簡單的想法如何孕育出偉大的科學發現：英語精讀講義

One of the funny things about owning a brain 文法

擁有一顆大腦最有趣的事情之一

is that you have no control over the things that it gathers and holds on to, 講解

是你無法控制它收集和保留的東西，

the facts and the stories.

也就是那些事實和故事。

And as you get older, 文法

而隨著年齡的增長，

it only gets worse.

情況只會越來越糟。

Things stick around for years sometimes 片語動詞

有些事情有時候會在腦海中停留好幾年

before you understand why you're interested in them,

你才會明白自己為什麼對它們感興趣，

before you understand their import to you. 用詞

才會明白它們對你的意義。

Here's three of mine.

這裡分享我的三個故事。

When Richard Feynman was a young boy in Queens,

當理查·費曼在皇后區還是個小男孩的時候，

he went for a walk with his dad and his wagon and a ball.

他帶著他的小推車和一顆球與父親去散步。

And he noticed that when he pulled the wagon,

他注意到當他拉動推車時，

the ball went to the back of the wagon.

球會滾向推車的後面。

And he asked his dad,

於是他問他的父親，

"Why does the ball go to the back of the wagon?"

「為什麼球會滾到推車的後面呢？」

And his dad said,

他父親說，

"That's inertia."

「那是慣性。」

He said,

他問，

"What's inertia?"

「什麼是慣性？」

And his dad said,

他父親回答，

"Ah,

「啊，

inertia is the name that scientists give to the phenomenon of the ball going to the back of the wagon." 文法

慣性是科學家用來稱呼球滾向推車後面這種現象的名字。」

But in truth,

但實際上，

nobody really knows.

並沒有人真正知道為什麼。

Feynman went on to earn degrees at MIT, 片語搭配

費曼後來在麻省理工學院獲得了學位，

Princeton.

接著是普林斯頓大學。

He solved the Challenger disaster.

他破解了挑戰者號太空梭災難的謎團。

He ended up winning the Nobel Prize in physics for his Feynman diagrams describing the movement of subatomic particles. 片語搭配

他最終因描述次原子粒子運動的費曼圖而獲得了諾貝爾物理學獎。

And he credits that conversation with his father as giving him a sense that the simplest questions could carry you out to the edge of human knowledge 講解

他將這一切歸功於與父親的那次談話，讓他意識到最簡單的問題可以帶你走向人類知識的邊緣，

and that that's where he wanted to play. 用詞

而那正是他想要探索的領域。

And play he did. 文法

他也確實這麼做了。

Now,

那麼，

Eratosthenes was the third librarian at the Great Library of Alexandria. 文化背景

埃拉托斯特尼是亞歷山大圖書館的第三任館長。

And he made many contributions to science.

他對科學做出了許多貢獻。

But the one he is most remembered for began in a letter that he received as the librarian 文法

但他最讓人銘記的貢獻，始於他作為館長收到的一封信，

from the town of Swenet,

那封信來自斯韋內特鎮，

which was south of Alexandria.

位於亞歷山大港的南邊。

The letter included this fact that stuck in Eratosthenes' mind. 慣用語

信裡提到了一件深深印在埃拉托斯特尼腦海中的事。

And the fact was

事實是這樣的，

that the writer said,

寫信的人說，

"At noon, 文化背景

「在正午，

on the solstice,

夏至日的時候，

when he looked down this deep well,

當他低頭看這口深井時，

he could see his reflection at the bottom,

他能看到井底自己的倒影，

and he could also see that his head was blocking the sun."

而且他也能看到自己的頭擋住了太陽。」

Now,

現在，

I should tell you,

我得告訴你們，

the idea that Christopher Columbus discovered that the world is spherical is total bull. 用詞

克里斯多福·哥倫布發現地球是圓的這個說法純屬胡說八道。

It's not true at all.

根本不是真的。

In fact,

事實上，

everyone who was educated understood that the world was spherical

每個受過教育的人都知道地球是圓的，

since Aristotle's time.

從亞里斯多德時代起就是如此了。

And Aristotle had proven it with a simple observation.

亞里斯多德透過一個簡單的觀察證明了這一點。

He noticed that every time you saw the Earth's shadow on the moon,

他注意到每次看到地球在月球上的投影時，

it was circular.

它都是圓形的。

And the only shape that constantly creates a circular shadow 文法

而唯一能持續產生圓形陰影的形狀

is a sphere.

就是球體。

QED, 用詞

證明完畢，

the Earth is round.

地球是圓的。

But nobody knew how big it was until Eratosthenes got this letter 文法

但沒人知道地球有多大，直到埃拉托斯特尼收到這封信

with this fact.

並知道了這個事實。

So,

於是，

he understood that the sun was directly above the city of Swenet

他明白太陽在斯韋內特城上方直射，

because looking down a well, 文法

因為向井下看時，

it was a straight line all the way down the well,

光線沿著井一直往下是一條直線，

right past the guy's head,

直接越過那個人的頭頂，

up to the sun.

直達太陽。

Eratosthenes knew another fact.

埃拉托斯特尼還知道另一個事實。

He knew that a stick stuck in the ground in Alexandria

他知道如果在亞歷山大港地上插一根棍子，

at the same time and the same day at noon,

在同一天的同一個時間——正午，

the sun's zenith, 用詞

太陽位於天頂，

on the solstice,

也就是夏至日時，

the sun cast a shadow that showed it was 7.2 degrees off axis. 講解

太陽投下的陰影顯示它偏離了中軸線7.2度。

Now,

現在，

if you know the circumference of a circle and you have two points on it, 文法

如果你知道一個圓的周長，且上面有兩個點，

all you need to know is the distance between those two points

你只需要知道這兩個點之間的距離，

and you can extrapolate the circumference. 用詞

就能推算出整個周長。

360 degrees divided by 7.2 equals 50.

360度除以7.2等於50。

I know it's a little bit of a round number and it makes me suspicious of this story too, 講解

我知道這個整數聽起來有點太巧了，這也讓我對這個故事有點懷疑，

but it's a good story,

但這是個好故事，

so we'll continue with it. 表達脈絡

所以我們就繼續講下去吧。

He needed to know the distance between Swenet and Alexandria,

他需要知道斯韋內特和亞歷山大港之間的距離，

which is good because Eratosthenes was good at geography.

這很好辦，因為埃拉托斯特尼精通地理。

In fact,

事實上，

he invented the word geography.

「地理（geography）」這個詞就是他發明的。

The road between Swenet and Alexandria was a road of commerce, 用詞

斯韋內特和亞歷山大港之間的路是條貿易之路，

and commerce needed to know how long it took to get there.

商人們需要知道走這條路需要多長時間。

It needed to know the exact distance.

需要知道確切的距離。

So,

所以，

he knew very precisely

他非常準確地知道

that the distance between the two cities was 500 mi.

這兩座城市之間的距離是500英里。

Multiply that times 50,

把它乘以50，

you get 25,000,

得到25,000，

which is within 1% of the actual diameter of the Earth. 片語搭配

這與地球實際直徑的誤差在1%以內。

He did this 2,200 years ago.

他在2200年前就做到了這一點。

Now,

如今，

we live in an age 文法

我們生活在一個時代，

where multi-billion-dollar pieces of machinery are looking for the Higgs boson. 講解

價值數十億美元的機器正在尋找希格斯玻色子。

We're discovering particles that may travel faster than the speed of light.

我們在發現可能比光速還快的粒子。

And all of these discoveries are made possible 片語搭配

所有這些發現之所以成為可能，

by technology that's been developed in the last few decades.

都歸功於過去幾十年發展起來的技術。

But for most of human history, 表達脈絡

但在人類歷史的大部分時間裡，

we had to discover these things

我們必須發現這些事物，

using our eyes and our ears and our minds. 表達脈絡

只用我們的眼睛、耳朵和大腦。

Armand Fizeau was an experimental physicist in Paris.

阿爾芒·斐索是巴黎的一位實驗物理學家。

His specialty was actually refining and confirming other people's results. 用詞

他的專長其實是改進和確認別人的實驗結果。

And this might sound like a bit of an also-ran, 用詞

這聽起來似乎有點像陪跑者，

but in fact,

但事實上，

this is the soul of science 慣用語

這才是科學的靈魂，

because there is no such thing as a fact that cannot be independently corroborated. 文法

因為不存在不能被獨立證實的事實。

And he was familiar

他很熟悉

with Galileo's experiments

伽利略的實驗，

in trying to determine whether or not light had a speed. 文法

那些試圖確定光是否有速度的實驗。

So,

所以，

Galileo had worked out this really wonderful experiment 片語動詞

伽利略設計過一個非常棒的實驗，

where he and his assistant had uh a lamp.

他和他的助手，呃，有一盞燈。

Each one of them was holding a lamp.

他們每個人手裡都拿著一盞燈。

And Galileo would open his lamp 文法

伽利略會打開他的燈，

and his assistant would open his lamp.

然後他的助手也會打開他的燈。

And they got the timing down really good. 片語搭配

他們把時間卡得非常好。

They just knew their timing.

他們完全掌握了時機。

And then they stood

然後他們站

at two hilltops 2 mi distant.

在相距兩英里的兩個山頭上。

And they did the same thing on the assumption from Galileo 文法

他們做了同樣的事情，這是基於伽利略的假設：

that if light had a discernible speed,

如果光有可察覺的速度，

he'd notice a delay in the light coming back from his assistant's lamp.

他就會注意到助手燈光傳回來的延遲。

But light was too fast for Galileo. 文法

但光速對伽利略來說太快了。

Uh he was off by several orders of magnitude 用詞

呃，他差了好幾個數量級，

when he assumed that light was roughly

因為他假設光速大約是

10 times as fast as the speed of sound. 文法

音速的10倍。

Fizeau was aware of this experiment.

斐索知道這個實驗。

He lived in Paris.

他住在巴黎。

And he set up 片語動詞

於是他建立

two experimental stations

了兩個實驗站，

roughly 5 and 1/2 mi distant

相距大約5.5英里，

in Paris.

就在巴黎。

And he solved this problem 文法

他解決了伽利略的

of Galileo's,

這個問題，

and he did it with a really relatively trivial piece of equipment. 用詞

並且他用了一個極其簡單的設備就做到了。

He did it with one of these.

他用了這其中的一個。

I'm going to put away the clicker for a second

我要先把簡報筆放下一會兒，

because I want to engage your brains in this. 片語搭配

因為我想讓你們開動腦筋思考一下這個。

Now,

大家看，

this is a toothed wheel. 用詞

這是一個齒輪。

It's got a bunch of notches 片語搭配

它有一堆凹槽，

and it's got a bunch of teeth.

還有一堆齒。

This was Fizeau's solution to sending discrete pulses of light. 用詞

這就是斐索用來發送離散光脈衝的解決方案。

He put a beam behind one of these notches.

他把一束光放在其中一個凹槽後面。

If I point a beam 片語搭配

如果我把光束

through this notch

穿過這個凹槽

at a mirror

射向5英里外

5 mi away,

的一面鏡子，

that beam is bouncing off the mirror 片語動詞

這束光會從鏡子上反射回來，

and coming back to me through this notch.

再穿過這個凹槽回到我這裡。

But something interesting happens

但有趣的事情發生了：

as he spins the wheel faster.

隨著他轉動齒輪的速度越來越快。

He notices

他注意到

that it seems like a door is starting to close on the light beam that's coming back to his eye. 慣用語

就好像有一扇門開始對回到他眼中的光束關閉。

Why is that? 表達脈絡

為什麼會這樣？

It's because the pulse of light

因為光脈衝

is not coming back through the same notch.

不再透過同一個凹槽返回了。

It's actually hitting a tooth.

它實際上打在了一個齒上。

And he spins the wheel fast enough

當他把齒輪轉得足夠快時，

and he fully occludes the light. 用詞

光線被完全遮擋住了。

And then,

然後，

based on the distance between the two stations 片語搭配

根據兩個站點之間的距離、

and the speed of his wheel

他轉動齒輪的速度

and the number of notches in the wheel,

以及齒輪上凹槽的數量，

he calculates the speed of light to within 2% of its actual value. 片語搭配

他計算出了光速，誤差在實際值的2%以內。

And he does this

而他做到這一點

in 1849.

是在1849年。

This is what really gets me going about science. 慣用語

這正是科學真正讓我著迷的地方。

Whenever I'm having trouble 文法

每當我難以

understanding a concept,

理解一個概念時，

I go back and I research the people that discovered that concept.

我就會去回顧並研究發現那個概念的人。

I look at the story

我去看那背後的故事，

of how they came to understand it. 片語搭配

看他們是如何理解它的。

And what happens when you look at what the discoverers 文法

當你看發現者們

were thinking about

在做出發現時

when they made their discoveries

腦子裡在想什麼，

is you understand

你就會明白，

that they are not so different

他們和我們

from us.

並沒有那麼不同。

We are all bags of meat and water. 慣用語

我們都只是由肉和水組成的軀體。

We all start with the same tools. 慣用語

我們一開始用的都是同樣的工具。

I love the idea that different branches of science are called fields of study. 慣用語

我喜歡科學的不同分支被稱為「研究領域（fields）」這種說法。

Most people

大多數人

think of science as a closed black box, 慣用語

把科學看作一個封閉的黑盒，

and in fact,

而實際上，

it is an open field.

它是一片開闊的領域（field）。

And we are all explorers.

我們都是探索者。

The people that made these discoveries

那些做出這些發現的人

just thought a little bit harder

只是對他們所看到的東西

about what they were looking at.

多進行了一些更深入的思考。

And they were a little bit more curious.

他們只是多了一點好奇心。

And their curiosity changed the way people thought about the world. 片語搭配

而他們的好奇心改變了人們對世界的看法。

And thus, 表達脈絡

也因此，

it changed the world.

改變了世界。

They changed the world.

他們改變了世界。

And so can you. 文法

你也可以。

Thank you.

謝謝。