TED演讲-口语练习：探索宇宙模拟的微观边界

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，演讲者将讲述工作者及领导者在工作中的态度。请结合视频内容，开始口语练习吧！

原文及翻译

So a simulation would have to represent space and time in very small pieces. These would be almost incomprehensibly tiny, but we might be able to search for them by using certain subatomic particles as probes. The basic principle is this: the smaller something is, the more sensitive it will be to disruption. 

因此，模拟必须将空间和时间表示为非常小的片段。这些片段几乎小得令人难以置信，但我们可以使用某些亚原子粒子作为探针来搜索它们。基本原理是：物体越小，对干扰就越敏感。

Think of hitting a pothole on a skateboard versus in a truck. Any unit in space-time would be so small that most things would travel through it without disruption. Not just objects large enough to be visible to the naked eye, but also molecules, atoms, and even electrons and most of the other subatomic particles we've discovered. 

想象一下滑板撞到坑洞和卡车撞到坑洞的情形。时空中的任何单位都非常小，大多数物体都可以不受干扰地穿过它。不仅仅是肉眼可见的大物体，还有分子、原子，甚至电子和我们发现的大多数其他亚原子粒子。

If we do discover a tiny unit in space-time or shifting constant in a natural law, would that prove the universe is a simulation? No, it would only be the first of many steps. There could be other explanations for each of those findings, and a lot more evidence would be needed to establish the simulation hypothesis as a working theory of nature. 

如果我们确实发现了时空中的微小单位或自然法则中的移动常数，那么这是否证明宇宙是一个模拟？不，这只是众多步骤中的第一步。每个发现都可能有不同的解释，并且需要更多的证据来将模拟假设确立为自然的有效理论。

However, many tests we design are limited by some assumptions they all share: our current understanding of the natural world on the quantum level breaks down at what's known as the Planck scale. If the unit of space-time is on that scale, we wouldn't be able to look for it with our current scientific understanding. There's still a wide range of things that are smaller than what's currently observable, but larger than the Planck scale, to investigate. 

然而，我们设计的许多测试都受到一些共同假设的限制：我们目前对自然界在量子层面上的理解在所谓的普朗克尺度上失效。如果时空单位是这个尺度，我们就无法用我们目前的科学理解去寻找它。还有许多比目前可观测到的要小但比普朗克尺度要大的事物需要研究。

Similarly, shifts in the constants of natural laws could occur so slowly that they would only be observable over the lifetime of the universe, so they could exist even if we don't detect them over centuries or millennia of measurements. We're also biased towards thinking that our universe, if it exists, makes calculations the same way we do, with similar computational limitations. 

同样，自然定律常数的变化可能会发生得非常缓慢，以至于它们只能在宇宙的整个生命周期内才能被观察到，所以即使我们在几个世纪或几千年的测量中没有探测到它们，它们也可能存在。我们也倾向于认为，我们的宇宙（如果存在的话）会以与我们相同的方式进行计算，具有类似的计算限制。

Really, we have no way of knowing what an alien civilization's constraints and methods would be, but we have to start somewhere. It may never be possible to prove conclusively that the universe either is or isn't a simulation, but will always be pushing, science and technology forward in pursuit of the what is the nature of reality.

实际上，我们无法知道外星文明的限制和方法是什么，但我们必须从某个地方开始。也许永远无法确凿地证明宇宙是不是模拟的，但我们始终会推动科学和技术不断前进，以探索现实的本质。

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。