Grey回答他從未被問過的問題：英語精讀講義

Hello internet,

網路上的朋友們好，

it's Q&A time.

問答時間到了。

First question,

第一個問題，

are memes the future of society?

迷因是社會的未來嗎？

I think you meant this as a joke,

我猜你是在開玩笑，

but the answer is yes.

但答案是肯定的。

The internet for memes is the perfect Petri dish, 慣用語

對於迷因來說，網路是完美的培養皿、

gladiatorial theater, and mutation chamber,

競技場和突變室，

growing, selecting, and randomizing the memest memes to meme in our minds.

培育、篩選並隨機生成最能洗腦的迷因，深植於我們的腦海。

Society has always been a war of memes, 慣用語

社會一直都是一場迷因戰爭，

but before it was fought with sticks and stones.

只不過以前人們用棍棒和石頭來打。

The internet, however,

然而，網路

has arms raced that fight to trench warfare of meme-driven brains in many areas.

已經把這場戰鬥的軍備競賽，升級成了許多領域中受迷因驅動的大腦陣地戰。

They've not yet captured all fields of thought,

它們還沒有佔據所有的思想領域，

but I fear the meme trenches will only expand.

但我恐怕這迷因戰線只會不斷擴張。

In a previous Q&A,

在之前的問答中，

I was asked what topic I've changed my mind on, 片語搭配

有人問我對什麼話題改變了看法，

and the unmitigated benefits of the internet sure is one of those things.

而網路帶來的純粹好處肯定算是其中之一。

Rate from top to bottom:

從優到劣給這些排序：

pancakes, waffles, French toast.

煎餅、鬆餅、法式吐司。

If you know you're at a great restaurant, 文法

如果你知道你在一家很棒的餐廳，

then the ordering hierarchy is French toast before waffles before pancakes.

那麼點餐優先級是：法式吐司優於鬆餅優於煎餅。

If you're at a restaurant of unknown quality,

如果你在一家品質未知的餐廳，

the hierarchy reverses.

順序就反過來。

Pancakes are more reliably consistent,

煎餅的品質更穩定，

and thus can't reach the repulsive troughs or sublime peaks of French toast. 慣用語

因此不會像法式吐司那樣，要麼難吃得要命，要麼美味得驚人。

What makes you unique compared to 7 billion people on Earth?

和地球上70億人相比，你有什麼獨特之處？

In a world of billions,

在一個數十億人的世界裡，

no one is unique.

沒人是獨特的。

If you could have a companion animal like The Golden Compass,

如果你能擁有一隻像《黃金羅盤》裡那樣的動物伴侶，

what would you have?

你會選什麼？

A chimpanzee daemon.

黑猩猩護法。

Maximize utility while minimizing inconvenience. 文法

實用性最大化，同時麻煩最小化。

What common life advice do you disagree with?

你不同意哪條常見的人生建議？

Do what you love and her sister meme,

「做你熱愛的事」以及它的姊妹迷因，

follow your passion. 文化背景

「追隨你的熱情」。

The word passion here is a disgusting perversion of language

這裡的「熱情」一詞是對語言的噁心扭曲，

if, you know, words mean things.

前提是，你知道，詞彙是有意義的。

And yes, there are people who are passionate, gross,

沒錯，確實有些人對自己的工作充滿熱情（真噁心），

about their work, but guess what?

但你猜怎麼著？

Those kinds of people don't need advice.

那種人根本不需要建議。

They're going to do whatever they're uh passionate about anyway.

反正他們就是會去做他們……呃，有熱情的事。

So this advice is useless to those who are its exemplars

所以這條建議對於那些已經樹立榜樣的人來說毫無用處，

while being anti-useful to everyone else,

而對其他人來說則有害無益，

making most people feel bad about their lives and their work by setting an impossibly high bar. 慣用語

它設定了一個不可能達到的高標準，讓大多數人對自己的生活和工作感到沮喪。

In life, rather than expecting to find a burning passion inside yourself 文法

在生活中，與其指望能在自己內心找到某種燃燒的熱情——

that you somehow don't know about already,

某種你居然還不知道的熱情，

because it doesn't exist,

因為它根本不存在，

it's better and more useful to think of life like fishing.

不如把生活看作釣魚，這樣更好也更實用。

Some spots are beautiful to you,

有些地方在你看來很美，

and in some spots your skills will catch fish,

在有些地方你的技巧能釣到魚，

others not.

而有些則不行。

But you can't know where you'd like to spend time until you go there, 文法

但除非你親自去，否則你不知道自己喜歡在哪裡度過時光，

and you can't know how many fish you can catch there until you try.

除非你嘗試，否則你也不知道在那裡能釣到多少魚。

The younger you are,

你越年輕，

the more time you can spend sailing to different spots,

就能花越多的時間航行到不同的地方，

and then the older you are,

而當你年紀越大，

the more time you get to spend in places you know you like,

就能花更多的時間待在你確定自己喜歡的地方，

refining your abilities to catch fish there.

精進你在那裡釣魚的技巧。

Did you have a point in life that turned you around productivity-wise? 用詞

在你的生活中有沒有某個轉折點，讓你的生產力發生了轉變？

If so, what changed and what contributed to that change?

如果有，是什麼發生了改變，又是什麼促成了這種改變？

Yes, there was a time and an event.

有的，有一個特定的時間和事件。

I drifted through school without learning how to be organized, 慣用語

我在學校裡渾水摸魚，完全沒學會如何井井有條，

because, despite what schools tell you about preparing you for the real world,

因為，儘管學校口口聲聲說在為你進入真實世界做準備，

they're mostly a babysitting service obsessed with an endless game of Trivial Pursuit.

它們其實主要是沉迷於無休止的「瑣事問答」遊戲的保母服務。

When school dumped me into the real world,

當學校把我丟進真實世界時，

I had no idea how to adult and needed to figure it out fast. 用詞

我完全不知道怎麼做個成年人，而且必須盡快搞清楚。

The single thing that changed me the most was keeping a paper notebook in my pocket 文法

改變我最大的一件事就是，在口袋裡放個紙質筆記本，

and writing down my thoughts and simply looking back at that notebook on a regular basis. 片語搭配

寫下我的想法，並且只是定期去翻看那個筆記本。

That loop booted me into a real human.

那個迴圈啟動了我，讓我成了個真正的人。

It's so simple,

這很簡單，

but it comes down to increasing communication between the past, present, and future you. 片語動詞

但歸根結底，就是增加了過去、現在和未來那個你之間的溝通。

That's how you direct change in yourself over time.

這就是隨著時間的推移引導自身改變的方法。

What motivates you to do anything productive when everything is meaningless anyway?

既然一切都毫無意義，是什麼驅動你去做有建設性的事呢？

This if we all die, what's the point meme is a bad one for brains.

這種「如果我們都會死，那有什麼意義」的迷因，對大腦不好。

Like, it's true that in the long run we are all naught but dust, 講解

雖然從長遠來看，我們確實不過是塵土，

forgotten forever.

終將被永遠遺忘。

But, your present experiences are real,

但是，你現在的經歷是真實的，

and they're all you'll ever have.

並且是你所能擁有的一切。

A sunset doesn't need meaning to be enjoyed. 文法

享受日落不需要任何意義。

The enjoyment is the meaning.

享受本身就是意義。

Using productivity to build a life you want to live is intrinsically meaningful,

用生產力去打造你想過的生活，這本身就有內在意義，

despite abyss swallowing us all in the end.

哪怕最終深淵會吞噬我們所有人。

If you're not in a good place,

如果你現在處境不佳，

there's lots of small stuff you can do to start turning that around. 片語動詞

有很多小事你可以做，來開始扭轉局面。

Watch this, do the opposite.

看看這個，然後反其道而行之。

What would you do if you became immortal?

如果你長生不老了，你會怎麼做？

I'd live a really long time.

我會活得很久很久。

On a Dungeons and Dragons alignment chart, 文化背景

在《龍與地下城》陣營圖上，

where would you place yourself?

你會把自己放在哪裡？

Oh, D&D alignment charts,

噢，D&D陣營圖，

so fun because of the endless disagreements over what the words lawful, chaotic, good, evil, and neutral mean.

這麼好玩，是因為對守序、混亂、善良、邪惡和中立這些詞的意思存在無休止的爭論。

You think it's obvious,

你覺得顯而易見，

but so does the guy you're arguing with. 文法

但和你爭吵的那個人也這麼覺得。

People might think I'm over here,

人們可能以為我在這裡，

but I might view myself as over here,

但我可能認為自己在這裡，

or depending on how much you want to D&D rules lawyer the word chaos, 用詞

或者取決於你多想用D&D規則去摳「混亂」這個詞的字眼，

maybe even over here.

甚至可能在這裡。

But the question ultimately presupposes the lie that people are consistent selves,

但這個問題根本上預設了一個謊言，即人的自我是一成不變的，

and in reality our selves are situational,

而在現實中，我們的自我是視情況而定的，

and everyone is everything for a time or under the right circumstances. 片語搭配

並且在特定時間或合適的環境下，每個人都可能成為任何陣營。

But that's no fun.

但那可沒意思。

It's easier and memesier to put people on a 2D grid, 用詞

把人放在二維網格裡要容易得多，也更有迷因感，

and I've yet to see a D&D alignment chart for YouTube. 文法

而且我還沒見過YouTube的D&D陣營圖。

Who among Tubers is our lawful good,

在YouTuber裡，誰是我們的守序善良，

and who is our chaotic evil?

誰又是我們的混亂邪惡？

On the Reddit,

在Reddit上，

I look forward to seeing your 2D D&D interpretations of the multifaceted people on this site. 片語搭配

我很期待看到你們把這個網站上多面的人用二維D&D圖來解讀。

You are allowed to change the name of the seventh planet in our solar system.

如果允許你更改我們太陽系第七顆行星的名字。

What would you call it?

你會叫它什麼？

King George, of course.

當然是喬治王。

I'm still serious about this meme.

我對這個迷因還是認真的。

#7thPlanetKingGeorge

#第七行星喬治王

If you could remove a single trait or characteristic from human beings as a species,

如果你能從人類這個物種中移除一個特質或特徵，

what would it be and why?

那會是什麼？為什麼？

Human tribalism is a double-edged sword. 慣用語

人類的部落主義是一把雙刃劍。

There were 14,000 questions submitted to this Q&A on my the Reddit,

在我的Reddit上有1.4萬個提交給這個問答環節的問題，

and it's astounding to see how many are really asking,

令人驚訝的是，有那麼多問題實際上是在問，

are you part of my tribe or not? 慣用語

你是不是我們部落的？

And it's disappointing to see how badly people react when the answer is no,

令人失望的是，當答案為否時，人們的反應會有多糟糕，

even on the most trivial of things.

即便是最微不足道的事情也是如此。

However, tribalism is how we develop teamwork, 表達脈絡

然而，部落主義是我們發展團隊合作的方式，

and teamwork is how we build civilizations.

而團隊合作是我們建立文明的基礎。

But tribes are so often motivated by the totem they construct of the other tribe to yell at.

但部落往往被他們為另一個部落構建的、用來喊叫的圖騰所驅動。

So, if tribalism and the teamwork it creates could still exist when removing the tendency to build totems to burn in effigy, 文化背景

所以，如果在消除這種構建用來燒毀的替身圖騰的傾向時，部落主義及其創造的團隊合作還能存在，

I'd do that.

我就會這麼做。

Can you wear a hat for the rest of the video?

你能在影片剩下的部分戴頂帽子嗎？

Uh okay.

呃，好的。

What's your opinion on whether Balrogs have wings?

對於炎魔是否有翅膀，你有什麼看法？

Ah, the great Balrog debate of 2000 lives on. 講解

啊，2000年的炎魔大辯論還在繼續。

There's a good reason my Balrog is drawn the way it is.

我的炎魔畫成那樣是有充分理由的。

The line from Fellowship reads,

《魔戒現身》裡的原文寫道：

Gandalf's enemy halted again,

甘道夫的敵人再次停了下來，

facing him,

面對著他，

and the shadow about the Balrog reached out like two vast wings.

炎魔周圍的陰影伸展開來，就像兩隻巨大的翅膀。

Unambiguous.

毫無歧義。

A shadow that's like wings isn't wings.

像翅膀一樣的陰影並不是翅膀。

They're metaphorical wings.

它們是比喻意義上的翅膀。

Yet, not two paragraphs later, 片語搭配

然而，不出兩段之後，

Tolkien writes,

托爾金寫道：

The Balrog drew itself up to a great height, 片語動詞

炎魔拔地而起，變得極其高大，

and its wings were spread from wall to wall.

它的翅膀從一側牆壁展開到另一側牆壁。

Unambiguous wings.

毫無歧義的翅膀。

Or maybe not. 表達脈絡

或者也不一定。

Are these wings the metaphorical wings from but 12 sentences earlier? 用詞

這些翅膀是僅僅12句話之前的那些比喻性翅膀嗎？

Well, now this has become an argument about how big the room is

好吧，現在這變成了一場關於房間有多大的爭論，

that these real or metaphorical wings must stretch across.

那些真實或比喻的翅膀必須要延伸穿過這個房間。

Asking, did the Balrog have wings?

問炎魔有沒有翅膀？

The books have the same answer as,

書裡給出的答案就跟這個問題一樣：

hey, where did the orcs come from?

嘿，半獸人是從哪兒來的？

Day, month, year or month, day, year? 文化背景

日、月、年還是月、日、年？

Year, month, day.

年、月、日。

What are your thoughts on thoughts?

你對思想有什麼想法？

Who knows where thoughts come from?

誰知道想法是從哪兒來的？

They just appear.

它們就那麼憑空出現了。

Is the glass half full or half empty? 慣用語

杯子是半滿還是半空？

Why must judgment be passed? 片語搭配

為什麼要下判斷呢？

The glass is this full.

杯子有這麼滿。

How would you rule the world?

你將如何統治世界？

With compassion and an iron fist. 慣用語

帶著憐憫心與鐵腕。

Am I first?

我是第一個嗎？

No, you were exactly 10,044th.

不，你正好是第10044個。