我們都沾親帶故：英語精讀講義

Hey Vsauce, Michael here.

嘿，Vsauce，我是 Michael。

And you guys are my family.

而你們都是我的家人。

Scientifically speaking, 片語搭配

從科學角度來說，

geneticists tell us that every single person on Earth 文法

遺傳學家告訴我們，地球上的每一個人

is at the least

至少都和

50th cousins with everybody else on Earth.

地球上的其他所有人互為五十代表親。

It kind of has to be that way. 講解

某種程度上，事情也只能如此。

Think of it like this. 表達脈絡

可以這樣想。

You have two biological parents

你有兩位親生父母，

and four biological grandparents

四位祖父母和外祖父母，

and eight biological great-grandparents.

以及八位曾祖父母和外曾祖父母。

It keeps doubling. 文法

這個數字會不斷翻倍。

Well,

嗯，

if you follow your family tree all the way back 片語搭配

如果沿著家譜一路往前追溯

to the time of the ancient Romans,

直到古羅馬時代，

64 generations ago,

也就是64代以前，

that tree would need 1 quintillion separate individuals,

這棵家族樹就得有一百京個互不相同的人，

which is a number that is larger

這個數字比

than the number of humans who have ever existed,

有史以來存在過的所有人加起來

ever.

還要多。

So what does that mean?

那麼，這代表什麼？

Well, I think Bill Bryson put it best 片語搭配

我覺得 Bill Bryson 說得最貼切，

when he said,

他說：

"You couldn't be here 文法

「如果沒有一點亂倫，

without a little incest."

你就不可能存在於世。」

Actually,

其實，

quite a lot of incest.

亂倫還相當多。

Nothing ridiculous, mind you, 語氣意圖

不過別誤會，並不是多麼荒唐的那種，

but if you go far enough back in your family tree, 文法

但只要沿著家譜追溯得夠久，

you're going to find that quite frequently

你就會發現，很多時候

people who were distantly related

血緣關係很遠的人

had kids.

會生兒育女。

In fact,

事實上，

if you are currently dating or married to somebody

如果你目前交往或結婚的對象

who is from your own country

和你來自同一個國家

and is of your own ethnicity,

並且屬於同一族裔，

there's a 1 in 5 chance that the two of you 文法

那麼你們兩人有五分之一的機率

share a common family member

在家譜中有一位共同親屬，

fewer than 10 generations ago. 文法

而且距今還不到10代。

Furthermore,

此外，

because our society is becoming more and more mobile, 文法

因為我們的社會流動性越來越高，

our most recent common ancestor 用詞

我們最近的共同祖先

is becoming more recent.

也離我們越來越近。

Mathematical models are now showing us that

如今，數學模型顯示，

for everybody,

對所有人而言，

every human on Earth right now,

也就是目前地球上的每一個人，

our most recent common ancestor

我們最近的共同祖先

probably lived only 2 to 4,000 years ago.

很可能只生活在2,000至4,000年前。

A recent study, it's a great one,

最近有一項研究，非常精彩，

you should read it,

你應該讀一讀。

found that there was a person alive

研究發現，曾經有一個人

as early as 300 BC 片語搭配

早在西元前300年就已活在世上，

who is related to every single person

與每一個

alive on Earth today.

如今生活在地球上的人都有親緣關係。

Their study also found that

這項研究還發現，

that person most likely lived in Taiwan,

這個人很可能住在台灣，

near a busy port city,

鄰近一座繁忙的港口城市，

so their descendants could quickly spread around the world.

這樣其後代便能迅速遍布世界各地。

Now, all that said, 表達脈絡

不過，話說回來，

you only receive half of your genetic information

你的遺傳資訊只有一半

from your mother and half from your father.

來自母親，另一半來自父親。

And as you go up your tree,

而當你沿著家譜往上追溯時，

it's quite possible that distant, distant ancestors 片語搭配

那些非常、非常久遠的祖先

had literally no contribution to your genome.

完全有可能根本沒有為你的基因體貢獻任何遺傳資訊。

So,

所以，

who are you?

你究竟是誰？

I've said this before,

這話我以前說過，

but because bacteria are so much smaller than the average human body cell, 文法

但因為細菌比一般的人體細胞小得多，

your body contains more bacteria

你體內的細菌數量

than it contains its own cells.

比你自身的細胞數量還多。

And forget about trying to remember 語氣意圖

而且，別想去記住

every individual cell and bacteria in your body,

你體內的每一個細胞和每一個細菌，

they're constantly dying and being replaced. 文法

它們不斷死亡，也不斷被替換。

Even cells like brain cells,

即使是腦細胞這類細胞，

which seem to live for a very long time,

看起來能存活很長一段時間，

still take in new nutrients and expel waste, 片語動詞

也還是會吸收新的營養物質並排出廢物，

meaning that within about every 5 years, 文法

這表示大約每過5年，

every single atom that used to make up your body 講解

曾經構成你身體的每一個原子

has been exchanged.

都會被替換掉。

Do you remember what you were like 5 years ago? 文法

你還記得5年前的自己是什麼樣子嗎？

Well, the atoms that make up your body,

嗯，構成你身體的那些原子

they sure don't. 語氣意圖

肯定不記得。

This is a little existentially scary,

從存在主義的角度來看，這有點嚇人，

but it leads to a very good question. 片語搭配

但它帶出了一個很好的問題。

How many atoms are inside

首先，到底有多少個原子存在於

my body to begin with? 片語搭配

我的身體裡？

How much is a billion atoms?

10億個原子究竟有多少？

Well,

嗯，

here's one way to think about this. 表達脈絡

可以這樣來理解。

If you were to count one number greater every second, 文法

如果你每秒數一個數，逐一遞增，

it would take you 12 days

那麼你需要12天

to count to a million.

才能數到100萬。

But if you wanted to count to a billion,

但如果想數到10億，

that would take you 32 years.

那就需要32年。

So, a billion is a very large number,

所以，10億是個非常大的數字，

but not when it comes to atoms. 片語搭配

但談到原子時卻不算大。

Atoms are so inconceivably small 文法

原子小得令人難以想像，

that even if you had a billion, 文法

即使你有10億個——

say, sodium atoms, 表達脈絡

比方說，10億個鈉原子——

their entire weight would only be 38 femtograms.

它們的總重量也只有38飛克。

Each individual cell in your body,

你身體裡的每一個細胞，

too small to be even seen by the eye, 文法

小到肉眼根本看不見，

contains 100 times more atoms 文法

所含的原子數量是

than there are stars in the Milky Way Galaxy.

銀河系恆星數量的100倍。

Multiply that by the number of cells 用詞

再乘以

that make up what we call ourselves,

構成所謂「我們自己」的細胞數量，

and each human body contains more atoms

就會發現，每個人體內的原子數

than there are stars in the known universe.

比已知宇宙中的恆星還多。

Numbers that large lead to some pretty mind-blowing truths. 用詞

如此龐大的數字會揭示一些令人難以置信的真相。

For instance, this one mentioned by Bill Bryson. 表達脈絡

比如 Bill Bryson 提到的這一點。

Because our bodies contain so many atoms

因為我們的身體含有這麼多原子，

and because we so vigorously recycle them,

而且我們會如此頻繁地循環使用它們，

statistically speaking,

從統計學上來說，

about 1 billion of the atoms inside your body

你體內大約有10億個原子

used to belong to Shakespeare.

曾經屬於莎士比亞。

A billion of your atoms used to belong to Beethoven.

你有10億個原子曾經屬於貝多芬。

A billion of the atoms in your body,

你體內有10億個原子，

right now as you sit and watch this, 表達脈絡

就在你坐著觀看這段影片的此刻，

used to be inside the body of Buddha.

它們曾經存在於佛陀體內。

You can also think of it this way.

你也可以換個角度來想。

A thousand years from now, 片語搭配

一千年後，

when humans first land on a planet outside of our solar system,

當人類首次登上太陽系以外的某顆行星時，

that first person to step onto the surface of the alien planet, 文法

第一個踏上那顆外星行星表面的人，

their body will contain a billion atoms

體內將含有10億個

that are in you right now.

此刻正在你體內的原子。

And as always,

一如往常，

thanks for watching.

謝謝收看。