搭配

其实，英语单词 mirror 源自拉丁语 mirari，

meaning to wonder at, 短語搭配

意为“感到惊奇”，

to admire.

“赞叹”。

It's also where we get the word miracle.

英语单词 miracle 也源自这里。

Mirror- -acle.

Mirror——acle。

Like when mirrors face each other and transform a toilet room into infinity. 短語搭配

就像让两面镜子相对，把一间卫生间变成无限空间。

I love this kind of stuff.

我就喜欢这种东西。

But, what if, instead of a rectangular prism, 語法

不过，如果房间不是长方体，

the room was a sphere mirrored all the way around? 短語搭配

而是一个四周全都铺着镜面的球体呢？

What would it look like?

会是什么样子？

What would you see floating around in such a room?

漂浮在这样的房间里，你会看到什么？

The first question we should ask involves the light source.

我们首先该问的是光源问题。

If you were in this room using a flashlight and you turned the flashlight off,

如果你在这个房间里打开手电筒，然后又把它关掉，

would the light keep bouncing around off of the mirrored walls

光会不会继续在镜面墙壁之间来回反射，

illuminating the room until your body absorbed all of it?

一直照亮房间，直到被你的身体全部吸收？

Or, if you left the flashlight on,

或者，如果你让手电筒一直开着，

would light continue bouncing around,

光会不会不断来回反射，

building up, getting brighter and brighter until you lost your vision and cooked? 語法

越积越多、越来越亮，直到让你失明，甚至把你烤熟？

Probably not.

大概不会。

Every time light hits a mirror, and reflects off, 語法

光每次照到镜子上再反射出去时，

a tiny, tiny amount is absorbed.

都会有极其微小的一部分被吸收。

Even if your mirror spherical room was the size of a giant stadium 語法

即便你的球形镜面房间有一座巨型体育场那么大，

and its walls reflected 99.99% of light on each reflection,

墙壁每次都能反射 99.99% 的光，

light speed is just too fast,

光速还是太快了，

meaning that the reflections will happen rapidly.

也就是说，反射会飞快发生。

A little bit of light being lost each time, 語法

每次都会损失一点光，

the room will go dark in a fraction of a fraction of a second. 短語搭配

所以在几分之一秒的几分之一内，房间就会变暗。

To you and me,

对你我来说，

it would seem instantaneous.

这就像是瞬间发生的。

As for what it would look like, 表達脈絡

至于看起来会怎样，

let's pretend you begin with your face up against a wall of the sphere 語氣意圖

假设一开始你的脸贴着球形房间的墙壁，

and float backward toward and past the center.

然后向后飘，朝中心移动并越过中心。

At first,

起初，

you would see your face quite clearly.

你能非常清楚地看到自己的脸。

The surrounding reflections would be very distorted.

周围的倒影会扭曲得非常厉害。

As you moved away,

随着你逐渐远离墙壁，

at a certain point,

到了某个位置，

your face would cease to shrink away and appear smaller in the mirror, 用詞

你的脸不再随着远离而在镜中缩小，

and instead would grow larger and become magnified until you reach the center,

反而会越来越大、不断放大，直到你抵达中心，

at which point your face would fill your field of view. 講解

此时你的脸会占满整个视野。

As you continued on past the center,

当你继续越过中心向前飘时，

your image would flip upside down and continue receding away. 短語搭配

你的影像会上下颠倒，并继续向远处退去。

It would look a bit like this.

看起来大概是这样。

But don't get too enamored with your reflection, 用詞

不过，可别太迷恋自己的倒影，

because mirrors don't show you as you really are.

因为镜子展现的并不是真实的你。

Have you ever wondered why you like the way you look in a mirror, 語法

你有没有想过，为什么你喜欢镜子里的自己，

but don't like how you look in photographs or video?

却不喜欢照片或视频中的自己？

It might be because of the mere exposure effect. 文化背景

这可能是因为单纯曝光效应。

You prefer what you are used to. 語法

你更喜欢自己习惯的样子。

And most mirrors you look into don't show the real you,

而你平时照的大多数镜子都不会展现真实的你，

the you that other people and cameras see.

也就是别人和摄像机所看到的那个你。

Instead,

相反，

a mirror shows you a reversed version of yourself,

镜子展现的是左右反转的你，

and you've become more comfortable with that version of you,

而你已经更习惯这个版本的自己，

a version of you that is flipped left to right.

也就是左右翻转的你。

Mirrors reverse along axes perpendicular to their surfaces, 用詞

镜子会沿着垂直于镜面的轴线反转影像，

like left and right.

比如左右方向。

They don't also flip things upside down.

它们并不会同时把东西上下颠倒。

They don't also reverse up and down

它们也不会把上下方向反转，

because those directions are parallel to the surface of the mirror.

因为这些方向与镜面平行。

When it comes to the way you and other people look, 表達脈絡

说到你和其他人的长相，

the difference can be startling.

这种差异可能会令人吃惊。

NPR pointed out that Abraham Lincoln looked like this. 短語動詞

NPR 指出，亚伯拉罕·林肯看起来是这样的。

Mirrored,

镜像翻转后，

he would have looked like this. 語法

他看起来会是这样。

Now, to us,

对我们来说，

something seems noticeably strange about it,

这个样子明显有些奇怪，

but it is the Lincoln Lincoln would have preferred.

但这才是林肯本人更喜欢的那个林肯。

It's what he saw every day in the mirror.

因为这是他每天照镜子时看到的样子。

But here's something really cool.

不过，还有个特别酷的现象。

You can take a flexible mirror and un-reverse its image

你可以拿一面可弯曲的镜子，让其中的影像不再左右反转，

by folding the mirror into a cylindrical shape. 語法

方法是把镜子弯成圆柱形。

Take a look at this.

来看看。

Here I am with a reflective material,

我手里拿着一种反光材料，

and there is the camera with some text taped underneath.

那边是摄像机，下面贴着一些文字。

As you can see, 表達脈絡

可以看到，

everything is flipped left to right.

所有东西都左右翻转了。

But as I fold the sheet into a cylindrical shape,

但当我把这张反光片弯成圆柱形时，

the image separates,

影像分开了，

revealing an un-reversed version. 語法

露出了没有左右反转的版本。

It becomes a true mirror.

它变成了一面“真实镜”。

Finally,

最后，

here is one last piece of everyday mirror trickery.

再来看看日常生活中镜子的最后一个小把戏。

When you look into a mirror,

当你照镜子时，

how big is your reflection,

你的倒影有多大，

your image on the surface of the mirror to you?

也就是在你看来，镜面上的影像有多大？

Surely, 表達脈絡

想必，

it depends on how far away you are from the mirror.

这取决于你离镜子有多远。

But it doesn't.

其实并不是。

When you look into a mirror,

当你照镜子时，

your reflection on the surface of that mirror

镜面上你的倒影

is always the exact same size.

大小始终完全一样。

In fact,

事实上，

it is always about half of your actual size.

它始终约为你实际大小的一半。

This is because when light reflects off a mirror, 短語搭配

这是因为光从镜子上反射时，

it comes in and reflects back out at the same angle,

入射角和反射角相同，

which means that in order to reach your eyes at the top of your body,

也就是说，要让光到达位于你身体顶部的双眼，

light from your feet at the bottom,

来自下方双脚的光，

must hit the mirror halfway between the two.

就必须照到双眼和双脚正中间的镜面上。

The triangles you form with a mirror are similar

你和镜子构成的三角形都是相似的，

regardless of where you stand. 語法

无论你站在哪里都一样。

You can demonstrate this effect by outlining the size of your own head

你可以勾勒出自己头部影像的大小，来演示这个效应，

as it appears on the surface of a mirror

也就是它呈现在镜面上的轮廓，

using a bar of soap.

用一块肥皂画就行。

Now,

现在，

because you aren't here,

因为你本人不在这里，

let's pretend that this phone is your head

就假设这部手机是你的头，

and its camera is your eye.

它的摄像头是你的眼睛。

We begin up close. 短語搭配

我们先从近处开始。

The camera looks really big from this perspective. 短語搭配

从这个角度看，摄像头显得非常大。

Let me just carefully trace around the outside 語氣意圖

我来沿着外缘仔细描一圈，

so we can compare later.

这样稍后就能比较。

Good, good, good.

好，好，好。

Okay.

好了。

Now,

现在，

I'm going to pull away from the mirror. 短語動詞

我要远离镜子。

Clearly,

很明显，

the phone is smaller, right? 語氣意圖

手机变小了，对吧？

Well,

好，

if I reach out and once again carefully trace the edges, 短語動詞

如果我伸出手，再次仔细描出它的边缘，

there we go, 語氣意圖

画好了，

I will find that I have drawn a rectangle

我会发现自己画出的这个长方形

that is the exact same size.

大小和刚才完全一样。

Your image on the surface of a mirror from your own perspective

从你自己的视角看，镜面上的影像

is always the same size,

大小始终不变，

whether you are a few centimeters away from the mirror 語法

不管你离镜子只有几厘米，

or a few kilometers away.

还是有几千米。

Your image on the surface of a mirror,

镜面上你的影像，

in fact,

事实上，

is always half your actual size.

始终是你实际大小的一半。

Okay,

好了，

enough about light returning to our eyes. 表達脈絡

关于回到我们眼中的光，就说到这里。

What about light that never returns?

那从未返回的光呢？

Could we use a telescope to resolve individual aliens 用詞

我们能不能用望远镜分辨出一个个外星人，

on a planet light-years away?

即使他们身处几光年外的行星上？

Well,

这个嘛，

over on Vsauce3,

在 Vsauce3 那边，

Jake investigates this question with Star Wars.

Jake 借助《星球大战》探究了这个问题。

And my friend Rusty investigates the potential for Star Wars becoming real

我的朋友 Rusty 也探讨了《星球大战》成真的可能性，

in his episode of Science Friction.

就在他的《Science Friction》那一期节目里。

And Vsauce2 has a brand new Lüt

Vsauce2 还有一期全新的《Lüt》，

all about cool Star Wars stuff.

全是关于《星球大战》的酷东西。

Check them all out.

都去看看吧。

And as always,

一如既往，

thanks for watching.

感谢观看。