球狀鏡子內部是什麼樣的？：英語精讀講義

Hey,

嘿，

Vsauce.

Vsauce。

Michael here.

我是 Michael。

But you are actually right there.

不過，其實你就在那裡。

Well, at least the camera is.

嗯，至少攝影機在那裡。

Mirrors are amazing.

鏡子真的很神奇。

In fact, the word mirror comes from Latin mirari, 片語搭配

其實，英文單字 mirror 源自拉丁文 mirari，

meaning to wonder at, 片語搭配

意思是「感到驚奇」，

to admire.

「讚嘆」。

It's also where we get the word miracle.

英文單字 miracle 也是從這裡來的。

Mirror- -acle.

Mirror——acle。

Like when mirrors face each other and transform a toilet room into infinity. 片語搭配

就像讓兩面鏡子相對，把一間廁所變成無限空間。

I love this kind of stuff.

我超愛這種東西。

But, what if, instead of a rectangular prism, 文法

不過，如果房間不是長方體，

the room was a sphere mirrored all the way around? 片語搭配

而是一個四周全都鋪著鏡面的球體呢？

What would it look like?

看起來會是什麼樣子？

What would you see floating around in such a room?

漂浮在這樣的房間裡，你會看到什麼？

The first question we should ask involves the light source.

我們首先該問的是光源問題。

If you were in this room using a flashlight and you turned the flashlight off,

如果你在這個房間裡使用手電筒，然後把它關掉，

would the light keep bouncing around off of the mirrored walls

光會不會繼續在鏡面牆壁之間來回反射，

illuminating the room until your body absorbed all of it?

一直照亮房間，直到被你的身體全部吸收？

Or, if you left the flashlight on,

或者，如果你讓手電筒一直開著，

would light continue bouncing around,

光會不會持續來回反射，

building up, getting brighter and brighter until you lost your vision and cooked? 文法

越積越多、越來越亮，直到讓你失明，甚至把你烤熟？

Probably not.

大概不會。

Every time light hits a mirror, and reflects off, 文法

光每次照到鏡子上再反射出去時，

a tiny, tiny amount is absorbed.

都會有極其微小的一部分被吸收。

Even if your mirror spherical room was the size of a giant stadium 文法

即使你的球形鏡面房間有一座巨型體育場那麼大，

and its walls reflected 99.99% of light on each reflection,

牆壁每次都能反射 99.99% 的光，

light speed is just too fast,

光速還是太快了，

meaning that the reflections will happen rapidly.

也就是說，反射會飛快發生。

A little bit of light being lost each time, 文法

每次都會損失一點光，

the room will go dark in a fraction of a fraction of a second. 片語搭配

所以在幾分之一秒的幾分之一內，房間就會變暗。

To you and me,

對你我來說，

it would seem instantaneous.

這就像是瞬間發生的。

As for what it would look like, 表達脈絡

至於看起來會如何，

let's pretend you begin with your face up against a wall of the sphere 語氣意圖

假設一開始你的臉貼著球形房間的牆壁，

and float backward toward and past the center.

接著向後飄，朝中心移動並越過中心。

At first,

起初，

you would see your face quite clearly.

你能非常清楚地看到自己的臉。

The surrounding reflections would be very distorted.

周圍的倒影會扭曲得非常厲害。

As you moved away,

隨著你逐漸遠離牆壁，

at a certain point,

到了某個位置，

your face would cease to shrink away and appear smaller in the mirror, 用詞

你的臉不再隨著遠離而在鏡中縮小，

and instead would grow larger and become magnified until you reach the center,

反而會越變越大、不斷放大，直到你抵達中心，

at which point your face would fill your field of view. 講解

這時你的臉會佔滿整個視野。

As you continued on past the center,

當你繼續越過中心向前飄時，

your image would flip upside down and continue receding away. 片語搭配

你的影像會上下顛倒，並繼續往遠處退去。

It would look a bit like this.

看起來大概是這樣。

But don't get too enamored with your reflection, 用詞

不過，可別太迷戀自己的倒影，

because mirrors don't show you as you really are.

因為鏡子呈現的並不是真實的你。

Have you ever wondered why you like the way you look in a mirror, 文法

你有沒有想過，為什麼你喜歡鏡子裡的自己，

but don't like how you look in photographs or video?

卻不喜歡照片或影片中的自己？

It might be because of the mere exposure effect. 文化背景

這可能是因為單純曝光效應。

You prefer what you are used to. 文法

你更喜歡自己習慣的樣子。

And most mirrors you look into don't show the real you,

而你平常照的大多數鏡子都不會呈現真實的你，

the you that other people and cameras see.

也就是別人和攝影機所看到的那個你。

Instead,

相反地，

a mirror shows you a reversed version of yourself,

鏡子呈現的是左右反轉的你，

and you've become more comfortable with that version of you,

而你已經更習慣這個版本的自己，

a version of you that is flipped left to right.

也就是左右翻轉的你。

Mirrors reverse along axes perpendicular to their surfaces, 用詞

鏡子會沿著垂直於鏡面的軸線反轉影像，

like left and right.

例如左右方向。

They don't also flip things upside down.

它們並不會同時把東西上下顛倒。

They don't also reverse up and down

它們也不會把上下方向反轉，

because those directions are parallel to the surface of the mirror.

因為這些方向與鏡面平行。

When it comes to the way you and other people look, 表達脈絡

說到你和其他人的長相，

the difference can be startling.

這種差異可能會令人吃驚。

NPR pointed out that Abraham Lincoln looked like this. 片語動詞

NPR 指出，亞伯拉罕·林肯看起來是這樣。

Mirrored,

鏡像翻轉後，

he would have looked like this. 文法

他看起來會是這樣。

Now, to us,

對我們來說，

something seems noticeably strange about it,

這個樣子明顯有些奇怪，

but it is the Lincoln Lincoln would have preferred.

但這才是林肯本人更喜歡的那個林肯。

It's what he saw every day in the mirror.

因為這是他每天照鏡子時看到的樣子。

But here's something really cool.

不過，還有個超酷的現象。

You can take a flexible mirror and un-reverse its image

你可以拿一面可彎曲的鏡子，讓其中的影像不再左右反轉，

by folding the mirror into a cylindrical shape. 文法

方法是把鏡子彎成圓柱形。

Take a look at this.

來看看。

Here I am with a reflective material,

我手上拿著一種反光材料，

and there is the camera with some text taped underneath.

那邊是攝影機，下面貼著一些文字。

As you can see, 表達脈絡

可以看到，

everything is flipped left to right.

所有東西都左右翻轉了。

But as I fold the sheet into a cylindrical shape,

但當我把這張反光片彎成圓柱形時，

the image separates,

影像分開了，

revealing an un-reversed version. 文法

露出沒有左右反轉的版本。

It becomes a true mirror.

它變成了一面「真實鏡」。

Finally,

最後，

here is one last piece of everyday mirror trickery.

再來看看日常生活中鏡子的最後一個小把戲。

When you look into a mirror,

當你照鏡子時，

how big is your reflection,

你的倒影有多大，

your image on the surface of the mirror to you?

也就是在你看來，鏡面上的影像有多大？

Surely, 表達脈絡

想必，

it depends on how far away you are from the mirror.

這取決於你離鏡子有多遠。

But it doesn't.

其實並不是。

When you look into a mirror,

當你照鏡子時，

your reflection on the surface of that mirror

鏡面上你的倒影

is always the exact same size.

大小始終完全一樣。

In fact,

事實上，

it is always about half of your actual size.

它始終約為你實際大小的一半。

This is because when light reflects off a mirror, 片語搭配

這是因為光從鏡子上反射時，

it comes in and reflects back out at the same angle,

入射角和反射角相同，

which means that in order to reach your eyes at the top of your body,

也就是說，要讓光到達位於你身體頂端的雙眼，

light from your feet at the bottom,

來自下方雙腳的光，

must hit the mirror halfway between the two.

就必須照到雙眼和雙腳正中間的鏡面上。

The triangles you form with a mirror are similar

你和鏡子形成的三角形都是相似的，

regardless of where you stand. 文法

無論你站在哪裡都一樣。

You can demonstrate this effect by outlining the size of your own head

你可以勾勒出自己頭部影像的大小，來驗證這個現象，

as it appears on the surface of a mirror

也就是它呈現在鏡面上的輪廓，

using a bar of soap.

用一塊肥皂畫就行。

Now,

現在，

because you aren't here,

因為你本人不在這裡，

let's pretend that this phone is your head

就假設這支手機是你的頭，

and its camera is your eye.

它的相機就是你的眼睛。

We begin up close. 片語搭配

我們先從近處開始。

The camera looks really big from this perspective. 片語搭配

從這個角度看，相機顯得非常大。

Let me just carefully trace around the outside 語氣意圖

我來沿著外緣仔細描一圈，

so we can compare later.

這樣稍後就能比較。

Good, good, good.

好，好，好。

Okay.

好了。

Now,

現在，

I'm going to pull away from the mirror. 片語動詞

我要離鏡子遠一點。

Clearly,

很明顯，

the phone is smaller, right? 語氣意圖

手機變小了，對吧？

Well,

好，

if I reach out and once again carefully trace the edges, 片語動詞

如果我伸出手，再次仔細描出它的邊緣，

there we go, 語氣意圖

畫好了，

I will find that I have drawn a rectangle

我會發現自己畫出的這個長方形

that is the exact same size.

大小和剛才完全一樣。

Your image on the surface of a mirror from your own perspective

從你自己的視角看，鏡面上的影像

is always the same size,

大小始終不變，

whether you are a few centimeters away from the mirror 文法

不管你離鏡子只有幾公分，

or a few kilometers away.

還是有幾公里。

Your image on the surface of a mirror,

鏡面上你的影像，

in fact,

事實上，

is always half your actual size.

始終是你實際大小的一半。

Okay,

好了，

enough about light returning to our eyes. 表達脈絡

關於回到我們眼中的光，就說到這裡。

What about light that never returns?

那從未返回的光呢？

Could we use a telescope to resolve individual aliens 用詞

我們能不能用望遠鏡看清一個個外星人，

on a planet light-years away?

即使他們身處幾光年外的行星上？

Well,

這個嘛，

over on Vsauce3,

在 Vsauce3 那邊，

Jake investigates this question with Star Wars.

Jake 透過《星際大戰》探究了這個問題。

And my friend Rusty investigates the potential for Star Wars becoming real

我的朋友 Rusty 也探討了《星際大戰》成真的可能性，

in his episode of Science Friction.

就在他的《Science Friction》那一集節目裡。

And Vsauce2 has a brand new Lüt

Vsauce2 還有一集全新的《Lüt》，

all about cool Star Wars stuff.

全是關於《星際大戰》的酷東西。

Check them all out.

都去看看吧。

And as always,

一如往常，

thanks for watching.

謝謝收看。