英语流利说 Level8 Unit3 Part3 ：The history of our world
David Christian: The history of our world in 18 minutes
TED2011 • 17:40 • Posted April 2011
The history of our world in 18 minutes
18分钟了解世界史
L8-U3-P3: The history of our world 1
1
First, a video.
首先，我们来看一段视频。
2
Yes, it is a scrambled egg.
是的，这是个打散的鸡蛋。
3
But as you look at it, I hope you'll begin to feel just slightly uneasy.
但是当你看这个视频的时候，我希望你会开始感到有点不对劲。
4
Because you may notice that what's actually happening is that the egg is unscrambling itself.
因为你可能注意到了，视频的内容是这个鸡蛋在复原。
5
And you'll now see the yolk and the white have separated.
你现在会看到蛋黄和蛋清已经分离了。
6
And now they're going to be poured back into the egg.
现在他们要倒回到鸡蛋里。
7
And we all know in our heart of hearts that this is not the way the universe works.
我们内心深处都知道，这不是宇宙运行的方式。
8
A scrambled egg is mush -- tasty mush -- but it's mush.
一个打散的鸡蛋是一团糊 -- 可口的糊状物 -- 但它一定是糊状物。
9
An egg is a beautiful, sophisticated thing that can create even more sophisticated things, such as chickens.
鸡蛋是一种漂亮、复杂的东西，它可以创造出更加复杂的东西来，比如小鸡。
10
And we know in our heart of hearts that the universe does not travel from mush to complexity.
我们内心深处知道，宇宙不会从混沌走向复杂。
11
In fact, this gut instinct is reflected in one of the most fundamental laws of physics, the second law of thermodynamics, or the law of entropy.
事实上，这个直觉反映了一个很重要的基础物理定律，热力学第二定律，或叫做熵定律。
12
What that says basically is that the general tendency of the universe
这基本上说的就是宇宙的总体趋势
13
is to move from order and structure to lack of order, lack of structure -- in fact, to mush.
从有序和结构化转向无序、无结构 -- 事实上，是转向混沌。
14
And that's why that video feels a bit strange.
这就是为啥那个视频让人感觉有点怪。
15
And yet, look around us.
现在，看下我们周围。
16
What we see around us is staggering complexity.
我们可以看到周围非常地复杂。
17
Eric Beinhocker estimates that in New York City alone, there are some 10 billion SKUs, or distinct commodities, being traded.
Eric Beinhocker估算，单单在纽约城，有100亿件存货，或者说100亿种不同的商品，在交易着。
18
That's hundreds of times as many species as there are on Earth.
这比地球上的物种数量还要多几百倍。
19
And they're being traded by a species of almost 7 billion individuals,
这些商品，在70亿个的同一物种之间交易着，
20
who are linked by trade, travel, and the Internet into a global system of stupendous complexity.
他们被交易、航行以及互联网所连接进一个极其复杂的全球系统中。
L8-U3-P3: The history of our world 2
21
So here's a great puzzle:
所以这里有个很大的疑问：
22
in a universe ruled by the second law of thermodynamics,
在一个被热力学第二定律所约束的宇宙，
23
how is it possible to generate the sort of complexity I've described,
它是怎么可能产生我所描述的那种复杂的，
24
the sort of complexity represented by you and me and the convention center?
这种由你我和这个会议中心所代表的这种复杂？
25
Well, the answer seems to be, the universe can create complexity, but with great difficulty.
答案似乎是：这个宇宙可以创造复杂，但是非常困难。
26
In pockets, there appear what my colleague, Fred Spier, calls "Goldilocks conditions"
在这种情况下，我得提一下我的同事，Fred Spier, 他称之为"金发姑娘条件"
in pockets中的pockets应该指“像口袋一样，范围很小”，in pockets的意思我理解为：在这样一个很小的情况下。
从全球来看，应该都没几个人研究宇宙史吧。
我认为Goldilocks conditions在这里也可以理解为“刚性条件”、“平衡条件”。
27
-- not too hot, not too cold, just right for the creation of complexity.
不是太热，不是太冷，正适合创造复杂性。
28
And slightly more complex things appear.
稍微有点复杂的事情出现。
29
And where you have slightly more complex things, you can get slightly more complex things.
当你有稍微复杂一点的东西时，你可以得到稍微复杂一点的东西。
30
And in this way, complexity builds stage by stage.
在这种方式下，复杂性一步步形成了。
31
Each stage is magical because it creates the impression of something utterly new appearing almost out of nowhere in the universe.
每一步都很魔幻，因为它创建了一个全新的东西，它几乎在宇宙的任何地方都没出现过。
32
We refer in big history to these moments as threshold moments.
我们在历史上把这些时刻称为极限时刻。
33
And at each threshold, the going gets tougher.
在每一个极限，过程都会变得更困难。
34
The complex things get more fragile, more vulnerable;
复杂的事变得更脆弱；
35
the Goldilocks conditions get more stringent,
金发姑娘条件变得更苛刻，
36
and it's more difficult to create complexity.
宇宙更难去创造复杂性了。
37
Now, we, as extremely complex creatures, desperately need to know this story of how the universe creates complexity despite the second law,
现在，我们，作为极其复杂的生物，迫切需要知道宇宙是如何创造复杂的，尽管有热力学第二定律，
38
and why complexity means vulnerability and fragility.
以及为什么复杂意味着无助和弱小。
vulnerability意思是受到攻击的概率大，因为复杂本就难以形成，而宇宙中率先具备复杂性的事物又容易受到攻击，所以我在这里将这个词翻译成了“无助”
fragility意思是受到攻击后易被破坏。
39
And that's the story that we tell in big history.
这是我们在大历史中要讲的故事。
big history这个词就是这个演讲者创造的，研究从宇宙到现在的历史，他也创建了一个网站，名叫：Big History Project。
40
But to do it, you have do something that may, at first sight, seem completely impossible.
但是要去讲这个故事，你需要先开始做一些或许看上去很不可能的事。
41
You have to survey the whole history of the universe.
你需要去纵观宇宙的整个历史。
42
So let's do it.
我们来做吧。
43
Let's begin by winding the timeline back 13.7 billion years, to the beginning of time.
让我们开始把时间线调回到137亿年前，回到时间的起点。
44
Around us, there's nothing.
我们身边空无一物。
45
There's not even time or space.
甚至没有时间或空间。
46
Imagine the darkest, emptiest thing you can
尽你所能去想象那最黑暗、最空的状态
47
and cube it a gazillion times and that's where we are.
把它放大无数倍，这就是我们现在所处的时间点。
最开始，宇宙是一个点，几乎看不见，所以需要放大无数倍。
48
And then suddenly, bang! A universe appears, an entire universe. And we've crossed our first threshold.
突然，bang，一个宇宙出现了，一个完整的宇宙。我们跨过了第一道门槛。
49
The universe is tiny; it's smaller than an atom. It's incredibly hot.
这个宇宙很小；比一个原子还小。但极度炽热。
50
It contains everything that's in today's universe, so you can imagine, it's busting.
它包含了今天宇宙中有的所有东西，所以你可以想象下，它爆炸了。
51
And it's expanding at incredible speed.
然后以一个惊人的速度扩张。
52
And at first, it's just a blur, but very quickly distinct things begin to appear in that blur.
一开始，它只是一团混沌，但很快，不同的东西开始出现在混沌中。
53
Within the first second, energy itself shatters into distinct forces including electromagnetism and gravity.
在第一秒内，能量分解成不同的力，包括电磁力和重力。
54
And energy does something else quite magical: it congeals to form matter
能量还有其他神奇的作用：它凝结形成物质
55
-- quarks that will create protons and leptons that include electrons.
夸克，它会产生包含电子的质子和轻子。
proton n. [物] 质子
lepton n. 轻粒子
56
And all of that happens in the first second.
所有这一切发生在第一秒内。
57
Now we move forward 380,000 years.
现在，往后走38万年。
58
That's twice as long as humans have been on this planet.
这比人类在地球上存在的时间长2倍。
59
And now simple atoms appear of hydrogen and helium.
现在结构单一的原子——氢原子和氦原子出现了。
60
Now I want to pause for a moment,
现在我想停下片刻，
61
380,000 years after the origins of the universe, because we actually know quite a lot about the universe at this stage.
在宇宙起源38万年后，因为关于宇宙现在的阶段，我们事实上了解的挺多的。
62
We know above all that it was extremely simple.
首先，我们知道它极其简单。
above all 首先；尤其是
63
It consisted of huge clouds of hydrogen and helium atoms, and they have no structure.
它由大量的氢和氦原子组成，它们没有结构。
64
They're really a sort of cosmic mush.
它们就是一团宇宙尘埃。
cosmic adj. 宇宙的
65
But that's not completely true.
但这不完全正确。
66
Recent studies by satellites such as the WMAP satellite have shown that, in fact, there are just tiny differences in that background.
最近，由像WMAP等这样的卫星研究表明，事实上，在那样的背景下还是有细微的差别。
67
What you see here, the blue areas are about a thousandth of a degree cooler than the red areas.
正如你在这里看到的，蓝色区域大约比红色区域温度低千分之一度。
68
These are tiny differences, but it was enough for the universe to move on to the next stage of building complexity. And this is how it works.
那是细微的差别，但是对于宇宙走向创造复杂性的下一步来说，足够了。下面是它如何形成的。
69
Gravity is more powerful where there's more stuff.
物质越多，引力就越强。
70
So where you get slightly denser areas, gravity starts compacting clouds of hydrogen and helium atoms.
在更密的区域，引力开始聚集大量的氢原子和氦原子。
71
So we can imagine the early universe breaking up into a billion clouds.
所以我们可以想象早期宇宙分裂成十亿团云。
72
And each cloud is compacted, gravity gets more powerful as density increases,
每一团云聚合在一块，引力就随着密度的变大而变大，
73
the temperature begins to rise at the center of each cloud,
温度开始在每一团云的中心升高，
74
and then, at the center of each cloud, the temperature crosses the threshold temperature of 10 million degrees,
然后，在每一团云的中心，温度突破1千万度的极限。
75
protons start to fuse, there's a huge release of energy, and -- bam! We have our first stars.
质子开始融化，这会释放出巨大的能量，然后 -- 砰！我们有了第一批恒星。
76
From about 200 million years after the Big Bang, stars begin to appear all through the universe, billions of them.
在大爆炸约2亿年后，恒星开始在宇宙各个角落中出现，数以十亿计。
77
And the universe is now significantly more interesting and more complex.
宇宙现在更加有趣和复杂。
78
Stars will create the Goldilocks conditions for crossing two new thresholds.
恒星开始为了跨越两个新的门槛来创造金发姑娘条件。
79
When very large stars die, they create temperatures so high
当巨大的恒星死亡时，它们会制造很高的温度
80
that protons begin to fuse in all sorts of exotic combinations, to form all the elements of the periodic table.
质子开始融化进各种外部混合物，去形成元素周期表上的所有元素。
periodic table [化学] 周期表
81
If, like me, you're wearing a gold ring, it was forged in a supernova explosion.
如果你像我一样，带了个金戒指，它是在一个超新星爆炸中铸造出来的。
82
So now the universe is chemically more complex.
所以现在这个宇宙在化学上非常复杂。
83
And in a chemically more complex universe, it's possible to make more things.
在一个化学上非常复杂的宇宙，就可能创造更多的东西。
84
And what starts happening is that, around young suns,young stars,
接下来开始发生的事情是，在所有新生的太阳，所有的新恒星周围
85
all these elements combine, they swirl around, the energy of the star stirs them around,
所有元素结合在一起，它们旋转起来，恒星的能量搅动着它们，
86
they form particles, they form snowflakes, they form little dust motes, they form rocks,
它们形成了粒子，它们形成了雪花，它们形成了小尘埃，它们形成了岩石，
87
they form asteroids, and eventually, they form planets and moons.
它们形成了小行星，最终，它们形成了行星和卫星。
88
And that is how our solar system was formed, four and a half billion years ago.
这就是我们太阳系的形成过程，在45亿年前。
89
Rocky planets like our Earth are significantly more complex than stars because they contain a much greater diversity of materials.
像我们地球这样的岩质行星比恒星更复杂，因为它们包含了更加多样的物质。
90
So we've crossed a fourth threshold of complexity.
所以我们跨过了复杂性的第四道门槛。
L8-U3-P3: The history of our world 3
91
Now, the going gets tougher.
现在过程更艰难了
92
The next stage introduces entities that are significantly more fragile, significantly more vulnerable,
下一步出现了更加弱小、无助的东西，
93
but they're also much more creative and much more capable of generating further complexity.
但是它们也更加有创造力，更能生成更进一步的复杂性。
94
I'm talking, of course, about living organisms.
我谈论的就是关于生物体的。
95
Living organisms are created by chemistry. We are huge packages of chemicals.
生物体由化学创造。我们是巨大的化学物质集合。
96
So, chemistry is dominated by the electromagnetic force.
所以，化学由电磁力主导。
97
That operates over smaller scales than gravity, which explains why you and I are smaller than stars or planets.
它相对引力而言，作用在更小的物体上，这也解释了为什么你我都比恒星或行星小。
98
Now, what are the ideal conditions for chemistry?
那么对于化学来说，理想的条件是什么？
99
What are the Goldilocks conditions? Well, first, you need energy, but not too much.
金发姑娘条件是什么？首先，你需要能量，但不需要太多。
100
In the center of a star, there's so much energy that any atoms that combine will just get busted apart again.
在一个恒星的中心，有很大的能量，以至于任何组合在一起的原子都会再次分开。
101
But not too little.
但这能量也不会很小。
102
In intergalactic space, there's so little energy that atoms can't combine.
在银河系中，能量太小，原子就无法结合。
intergalactic adj. 星系间的；银河间的
103
What you want is just the right amount, and planets, it turns out, are just right, because they're close to stars, but not too close.
你想要的是刚好合适的量，而行星，事实证明，正好合适，因为它们的能量与恒星接近，但又不是太近。
104
You also need a great diversity of chemical elements, and you need liquids, such as water. Why?
我们需要非常多样的化学元素，还需要一些液体，比如水，为什么呢？
105
Well, in gases, atoms move past each other so fast that they can't hitch up.
在气体中，原子相互间移动很快以至于它们不能相遇。
106
In solids, atoms are stuck together, they can't move.
在固体中，原子贴在一块，它们无法移动。
107
In liquids, they can cruise and cuddle and link up to form molecules.
在液体中，他们能够游动并且相遇以及组合在一起形成分子。
cruise v. 乘船游览；以平稳的速度行驶；巡航
cuddle vt. 拥抱；亲热地搂住；抚爱地拥抱
108
Now, where do you find such Goldilocks conditions?
那么我们在哪可以找到这样的金发姑娘条件？
109
Well, planets are great, and our early Earth was almost perfect.
行星足够了，我们早期的地球几乎完美。
110
It was just the right distance from its star to contain huge oceans of liquid water.
它与恒星之间的距离适中，正好可以容纳大量的液态水。
111
And deep beneath those oceans, at cracks in the Earth's crust,
在这些海洋的深处，在地壳的裂缝处，
crust n. 地壳；外壳；面包皮；坚硬外皮
112
you've got heat seeping up from inside the Earth, and you've got a great diversity of elements.
热量会从地球内部渗出，由此我们可以得到多种多样的元素。
113
So at those deep oceanic vents, fantastic chemistry began to happen, and atoms combined in all sorts of exotic combinations.
在那些深海的通风口，神奇的化学反应发生了，原子在各种外部组合条件下组合在了一起。
vent n. （气体、液体的）进出口，通风口，排放口
114
But of course, life is more than just exotic chemistry.
当然，生命不仅仅是奇异的化学反应。
115
How do you stabilize those huge molecules that seem to be viable?
你如何使那些看上去能够存活的大分子稳定下来呢？
116
Well, it's here that life introduces an entirely new trick.
就是在这，生命呈现了一个全新的方式。
117
You don't stabilize the individual;
你不需要稳定个体；
118
you stabilize the template, the thing that carries information, and you allow the template to copy itself.
你需要稳定这个携带信息的模板，然后让模板自身复制。
119
And DNA, of course, is the beautiful molecule that contains that information.
DNA是包含信息的美丽的分子。
120
You'll be familiar with the double helix of DNA. Each rung contains information.
你会对DNA的双螺旋结构很熟悉。每个横档都包含信息。
helix n. 螺旋，螺旋状物；[解剖] 耳轮
rung n. （梯子的）横档；梯级
121
So, DNA contains information about how to make living organisms.
所以，DNA包含如何制造生物体的信息。
122
And DNA also copies itself.
DNA也自身复制。
123
So, it copies itself and scatters the templates through the ocean.
它复制自身，并在海中传播这个模板。
scatter v. 撒播；散开；散布
124
So the information spreads. Notice that information has become part of our story.
所以信息扩散开来。请注意信息成为了我们故事的一部分。
125
The real beauty of DNA though is in its imperfections.
然而DNA最美妙的地方在于它的不完美。
126
As it copies itself, once in every billion rungs, there tends to be an error.
在它复制自身的时候，每十亿横档中就会有一处错误。
127
And what that means is that DNA is, in effect, learning.
这意味着DNA实际上是在学习。
128
It's accumulating new ways of making living organisms because some of those errors work.
它在积累制造生物体的新方法，因为一些错误是有效的。
129
So DNA's learning and it's building greater diversity and greater complexity.
所以DNA在学习，它在建造丰富的多样性和更大的复杂性。
130
And we can see this happening over the last 4 billion years.
我们在过去的40亿年可以看到这一幕。
131
For most of that time of life on Earth, living organisms have been relatively simple -- single cells.
在地球生命的大多数时间里，生物体相对简单 -- 它们主要是单细胞生物。
132
But they had great diversity, and, inside, great complexity.
但是它们有丰富的多样性，当然它们内部也很复杂。
133
Then from about 600 to 800 million years ago, multi-celled organisms appear.
在大约6至8亿年前，多细胞生物出现了。
134
You get fungi, you get fish, you get plants, you get amphibia, you get reptiles, and then, of course, you get the dinosaurs.
我们有了真菌，鱼类，植物，两栖类动物，爬行动物，然后，我们有了恐龙。
fungi n. 真菌；菌类
amphibia n. 两栖类，两栖纲
135
And occasionally, there are disasters.
偶然间，灾难发生了。
136
65 million years ago, an asteroid landed on Earth near the Yucatan Peninsula,
6500万年前，一个小行星降临在地球尤卡坦半岛附近。
Peninsula n. 半岛
137
creating conditions equivalent to those of a nuclear war, and the dinosaurs were wiped out.
它的影响等同于一场核战争，恐龙灭绝了。
138
Terrible news for the dinosaurs, but great news for our mammalian ancestors,
这对恐龙来说是灭顶之灾，但是对我们哺乳动物的祖先来说却是个大好的消息。
139
who flourished in the niches left empty by the dinosaurs.
他们在恐龙灭绝后留下的空档期疯狂发育。
140
And we human beings are part of that creative evolutionary pulse that began 65 million years ago with the landing of an asteroid.
我们人类是那场开始于6500万年前，随着小行星着陆地球而发生的创造性变革狂潮的一部分。
L8-U3-P3: The history of our world 4
141
Humans appeared about 200,000 years ago.
人类大约出现在20万年前。
142
And I believe we count as a threshold in this great story. Let me explain why.
我认为我们是这个伟大历史中的一个突破。我来解释下为什么。
143
We've seen that DNA learns in a sense, it accumulates information. But it is so slow.
我们看到了DNA在某种意义上是在学习，它在积累信息。但这太慢了。
144
DNA accumulates information through random errors, some of which just happen to work.
DNA通过随机错误积累信息，其中一些错误是碰巧发生的。
145
But DNA had actually generated a faster way of learning: it had produced organisms with brains, and those organisms can learn in real time.
DNA事实上生成了一个快速学习的方式：它生产出了带有大脑的生物体，而那些生物体可以在短时间内学会东西。
146
They accumulate information, they learn.
他们汇集信息，他们学习东西。
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The sad thing is, when they die, the information dies with them.
令人悲伤的是，当他们死亡时，信息也随他们一起去了。
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Now what makes humans different is human language.
而让人类不同的就是人类的语言。
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We are blessed with a language, a system of communication, so powerful and so precise
我们有幸拥有这样一个沟通系统的语言，它如此强大和精准。
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that we can share what we've learned with such precision that it can accumulate in the collective memory.
我们可以很精准的分享自己学到的东西，这些知识可以积累在集体记忆中。
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And that means it can outlast the individuals who learned that information, and it can accumulate from generation to generation.
这意味着，这种集体记忆会比学习这些信息的人活得更久，并且它可以一代代地积累。
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And that's why, as a species, we're so creative and so powerful, and that's why we have a history.
这就是为什么，作为一个物种，我们非常有创造性和强大，以及为什么我们拥有历史。
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We seem to be the only species in 4 billion years to have this gift.
我们似乎是40亿今年中拥有这个天赋的唯一物种。
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I call this ability collective learning. It's what makes us different.
我把这种能力成为集体学习。这使我们变得不同。
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We can see it at work in the earliest stages of human history.
我们可以在人类历史的早期阶段看到它的作用。
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We evolved as a species in the savanna lands of Africa,
我们作为一个物种，在非洲的热带草原上进化，
savanna n. [生态] 热带草原；热带的稀树大草原
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but then you see humans migrating into new environments,
然后你会看见人类迁徙到新的环境，
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into desert lands, into jungles, into the Ice Age tundra of Siberia -- tough, tough environment -- into the Americas, into Australasia.
到沙漠去，到雨林去，到西伯利亚的冰河世纪冻土地带 -- 艰苦的环境 -- 到美国，到澳洲。
tundra n. [生态] 苔原；[地理] 冻原；冻土地带
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Each migration involved learning -- learning new ways of exploiting the environment, new ways of dealing with their surroundings.
每种迁移都涉及到学习 -- 学习探索环境的新方式，与周围环境相处的新方式。
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Then 10,000 years ago, exploiting a sudden change in global climate with the end of the last ice age, humans learned to farm.
1万年前，随着冰河时代末期全球气候的突然变化，人类学会了耕作。
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Farming was an energy bonanza.
耕作是一个能量源泉。
bonanza n. 富矿带；带来好运之事；幸运
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And exploiting that energy, human populations multiplied. Human societies got larger, denser, more interconnected.
通过利用这个能量，人类人口数剧增。人类社会变得更大，更密，联系更多。
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And then from about 500 years ago, humans began to link up globally through shipping, through trains,through telegraph, through the Internet,
在大约500年前，人类开始在全球范围内，通过船运、火车、电报、互联网联系在一起，
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until now we seem to form a single global brain of almost 7 billion individuals.
直到现在，我们似乎形成了一个接近70亿群体的全球大脑。
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And that brain is learning at warp speed.
这个大脑以一个惊人的速度学习着。
warp n. 弯曲，歪曲；偏见；乖戾
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And in the last 200 years, something else has happened. We've stumbled on another energy bonanza in fossil fuels.
在过去200年中，有些事情发生了。我们碰巧在化石燃料中发现了另一个能源宝藏。
stumble vt. 使…困惑；使…绊倒
stumble on 无意中发现；偶然遇到，碰巧找到
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So fossil fuels and collective learning together explain the staggering complexity we see around us.
所以化石燃料和群体学习一起解释了我们所看到的、周围的那种惊人的复杂性。
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So -- Here we are, back at the convention center.
所以，在这里，我们回到这个会上来。
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We've been on a journey, a return journey, of 13.7 billion years.
我们在一段旅程中，一个返回的旅程中，一个137亿年的旅程。
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I hope you agree this is a powerful story.
我希望你认同这是个强悍的故事。
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And it's a story in which humans play an astonishing and creative role.
在这个故事中，人类扮演了一个惊奇且有创造力的角色。
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But it also contains warnings.
但它也包含了警告。
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Collective learning is a very, very powerful force, and it's not clear that we humans are in charge of it.
集体学习是一个非常强的力量，我们不清楚人类是否掌控了它。
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I remember very vividly as a child growing up in England, living through the Cuban Missile Crisis.
我还清楚地记得我小时候在英国长大，经历过古巴导弹危机。
missile n. 导弹；投射物
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For a few days, the entire biosphere seemed to be on the verge of destruction.
有几天，整个生物圈似乎都处于毁灭的边缘。
on the verge of 濒临于；接近于
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And the same weapons are still here, and they are still armed.
同样的武器还存在着，它们还在虎视眈眈。
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If we avoid that trap, others are waiting for us.
如果我们避开这个陷阱，其它的陷阱还在等着我们。
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We're burning fossil fuels at such a rate
我们以这样的一个速度消耗着化石能源
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that we seem to be undermining the Goldilocks conditions that made it possible for human civilizations to flourish over the last 10,000 years.
我们似乎正在破坏那个让人类文明在过去一万年里蓬勃发展的金发姑娘条件。
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So what big history can do is show us the nature of our complexity and fragility and the dangers that face us,
大历史能做的就是给我们展示我们复杂性和弱小的本质，以及我们面临的危险，
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but it can also show us our power with collective learning.
它也能给我们展示我们集体学习的力量。
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And now, finally -- this is what I want.
最后 -- 这是我想要的。
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I want my grandson, Daniel, and his friends and his generation, throughout the world, to know the story of big history,
我想让我的孙子——Daniel，以及他的朋友和后代，在这个世界上能够去了解大历史，
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and to know it so well that they understand both the challenges that face us and the opportunities that face us.
并且是好好地去了解，让他们既了解我们面临的挑战，也了解我们面临的机遇。
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And that's why a group of us are building a free, online syllabus in big history for high-school students throughout the world.
这就是为什么我们这群人，正在全世界范围内，针对高中生，在大历史方面，做一个免费的在线课程大纲。
syllabus n. 教学大纲，摘要；课程表
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We believe that big history will be a vital intellectual tool for them,
我们认为大历史对他们来说是一个重要的智力工具，
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as Daniel and his generation face the huge challenges and also the huge opportunities ahead of them
当Daniel和他的后代面对这些巨大的挑战，以及他们面前巨大的机会
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at this threshold moment in the history of our beautiful planet.
在我们这个美丽星球历史中的起始点。
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I thank you for your attention.
感谢你们的关注。
