萬物簡史 第5期:引言(5)

"My own starting point, for what it's worth,was an illustrated science book that I had as aclassroom text when I was in the fourth or fifthgrade.

我寫本書的最初靈感，不管其價值如何，來自我在念小學四、五年級時有過的一本科普讀物。

The book was a standard-issue 1950s schoolbook,battered, unloved, grimly hefty-but near the front ithad an illustration that just captivated me:

那是20世紀50年代學校發(fā)的一本教科書--乍一看去，皺皺巴巴，招人生厭，又笨又重--但書的前幾頁有一幅插圖，一下子把我迷住了：

a cutaway diagram showing the Earth's interior as it would look if you cut into the planet witha large knife

一幅剖面圖，顯示地球的內(nèi)部，樣子就像你拿起一把大刀，切到行星里面，

and carefully withdrew a wedge representing about a quarter of its bulk.

然后小心翼翼地取出一塊楔形物，代表這龐然大物的大約四分之一。

It's hard to believe that there was ever a time when I had not seen such an illustration before,

難相信，我以前怎么從沒有見過這類插圖，

but evidently I had not for I clearly remember being transfixed.

我記得完全給迷住了。

I suspect, in honesty, my initial interest was based on a private image of streams ofunsuspecting eastbound motorists in the American plains states

很我的確認為，起初，我的興趣只是基于一種個人的想像，美國平原上

plunging over the edge of a sudden 4,000-mile-high cliff running between Central America andthe North Pole,

各州川流不息的車流毫無提防地向東駛?cè)?，突然越過邊緣，

but gradually my attention did turn in a more scholarly manner to the scientific import of thedrawing and the realization that the Earth consisted of discrete layers,

墜入中美洲和北極之間一個6000多公里高的懸崖，但我的注意力漸漸地轉(zhuǎn)向這幅插圖的科學含義，意識到地球由明確的層次組成，

ending in the center with a glowing sphere of iron and nickel, which was as hot as the surfaceof the Sun, according to the caption,

中心是一個鐵和鎳的發(fā)熱球體。根據(jù)上面的說明，這個球體與太陽表面一樣灼熱。

and I remember thinking with real wonder: "How do they know that?"

我記得當時我無限驚訝地想："他們是怎么知道的?

I didn't doubt the correctness of the information for an instant-I still tend to trust thepronouncements of scientists in the way I trust those of surgeons,

我對這個信息堅信不疑--我至今仍然容易像相信醫(yī)生、

plumbers, and other possessors of arcane and privileged information

防泄漏人員和別的神秘信息的擁有者那樣相信科學家的說法--

-but I couldn't for the life of me conceive how any human mind could work out what spacesthousands of miles below us,

但是，我無論如何也無法想像，人的腦子怎么能確定在離我們幾千公里下面的地方是個什么樣子，是由什么構(gòu)成的，

that no eye had ever seen and no X ray could penetrate, could look like and be made of. To methat was just a miracle.

而那可是肉眼根本看不見、X射線也穿不透的呀。在我看來，那簡直是個奇跡。,

That has been my position with science ever since.",

自那以后，這一直是我對待科學的態(tài)度。"