孤獨。：英語精讀講義

Hey, Vsauce.

嘿，Vsauce。

Michael here

我是麥可，

and I am back in New York City

我又回到紐約市了。

and today we're going to talk

今天我們要來聊聊

about loneliness.

孤獨。

But first,

不過，先說件事，

I just learned this yesterday,

這是我昨天才知道的：

Bear Grylls,

貝爾·吉羅斯，

the host of Man vs. Wild,

《荒野求生秘技》的主持人，

has three sons

有三個兒子。

and I'm not kidding,

我可沒在開玩笑，

their names are

他們的名字分別是

Jesse, Huckleberry, and Marmaduke.

傑西、哈克貝利和馬默杜克。

Well, here's another name for you.

好，再給你一個名字。

Michael Collins,

麥可·柯林斯。

not the Irish revolutionary leader, 文法

不是那位愛爾蘭革命領袖，

but Michael Collins the NASA astronaut.

而是NASA太空人麥可·柯林斯。

This guy was part of the Apollo 11 crew, 片語搭配

他是阿波羅11號任務的組員，

meaning that he was part of the team that went to, landed on the moon, 表達脈絡

也就是說，他所在的團隊飛往月球並成功登陸，

and became the first people to walk on the moon.

成為首批在月球上行走的人類。

Except, you might not know Michael Collins's

不過，你可能對麥可·柯林斯這個

name as well because he did not get to walk on the moon. 片語搭配

名字沒那麼熟悉，因為他沒能在月球上行走。

Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked around,

尼爾·阿姆斯壯和伯茲·艾德林在月球表面四處走動，

but Michael Collins had to stay orbiting the moon 文法

但麥可·柯林斯只能留在繞月軌道上，

in the command module to link up with them later. 片語動詞

待在指揮艙裡，之後再與他們會合。

Well, this is where things get lonely. 表達脈絡

好，孤獨就是從這裡開始的。

People realized that Michael Collins,

人們意識到，麥可·柯林斯

there in the command module orbiting the moon alone,

獨自待在繞月飛行的指揮艙裡，

was in a quite unique position.

正處於一個相當獨特的境地。

When he circled around the far side of the moon,

當他繞到月球背面，

the side that faced away from Earth, 片語動詞

也就是背對地球的那一面時，

he lost all radio contact with Earth and with Armstrong and Aldrin. 片語搭配

他與地球、阿姆斯壯和艾德林之間的所有無線電通訊都中斷了。

For about the 48 minutes that Michael Collins was orbiting around the other end of the moon,

在麥可·柯林斯繞行月球另一側的約48分鐘裡，

he was quite literally the most lonely 文法

從字面上來說，他是

a human being has ever been.

人類有史以來最孤獨的人。

He was the furthest from any other humans

他當時離其他任何人都無比遙遠，

that any human has ever been since the very beginning of mankind.

比人類出現以來任何人曾經離得都更遠。

If you haven't yet seen Veritasium's video about how far away the moon is from Earth, 文法

如果你還沒看過Veritasium那支談月球離地球多遠的影片，

you should definitely check it out. 片語動詞

一定要去看看。

But the whole point is that we tend to think the moon is much closer than it really is 講解

重點是，我們往往覺得月球比實際近得多，

because most illustrations we see put the two objects quite close because it's easier.

因為為了方便，我們看到的大多數示意圖都把這兩個天體畫得很近。

But to scale, 用詞

但如果嚴格按照比例，

this is how far away the moon is.

月球其實有這麼遠。

We actually measure the distance to the moon quite frequently

其實，我們經常測量地球到月球的距離，

using reflectors that were left on the moon.

方法是利用留在月球上的反射器。

That's right.

沒錯。

They're just sitting there all alone on the surface of the moon

它們就那樣孤零零地待在月球表面，

waiting for us to shoot lasers at them.

等著我們朝它們發射雷射。

By looking at how long it took the light to return to us, 文法

藉由觀察光線返回我們這裡花了多久，

we can calculate quite accurately how far away the moon is.

我們就能相當精確地算出月球有多遠。

And we've been doing this for a while 片語搭配

這項測量我們已經做了一段時間，

and one of the most bizarre things we've learned 文法

而我們發現最不可思議的事情之一，

is that the moon is actually

就是月球其實

spiraling away from Earth quite slowly. 片語動詞

正相當緩慢地以螺旋軌跡遠離地球。

Every year,

每年，

the moon is about 38 mm

月球都會再遠離地球約38公釐，

further away than it was the year before. 文法

也就是比前一年遠了這麼多。

38 mm is about 1 and 1/2 in.

38公釐大約是1.5英吋。

Those reflectors are not the only thing we left on the

那些反射器並不是我們留在

moon. We actually left a lot of man-made stuff,

月球上的唯一物品。事實上，我們還留下了大量人造物品，

a lot of junk there.

那裡堆著不少垃圾。

There is an entire Wikipedia article just listing

維基百科甚至有一整篇條目，專門列出

the big stuff we left behind. 片語動詞

我們遺留在那裡的大型物品。

But there are man-made objects that are even further away from the Earth than the Moon.

但有些人造物體離地球比月球還要遠。

In fact, 表達脈絡

事實上，

there are four things that humans have built

人類製造的物體中有四個

that have traveled so far away from Earth, 文法

已經飛到離地球極為遙遠的地方，

they are no longer within our solar system.

甚至已不在我們的太陽系內。

Voyager 1 is actually the furthest man-made object from Earth ever.

航海家1號其實是有史以來離地球最遠的人造物體。

And aboard, NASA included a gold-plated record that contained information about humanity 文化背景

NASA還在探測器上放了一張鍍金唱片，裡面收錄了關於人類的資訊，

just in case anything out there found them. 片語搭配

以防宇宙中有什麼東西發現它們。

You can read all about everything that NASA put on the disc

想知道NASA放進唱片裡的所有內容，

by following a link in this video's description.

可以點開這支影片說明欄裡的連結。

But the item that has always resonated with me 慣用語

不過，其中一直最能觸動我的，

is a song they chose.

是他們選中的一首歌。

They put lots and lots of audio on the disc, 片語搭配

他們在唱片裡收錄了非常多聲音，

but one song in particular was chosen 片語搭配

但其中有一首歌是特別挑選來

to represent to whoever or whatever found it, 文法

向任何發現它的人或其他存在，

the human emotion of loneliness.

傳達人類的孤獨感。

The song is by Blind Willie Johnson and it's called

這首歌出自盲人威利·強森，歌名是

Dark was the Night, Cold was the Ground. 文法

《黑夜沉沉，大地冰冷》。

There are no lyrics, 表達脈絡

這首歌沒有歌詞，

just humming.

只有哼唱。

You can listen to it

你可以去聽聽，

by following a link in this video's description.

連結就在這支影片的說明欄裡。

And as you listen,

聆聽時，

think about the weight of that meaning. 慣用語

想想這層含義有多麼沉重。

This song was picked to represent

這首歌之所以被選中，是為了向

to aliens what loneliness is. 文法

外星生命傳達什麼是孤獨。

Blind Willie Johnson himself wasn't blind his whole life. 文法

盲人威利·強森並不是一輩子都雙目失明。

He was blinded as a child

他小時候雙眼失明，

when his stepmother threw lye in his face.

因為繼母把鹼液潑到他臉上。

And he died of malarial fever

後來，他死於瘧疾引發的高燒，

after his home burned down and he had nowhere else to live 講解

當時他的家被燒毀，又無處可住，

but on wet newspaper.

只能棲身在濕報紙上。

But now,

但如今，

his song is way out there 用詞

他的歌正在遙遠的地方，

in interstellar space representing us.

在星際空間中代表著我們。

Thanks for watching.

謝謝觀看。