你的刺青其實就在你的免疫系統裡！：英語精讀講義

Your tattoos are inside your immune system, literally.

你的刺青其實是在你的免疫系統裡面，字面意思。

With each very tasteful piece of art,

隨著每一件極具品味的藝術品誕生，

you kickstart a drama with millions of deaths, 慣用語

你開啟了一場伴隨著數百萬次死亡、

grand sacrifices,

巨大犧牲的戲劇場面，

and your immune system stepping in to protect you from yourself. 片語動詞

你的免疫系統也會介入，保護你免受你自己的傷害。

Let's give you a tattoo and zoom in to see what happens inside your skin.

讓我們來給你刺個青，然後放大看看你的皮膚裡會發生什麼事。

The conveyor belt of death. 慣用語

死亡輸送帶。

Your skin has to solve a huge problem.

你的皮膚必須解決一個巨大的問題。

It's your largest organ and has the most direct contact with the world around you.

它是你最大的器官，與周圍世界的接觸最為直接。

Trillions of microbes, dirt, insects,

數以兆計的微生物、汙垢、昆蟲，

and vermin can't be allowed to get inside you. 文法

還有害蟲絕不能被允許進入你的體內。

But your skin is also constantly damaged by you moving through the world.

但是隨著你在世間活動，你的皮膚也在不斷受損。

Your body solved this by making your skin a conveyor belt of death.

為了解決這個問題，你的身體把皮膚變成了一條死亡輸送帶。

All the skin you see is actually dead stuff.

你看到的所有皮膚其實都是死皮。

The alive part of your skin cells begins around 1 mm deep in the skin industrial complex.

皮膚細胞活著的部分始於這個皮膚工業區大約 1 毫米深的地方。

Stem cells constantly clone themselves,

幹細胞不斷地複製自己，

producing new skin cells that begin a journey from the inside to the outside. 文法

產生新的皮膚細胞，這些細胞開始了由內向外的旅程。

Each new generation pushes the older ones further up.

每一代新細胞都會把老細胞進一步往上推。

As your skin cells mature,

隨著你的皮膚細胞成熟，

they interlock with each other and produce lamellar bodies,

它們相互交織，產生層板顆粒，

tiny bags that squirt out fat to create a waterproof coat that closes any gaps between them.

這些擠出脂肪的小囊創造了一層防水外套，封閉了它們之間的縫隙。

And then they dry out and kill themselves, 片語動詞

然後它們乾癟並自我凋亡，

merging together into inseparable lumps.

融合在一起，變成了不可分割的腫塊。

This wall of dead corpses is consistently pushed upwards.

這堵由死屍組成的牆被不斷向上推。

Up to 50 layers of dead cells cover your whole body 片語搭配

多達 50 層的死細胞覆蓋著你的全身，

and are constantly replaced by new cells moving up.

並且不斷被向上移動的新細胞所取代。

Every hour, you shed around 200 million dead skin cells

每個小時，你都會脫落大約 2 億個死皮細胞，

and all the dirt or bacteria that are stuck to them. 片語搭配

以及附著在它們上面的所有汙垢或細菌。

Tattooing this part of your skin would be useless,

在皮膚的這個部位刺青毫無用處，

as nothing would stick around. 片語動詞

因為什麼都留不住。

We need to go deeper.

我們需要深入一點。

When the fleshy world explodes.

當血肉世界發生爆炸時。

Below the conveyor belt of death lies the dermis. 文法

在死亡輸送帶下方是真皮層。

It's full of structural tissue and cells,

它充滿了結構組織和細胞，

tiny blood vessels,

微小的血管，

sensory cells that report to nerve endings,

向神經末梢報告的感覺細胞，

the roots of your hairs,

你的毛髮根部，

sweat glands regulating your temperature,

調節體溫的汗腺，

and of course,

當然，

loads of immune cells

還有大量的免疫細胞，

guarding your flesh right below the moving border wall.

就在這道移動的邊界牆正下方守衛著你的血肉。

This region and below is where your new tattoo will go.

這個區域及其下方，就是你的新刺青要扎進去的地方。

Okay,

好了，

ready?

準備好了嗎？

The world explodes.

世界爆炸了。

Half a dozen monoliths the size of skyscrapers

半打摩天大樓般大小的巨石，

slam through the 50 layers of dead cells deep into the dermis,

猛地穿透 50 層死細胞，深入真皮層，

ripping huge holes into the skin,

在皮膚上撕開巨大的洞，

only to retreat and smash through the tissue again about twice a second. 文法

緊接著退回，再以每秒約兩次的速度再次擊穿組織。

Tens of thousands of cells are violently killed right away,

數萬個細胞立刻被暴力殺死，

ripped into pieces,

被撕成碎片，

or damaged beyond repair. 片語搭配

或者是受到了無法修復的損傷。

Luckily,

幸運的是，

you did your research and chose a responsible tattoo artist 片語搭配

你做足了功課，選擇了一位負責任的刺青師，

who properly disinfected their tools and your skin.

並且認真給工具和你的皮膚消了毒。

But you only ever get 99.9% of all bacteria,

但你最多只能消滅 99.9% 的細菌，

and some of the survivors made it into your flesh. 片語動詞

一些倖存者進入了你的血肉之中。

To put it mildly, 表達脈絡

委婉地說，

your immune system is not amused at all. 語氣意圖

你的免疫系統對此非常不爽。

All the death and destruction wakes up hundreds of thousands of macrophages in your dermis 片語動詞

所有的死亡和破壞喚醒了真皮層中數十萬的巨噬細胞，

that rush into the open wounds to defend you.

它們衝向開放的傷口來保衛你。

Immediately,

立刻，

they start killing bacteria,

它們開始殺死細菌，

release chemicals that call for reinforcements, 片語搭配

釋放化學物質呼叫增援，

and order your blood vessels to open up and make your dermis swell up with fluid.

並命令你的血管擴張，讓真皮層因充滿液體而腫脹。

But worse than the hundreds of wounds and a few invaders 文法

但比數百個傷口和少數入侵者更糟的，

is the tidal wave of chemicals that floods your tissue. 慣用語

是淹沒你組織的化學物質海嘯。

Tattoo ink can be made from hundreds of substances,

刺青墨水可以由數百種物質製成，

some may even be toxic or carcinogenic.

其中一些甚至可能有毒或致癌。

Most are from heavy metals like lead, nickel, or chromium

大多數是由鉛、鎳或鉻等重金屬

dissolved in distilled water.

溶解在蒸餾水中製成的。

The battlefield is now a wild mix of dead cell parts,

戰場現在變成了各種東西瘋狂的混合物：

a few panicked bacteria,

死細胞碎片，一些驚慌失措的細菌，

blood and bodily fluids,

血液和體液，

platelet cells trying to close wounds,

試圖閉合傷口的血小板細胞，

more and more fresh immune cells,

越來越多的生力軍免疫細胞，

and the flood of tattoo ink.

以及氾濫的刺青墨水。

On the scale of your cells,

在你細胞的尺度上，

clumps of ink particles are huge.

成團的墨水顆粒是巨大的。

If you were the size of a cell,

如果你有細胞那麼大，

they'd range from big dogs to small office buildings. 文法

它們的大小大概就介於大型犬到小型辦公大樓之間。

Your immune system has one main job:

你的免疫系統有一項主要工作：

identify what is not you and smash it until it's dead.

辨識非自身的物質，並猛烈攻擊直到將其消滅。

The macrophages are desperately trying to do that.

巨噬細胞拚命地試圖做到這一點。

Like tiny octopuses, 表達脈絡

就像小章魚一樣，

they extend arm-like structures

它們伸出觸手般的結構，

and begin pulling the ink particles inside.

開始把墨水顆粒拉入體內。

Usually,

通常情況下，

when a macrophage has eaten an enemy,

當巨噬細胞吃掉敵人後，

it showers it in acid to dissolve it. 用詞

它們會給它洗個酸液浴以溶解它。

But this doesn't work with the ink.

但這對墨水沒用。

They try and try,

它們試了又試，

but nothing works.

卻毫無作用。

The particles don't react in any way.

這些顆粒沒有任何反應。

And this is just the particles small enough to be devoured. 文法

而這還僅僅是那些小到足以被吞噬的顆粒。

By now,

此時，

the larger chunks are surrounded by thousands of your structural skin cells

較大的塊狀物被數千個結構性皮膚細胞，

and macrophages that are nomming on them, 用詞

還有正在瘋狂啃食它們的巨噬細胞包圍，

bathing them in acid and attack chemicals,

把它們浸泡在酸液和攻擊性化學物質中，

trying to destroy and kill them.

試圖摧毀並殺死它們。

But they're not moving even a tiny bit.

但它們絲毫沒有動搖。

Nothing works.

什麼方法都行不通。

Finally,

最終，

your immune system has to concede.

你的免疫系統不得不妥協。

It will not win this fight,

它贏不了這場戰鬥，

so it does the next best thing: 表達脈絡

所以它退而求其次：

not lose.

至少不能輸。

Your cells don't know how dangerous these metals and chemicals are,

你的細胞不知道這些金屬和化學物質有多危險，

but they can at least not let them spread around. 文法

但它們至少能做到不讓其擴散。

So they just stay in place.

於是它們就留在原地。

They vacuum up all the particles they can fit into their bodies 片語動詞

它們盡己所能把所有能塞進體內的顆粒吸進去，

and surround the larger ones,

然後圍住較大的顆粒，

trapping them in the only prison they can build themselves.

將其困在它們唯一能自己建造的監獄裡。

Bit by bit, 片語搭配

一點一點地，

the ink inside thousands of tiny wounds

數千個小傷口裡的墨水，

moves inside millions of immune cells

轉移到了數百萬個免疫細胞體內，

that freeze in place forever.

並永遠凍結在原地。

On the outside,

在外面，

you don't notice any of this.

你完全注意不到這些。

Your new tattoo is fresh and the colors vibrant.

你的新刺青很鮮活，色彩鮮豔。

Your skin hurts and is irritated and swollen,

你的皮膚疼痛、紅腫且發炎，

but wounds heal,

但是傷口在癒合，

tiny holes close,

小洞在合攏，

dead cells are replaced.

死細胞被替換。

Bit by bit,

一點一點地，

the conveyor belt of death does its job,

死亡輸送帶完成著它的工作，

shedding dead cells ripe in color,

脫落那些帶有色彩的死細胞，

replacing them with fresh and clean ones.

替換成乾淨清爽的新細胞。

Your tattoo becomes a little less vibrant

你的刺青變得不那麼鮮豔了，

now the ink is no longer on your skin,

因為現在墨水已不再在你的皮膚表面，

but inside it.

而是在它裡面了。

But what you're really seeing is millions of your macrophages 文法

但你真正看到的，是數百萬個巨噬細胞，

sitting in your dermis patiently holding the ink in place,

駐紮在你的真皮層裡，耐心地把墨水固定在原位，

protecting your body from poison.

保護你的身體免受毒害。

Your immune system is why your tattoo is forever.

你的免疫系統才是刺青成為永恆的原因。

Actually, nothing is forever.

事實上，沒有什麼是永恆的。

Over time,

隨著時間的推移，

your macrophages get old and die,

你的巨噬細胞會變老死去，

and new ones come in to gobble up the ink 片語動詞

而新的巨噬細胞會進來吞噬墨水，

and keep it in place.

讓其保持在原位。

But sometimes,

但有時候，

a tiny bit of ink escapes.

一小部分墨水會逃脫。

Most of it is recaptured and locked in place,

絕大部分會被重新捕獲並鎖定在原位，

but not always the exact same place.

但並不總是在完全相同的位置。

You notice that as your tattoo fades out a bit 片語動詞

你會注意到，隨著你的刺青褪色，

and turns less sharp and crisp at its edges.

它的邊緣會變得不那麼清晰銳利。

Some of the ink escapes the tattoo entirely.

有些墨水甚至完全逃離了刺青。

It rides fluids flowing from your tissue

它們乘著你組織中流動的體液，

and spreads around your body,

擴散到你的全身，

another reason why tattoo ink should ideally not be poison.

這是為什麼刺青墨水最好不要有毒的另一個原因。

Your immune system also kind of doesn't want you to remove tattoos.

你的免疫系統其實也有點不想讓你除掉刺青。

To do that, usually, the ink is shot at with lasers,

為了做到這一點，通常會用雷射照射墨水，

which heats up particles until they break into smaller chunks,

這會加熱顆粒直到它們破裂成更小的碎塊，

cooking your brave macrophages in the process.

同時在這個過程中把你勇敢的巨噬細胞煮熟。

With every round of lasering,

每進行一輪雷射照射，

more of your tattoo is broken down and carried away by fluids.

都有更多的刺青被分解並被體液帶走。

But also,

但同時，

every time new macrophages rush into the tattoo

每次也都有新的巨噬細胞衝進刺青區，

to lock the ink in place.

去把墨水鎖定在原位。

So like,

所以呢，

hm,

嗯，

maybe think about it carefully

也許你應該仔細考慮一下，

before you get the name of your new bae tattooed.

再把你新歡的名字刺上身。

But you do you. 語氣意圖

不過你開心就好。

But if you got one,

但如果你已經刺了，

you can directly see your immune system protecting you.

你就能直接看到你的免疫系統在保護你。

This is how much your body loves you,

這就是你的身體有多愛你，

which is kind of sweet.

這還挺窩心的。

And while tattoos are probably not that big of a deal for your body if applied correctly, 講解

儘管如果操作正確，刺青對你的身體來說可能並不是什麼大不了的事，

you now know about the struggle going on inside your skin

但現在你知道了在你皮膚下正在進行的鬥爭，

and the sacrifice of your macrophage buddies,

以及你的巨噬細胞兄弟們的犧牲，

only for you to have that art forever.

只是為了讓你永遠擁有那件藝術品。

To appreciate your amazing immune system,

要想欣賞你神奇的免疫系統，

you have to know about it first,

你首先得了解它，

and the same goes for anything going on in our universe. 片語搭配

我們宇宙中發生的一切也是如此。

To help you with that,

為了幫助你了解，

we've created a series of lessons

我們創建了一系列課程，

to take your scientific knowledge to the next level. 慣用語

將你的科學知識提升到新的高度。

Made in collaboration with our friends at brilliant.org,

這些課程由我們與 brilliant.org 的朋友合作製作，

these lessons let you further explore the topics in our most popular videos,

讓你進一步探索我們最受歡迎的影片中的主題，

from rabies and mammalian metabolism

從狂犬病、哺乳動物的新陳代謝，

to climate science and supernovae.

到氣候科學和超新星。

Brilliant has thousands of lessons to explore,

Brilliant 有數以千計的課程等你探索，

and each one is interactive,

每一節都是互動的，

like a one-on-one version of a Kurzgesagt video.

就像是一對一版本的 Kurzgesagt 影片。

Brilliant's latest course,

Brilliant 的最新課程，

"How LLMs Work,"

「How LLMs Work」（大型語言模型是如何運作的），

takes you under the hood of real language models. 慣用語

帶你深入探究真實的語言模型的底層。

It demystifies these technologies like ChatGPT

它解密了 ChatGPT 等技術，

with interactive lessons on everything from how models build vocabulary 文法

提供的互動課程涵蓋了從模型如何建構詞彙表，

to how they choose their next word.

到它們如何選擇下一個詞的一切內容。

You'll learn how to tune LLMs

你將學習如何微調 LLMs，

to produce output with exactly your desired tonality,

以產生完全符合你期望語調的輸出，

whether it's poetry or a cover letter.

無論是寫詩還是求職信。

And you'll understand why training is really everything

而且你還能了解為什麼訓練才是一切，

by comparing models trained on Taylor Swift lyrics

透過對比在 Taylor Swift 歌詞上訓練的模型，

and the legal speech of big tech's terms and conditions.

與大型科技公司服務條款的法律話語模型。

This isn't just another course, 表達脈絡

這不僅僅是又一門課程，

it's an immersive AI workshop,

它是一個沉浸式的 AI 工作坊，

allowing you to experience and harness the mechanics of today's most advanced tool.

讓你體驗並駕馭當今最先進工具的運作機制。

To get hands-on with Kurzgesagt lessons 用詞

為了親手體驗 Kurzgesagt 的課程，

and explore everything Brilliant has to offer,

並探索 Brilliant 提供的一切，

you can start your free 30-day trial by signing up at brilliant.org/nutshell. 片語動詞

你可以在 brilliant.org/nutshell 註冊並開始 30 天的免費試用。

There's even an extra perk for Kurzgesagt viewers.

我們甚至還為 Kurzgesagt 的觀眾準備了一項額外福利。

The first 200 people to use the link

前 200 名使用此連結的人，

get 20% off an annual membership

將獲得年度會員八折的優惠，

once their trial ends.

在他們的試用期結束後即可生效。

We love seeing how the gears interlock with our research.

我們非常樂於看到這些機制如何與我們的研究相互交織。

Brilliant gives you the tools to understand

Brilliant 賦予了你理解事物

how everything fits together. 片語動詞

是如何組合在一起的工具。