每天讀一點英文 那些激勵我前行的身影 36 宇宙的起源-史蒂芬.威廉.霍金

According to the Boshongo people of central Africa，in the beginning there was only darkness，water，and the great god Bumba.

根據(jù)中非Boshongo人的傳說，世界太初只有黑暗、水和偉大的Bumba上帝。

One day Bumba，in pain from a stomach ache，vomited up the sun. The sun dried up some of the water，leaving land.

一天，Bumba胃痛發(fā)作，嘔吐出太陽。太陽灼干了一些水，留下土地。

Still in pain，Bumba vomited up the moon，the stars，and then some animals：the leopard，the crocodile，the turtle，and，finally man.

他仍然胃痛不止，又吐出了月亮和星辰，然后吐出一些動物，豹、鱷魚、烏龜，最后是人。

This creation myth，like many others，tries to answer the questions we all ask. Why are we here? Where did we come from?

這個創(chuàng)世紀的神話，和其他許多神話一樣，試圖回答我們大家都想問的問題：為何我們在此?我們從何而來?

The answer generally given was that humans were of comparatively recent origin，because it must have been obvious，even at early times，that the human race was improving in knowledge and technology.

一般的答案是，人類的起源是發(fā)生在比較近期的事。人類正在知識上和技術(shù)上不斷地取得進步。

So it can’t have been around that long，or it would have progressed even more.

這樣，它不可能存在那么久，否則的話，它應該取得更大的進步。這一點甚至在更早的時候就應該很清楚了。

For example，The Book of Genesis placed the creation of the world at 9 am on October the 23th，4，004 BC.

例如，《創(chuàng)世紀》把世界的創(chuàng)生定于公元前4004年10月23日上午9時。

On the other hand，the physical surroundings，like mountains and rivers，change very little in a human life time.

另一方面，諸如山岳和河流的自然環(huán)境，在人的生命周期里改變甚微。

They were therefore thought to be a constant background，and either to have existed for ever as an empty landscape，or to have been created at the same time as the humans.

所以人們通常把它們當作不變的背景。要么作為空洞的風景已經(jīng)存在了無限久，要么是和人類在相同的時刻被創(chuàng)生出來。

Not everyone however，was happy with the idea that the universe had a beginning. For example，Aristotle，the most famous of the Greek philosophers，believed the universe had existed forever.

但是并非所有人都喜歡宇宙有個開端的思想。例如，希臘最著名的哲學家亞里士多德，相信宇宙已經(jīng)存在了無限久的時間。

Something eternal is more perfect than something created. He suggested，the reason we see progress was that floods，or other natural disasters，had repeatedly set civilization back to the beginning.

某種永恒的東西比某種創(chuàng)生的東西更完美。他提出我們之所以看到發(fā)展處于這個情形，那是因為洪水或者其他自然災害，不斷讓文明回復到萌芽階段。

The motivation for believing in an eternal universe was the desire to avoid invoking divine intervention，to create the universe，and set it going. Conversely，those who believed the universe had a beginning，used it as an argument for the existence of God，as the first cause，or prime mover of the universe.

信仰永恒宇宙的動機是想避免求助于神意的干涉，以創(chuàng)生宇宙并起始運行。相反的，那些相信宇宙具有開端的人，將開端當作上帝存在的論據(jù)，把上帝當作宇宙的第一原因或者原動力。

If one believed that the universe had a beginning，the obvious question was：What happened before the beginning? What was God doing before He made the world? Was He preparing Hell for people who asked such questions?

如果人們相信宇宙有一個開端，那么很明顯的問題是，在開端之前發(fā)生了什么?上帝在創(chuàng)造宇宙之前在做什么?他是在為那些詰問這類問題的人準備地獄嗎?

The problem of whether or not the universe had a beginning，was a great concern to the German philosopher，Immanuel Kant.

德國哲學家伊曼努爾·康德十分關(guān)心宇宙有無開端的問題。

He felt there were logical contradictions，or Antinomies，either way. If the universe had a beginning，why did it wait an infinite time before it began?

他覺得，不管宇宙有無開端，都會引起邏輯矛盾或者二律背反。如果宇宙有一個開端，為何在它起始之前要等待無限久。

He called that the thesis. On the other hand，if the universe had existed forever，why did it take an infinite time to reach the present stage?

他將此稱為正題。另一方面，如果宇宙已經(jīng)存在了無限久，為什么它要花費無限長的時間才達到現(xiàn)在這個階段。

He called that the antithesis. Both the thesis，and the antithesis，depended on Kant’s assumption，along with almost everyone else，that time was Absolute.

他把此稱為反題。無論正題還是反題，都是基于康德的假設(shè)，幾乎所有人也是這么辦的，那就是，時間是絕對的

That is to say，it went from the infinite past，to the infinite future，independently of any universe that might or might not exist in this background.

也就是說，時間從無限的過去向無限的將來流逝。時間獨立于宇宙，在這個背景中，宇宙可以存在，也可以不存在。

This is still the picture in the mind of many scientists today. However in 1915，Einstein introduced his revolutionary General Theory of Relativity.

直至今天，在許多科學家的心中，仍然保持這樣的圖景。然而，1915年愛因斯坦提出他的革命性的廣義相對論。

In this，space and time were no longer Absolute，no longer a fixed background to events. Instead，they were dynamical quantities that were shaped by the matter and energy in the universe.

在該理論中，空間和時間不再是絕對的，不再是事件的固定背景。相反的，它們是動力量，宇宙中的物質(zhì)和能量確定其形狀。

They were defined only within the universe，so it made no sense to talk of a time before the universe began.

它們只有在宇宙之中才能夠定義。這樣談論宇宙開端之前的時間是毫無意義的。

If the universe was essentially unchanging in time，as was generally assumed before the 1920s，there would be no reason that time should not be defined arbitrarily far back.

如果宇宙隨時間本質(zhì)上不變，正如20 世紀20年代之前一般認為的那樣，就沒有理由阻止在過去任意早的時刻定義時間。

Any so-called beginning of the universe，would be artificial，in the sense that one could extend the history back to earlier times.

人們總可以將歷史往更早的時刻延展，在這個意義上，任何所謂的宇宙開端都是人為的。

Thus it might be that the universe was created last year，but with all the memories and physical evidence，to look like it was much older.

于是，情形可以是這樣，這個宇宙是去年創(chuàng)生的，但是所有記憶和物理證據(jù)都顯得它要古老得多。

This raises deep philosophical questions about the meaning of existence. I shall deal with these by adopting what is called the positivist approach.

這就產(chǎn)生了有關(guān)存在意義的高深哲學問題。我將采用所謂的實證主義方法來對付這些問題。

In this，the idea is that we interpret the input from our senses in terms of a model we make of the world. One can not ask whether the model represents reality，only whether it works.

在這個方法中，其思想是，我們按照我們構(gòu)造世界的模型來解釋自己感官的輸入。人們不能詢問這個模型是否代表實在，只能問它能否行得通。

A model is a good model if it first，interprets a wide range of observations，in terms of a simple and elegant model.

首先，如果按照一個簡單而優(yōu)雅的模型可以解釋大量的觀測;

And second，if the model makes definite predictions that can be tested，and possibly falsified by observation.

其次，如果這個模型作出可能被觀察檢驗，也可能被證偽的明確預言，這個模型即是一個好模型。

We do not yet have a good theoretical understanding of the observations that the expansion of the universe is accelerating again，after a long period of slowing down.

我們觀察到，宇宙的膨脹在長期的變緩之后，再次加速。對此理論還不能理解清楚。

Without such an understanding，we can not be sure of the future of the universe. Will it continue to expand forever? Is inflation a law of Nature? Or will the universe eventually collapse again?

缺乏這種理解，對宇宙的未來還無法確定。它會繼續(xù)地、無限地膨脹下去嗎?暴脹是一個自然定律嗎?

New observational results and theoretical advances are coming in rapidly. Cosmology is a very exciting and active subject.

或者宇宙最終會再次坍縮嗎?新的觀測結(jié)果，理論的進步正迅速涌來。宇宙學是一個非常激動人心和活躍的學科。

We are getting close to answering the age old questions. Why are we here? Where did we come from?

我們正慢慢接近這個古老問題的答案：我們?yōu)楹卧诖?我們從何而來?

Thank you!

謝謝各位。

【人物簡介】

2006年6月19日，世界科學大師斯蒂芬·霍金教授參加在人民大會堂舉行的國際弦理論大會開幕式，并作“宇宙的起源”主題講座?；艚?，現(xiàn)任英國劍橋大學應用數(shù)學及理論物理學系教授，當代最重要的廣義相對論和宇宙論家，是本世紀享有國際盛譽的偉人之一，被稱為在世的最偉大的科學家，還被稱為“宇宙之王。