網際網路上的第一張照片……以及其他趣事！：英語精讀講義

Hey, Vsauce, Michael here and this week I am in San Francisco.

嘿，Vsauce，我是 Michael，這週我人在舊金山。

I just flew in a couple of days ago, 片語動詞

我幾天前才搭飛機來到這裡，

so I've been busy traveling, 片語搭配

所以一直忙著四處奔波，

but new episodes of regular shows like IMG and DONG are coming soon.

不過 IMG 和 DONG 這類固定節目的新一集很快就會推出。

But in the meantime, 表達脈絡

不過在這段空檔，

rather than post nothing, 文法

與其什麼都不發，

I figured I would share things that have been on my mind. 講解

我想不如跟大家分享一些最近一直在我腦中打轉的事。

For instance,

比如說，

go back to the Golden Gate Bridge footage. 片語動詞

回頭看看金門大橋的那段畫面。

There, her.

看那裡，就是她。

That's the girl I sat next to on the flight.

她就是我搭飛機時坐在旁邊的那個女生。

Turns out, 表達脈絡

後來才發現，

she's an immunology researcher at a university in Italy.

她是義大利一所大學的免疫學研究員。

She's studying these parasitic worms in Africa that infect people,

她正在研究非洲一種會感染人類的寄生蟲，

but then leave those people immune to things like diabetes and allergies. 講解

但這種蟲之後會讓感染者對糖尿病和過敏等疾病產生免疫力。

In fact,

事實上，

if you cure these people of the worm infection, 片語搭配

如果治好這些人的寄生蟲感染，

they once again become susceptible to things like diabetes and allergies. 片語搭配

他們反而又會變得容易罹患糖尿病、過敏等疾病。

It's really incredible,

這真的太不可思議了，

so I guess good luck,

所以我想說，祝妳好運，

girl on the plane to solving that,

飛機上的女孩，希望妳能解決這個問題，

because it sounds awesome.

因為這聽起來實在太酷了。

On the flight,

在飛機上，

I also did a bunch of reading. 片語搭配

我也讀了不少東西。

I read this entire book,

我把這整本書都讀完了——

The History of Britain

《英國史》，

in really tiny little bite-sized chunks. 慣用語

每次只讀一點點，就像一口一口吃掉一樣。

Now,

說到這裡，

the thing that really blew my mind was about Ireland 慣用語

真正讓我大吃一驚的是愛爾蘭

and the potato famine in the 1840s.

以及 1840 年代的馬鈴薯大飢荒。

So many people died or left the country because of that famine 文法

那場飢荒讓許多人喪命或離開愛爾蘭，

that to this day the population of Ireland 片語搭配

以至於直到今天，愛爾蘭的人口

is still lower than it was 150 years ago 文法

仍然比 150 年前

before the famine.

飢荒發生之前還少。

Speaking of things like people and birth rates, 表達脈絡

說到人口和出生率之類的話題，

BreathingEarth is an amazing website.

BreathingEarth 是個很棒的網站。

You can just sit there

你只要坐在那裡，

and let the site visually show you 文法

就能讓網站用視覺化的方式呈現，

based on recent statistics 片語搭配

根據最新的統計資料，

where people are being born and dying 文法

世界各地哪裡有人出生、哪裡有人死亡，

and how frequently.

以及發生的頻率。

A blue sun represents a birth and a black dot represents a death.

藍色太陽代表一次出生，黑點則代表一次死亡。

This is a picture of Anne Hathaway.

這是一張安海瑟薇的照片。

So is this. 文法

這張也是。

Except this Anne Hathaway is much, much older, 表達脈絡

只不過這位安海瑟薇的年紀大得多得多，

and she's also quite famous.

而且她也相當有名。

This Anne Hathaway was the wife of William Shakespeare.

這位安海瑟薇是威廉·莎士比亞的妻子。

Now, we don't have a photograph of her

當然，我們沒有她的照片，

because photography as we know it today wasn't even invented 講解

因為我們今天所熟悉的攝影技術當時甚至還沒發明，

until 200 years after that Anne Hathaway died.

直到這位安海瑟薇過世 200 年後才出現。

This is the first permanent photograph ever taken by mankind.

這是人類拍下的第一張永久保存下來的照片。

It's a view from a window in France taken in 1836.

這是 1836 年在法國拍攝的窗外景色。

2 years later in 1838,

兩年後，也就是 1838 年，

this photograph was taken.

這張照片誕生了。

And what's significant about it is that 文法

它的重要之處在於，

it's the first photograph ever taken 文法

它是有史以來第一張

that had people in it.

拍到人物的照片。

If you look down here, for instance, 表達脈絡

例如，看看下方，

you can see a man at a water pump.

你可以看到一名站在抽水幫浦旁的男子。

Modern colorizations of the image

在這張照片的現代上色版本中，

have also claimed to have discovered 文法

據說還發現了

other people in the picture.

畫面裡的其他人。

Now, none of them are very clear,

不過，他們全都很模糊，

which is why we should talk about Robert Cornelius. 文法

所以我們該來聊聊羅伯特·科尼利厄斯了。

I actually hid this portrait

其實，我把這張肖像照藏在了

in the beginning of the most recent IMG.

最新一集 IMG 的開頭。

And the reason it's significant is that this picture is the first portrait ever taken. 文法

它之所以重要，是因為這是有史以來拍攝的第一張肖像照。

It's the first capturing of light

這是人類第一次捕捉到

reflected off a human's face. 片語動詞

從人臉反射回來的光。

Think of it this way. 表達脈絡

可以這樣想。

There is no other photograph of anybody older than this. 文法

沒有任何人的照片比這張更早。

This is the oldest human 文法

這是最早一位

we have a photographic record of.

留下攝影紀錄的人。

Finally,

最後，

here's a picture that IMG would be proud of, 片語搭配

來看一張足以讓 IMG 引以為傲的照片，

a photo of a musical parody group called The Horrible CERN Girls,

照片裡是一個名為 The Horrible CERN Girls 的音樂惡搞團體，

formed out of employees at CERN.

成員全都是 CERN 的員工。

The initials of their name in French are C.E.R.N.

她們團名的法文首字母縮寫是 C.E.R.N。

But why should we care about this picture? 表達脈絡

不過，我們為什麼要在意這張照片？

Well,

事情是這樣的，

in 1992, Tim Berners-Lee uploaded this photo to a website, 講解

1992 年，提姆·柏內茲-李把這張照片上傳到一個網站，

making this image 文法

讓這張圖成為

the very first photographic image ever

有史以來第一張

on the internet.

出現在網際網路上的照片。

But here is something that has never happened. 表達脈絡

但有一件事至今從未發生過。

Along the border of China and Bhutan is a mountain called Gangkhar Puensum. 文法

在中國與不丹的邊界上，有一座名叫岡嘎本孫峰的山。

At 24,800 ft high, 片語搭配

它高達 24,800 英尺，

it is the tallest mountain in the world

是全世界最高的

that mankind has yet to reach the top of. 文法

人類尚未登頂的山峰。

The local government prohibits mountaineering in the region, 用詞

當地政府禁止在該地區登山，

which means it might be left unconquered for quite some time, 講解

這表示它可能還會有很長一段時間無人征服，

making it one of just many things on Earth

也因此成為地球上眾多

that we have yet to explore.

我們尚未探索的事物之一。

In a couple of days,

再過幾天，

we'll have a new episode of DONG,

DONG 的新一集就會上線，

so be sure to subscribe to Vsauce.

所以別忘了訂閱 Vsauce。

And as always, thanks for watching.

一如往常，感謝收看。