TED演讲-口语练习：我们生活在一个被精心编排的虚拟现实中

在TED演讲节目中，演讲者清晰的口语表达及其内容的写作手法都是值得我们学习借鉴的。在本期的TED演讲中，演讲者将提出我们可能生活在一个由数学定律和常数精确模拟的宇宙中的观点。请结合视频内容，开始口语练习吧！

原文及翻译

We live in a vast universe on a small wet planet, where billions of years ago, single-celled life forms evolved from the same elements as all non-living material around them, proliferating and radiating into an incredible array of complex life forms. All of this, living and inanimate, microscopic and cosmic, is governed by mathematical laws with apparently arbitrary constants. 

我们生活在一个广阔的宇宙中，在一个小小的湿润星球上，数十亿年前，单细胞生命形式从与周围所有非生命物质相同的元素进化而来，不断增殖并辐射成令人难以置信的复杂生命形式。所有这些，无论是生物还是非生物，微观还是宇宙，都受数学定律的支配，这些定律显然是任意常数。

This opens up a question: if the universe is completely governed by these laws, couldn't a powerful enough computer simulate it exactly? Could our reality actually be an incredibly detailed simulation set in place by a much more advanced civilization? This idea may sound like science fiction, but it has been the subject of serious inquiry. 

这就引出了一个问题：如果宇宙完全受这些定律支配，那么足够强大的计算机难道不能完全模拟它吗？我们的现实实际上是由更先进的文明设定的极其详细的模拟吗？这个想法听起来像科幻小说，但它一直是严肃研究的主题。

Philosopher Nick Bostrom advanced a compelling argument that we're likely living in a simulation, and some scientists also think it's a possibility. These scientists have started thinking about experimental tests to find out whether our universe is a simulation. They are hypothesizing about what the constraints of the simulation might be and how those constraints could lead to detectable signs in the world. 

哲学家尼克·博斯特罗姆提出了一个令人信服的论点，即我们很可能生活在模拟中，一些科学家也认为这是一种可能性。这些科学家已经开始考虑进行实验测试，以确定我们的宇宙是否是模拟的。他们假设模拟的约束可能是什么，以及这些约束如何导致世界上可检测到的迹象。

So where might we look for those glitches? One idea is that as a simulation runs, it might accumulate errors over time. To correct for these errors, the simulators could adjust the constants in the laws of nature. These shifts could be tiny. For instance, certain constants we've measured with accuracies of parts per million have stayed steady for decades, so any drift would have to be on an even smaller scale. 

那么我们可以在哪里寻找这些故障呢？一种想法是，随着模拟的运行，它可能会随着时间的推移而积累错误。为了纠正这些错误，模拟器可以调整自然法则中的常数。这些变化可能很小。例如，我们以百万分之一的精度测量的某些常数几十年来一直保持稳定，因此任何漂移都必须在更小的范围内。

But as we gain more precision in our measurements of these constants, we might detect slight changes over time. Another possible place to look comes from the concept that finite computing power, no matter how huge, can't simulate infinities. If space and time are continuous, even a tiny piece of the universe has infinite points and becomes impossible to simulate with finite computing power.

但随着我们对这些常数的测量越来越精确，我们可能会检测到随着时间的推移而发生的细微变化。另一个可能的观察点来自这样一个概念：有限的计算能力，无论多么强大，都无法模拟无限。如果空间和时间是连续的，那么即使是宇宙的一小部分也有无限的点，用有限的计算能力就不可能模拟。

以上就是本期TED演讲的分享，希望对您的口语、写作水平都有帮助！您也可以访问网站主页，获取最新的英语学习资料，全方位提升英语水平。