Next comes the question, precisely how doesthe order of the A , B , C , D units determine the arrangement of the amino acids in the protein? Thisis the central unsolved problem in biology today. The first clues, or pieces ofinformation, however, are these: There are in the cell tiny particles called ribosomes,and it is now known that that is the place where proteins are made. But the ribosomesare not in the nucleus, where the DNA and its instructions are. Something seemsto be the matter. However, it is also known that little molecule pieces comeoff the DNA—not as long as the big DNA molecule that carries all the informationitself, but like a small section of it. This is called RNA, but that is notessential. It is a kind of copy of the DNA, a short copy. The RNA, whichsomehow carries a message as to what kind of protein to make goes over to theribosome; that is known. When it gets there, protein is synthesized at theribosome. That is also known. However, the details of how the amino acids comein and are arranged in accordance with a code that is on the RNA are, as yet,still unknown. We do not know how to read it. If we knew, for example, the “lineup”A , B , C , C , A , we could not tell you what protein is to be made.
下面问题来了，就是A、B、C、D单元的顺序，是如何精确地规定蛋白质中的氨基酸的排列的？这是今天生物学中，尚未解决的中心问题。然而，第一条线索、或信息片段，是这些：在细胞中，有小的粒子，被称为核糖体，现在知道，蛋白质就是在这里制造的。但是，核糖体并不在细胞核中，而DNA和及其指示，则在其中。似乎应该有某物，在起作用。然而，现在我们知道的是，有小的分子片，会从DNA中出来；大的DNA分子，承载着所有信息，这些小片，没有大的DNA那么长，而是一些小的片段，他们被称为RNA，但这还不是根本的。它是DNA的某种拷贝，一个短的拷贝。RNA以某种方式带着一条消息，朝着核糖体走去，该消息，是关于制造哪种蛋白质的；这是知道的。当RNA到达核糖体时，蛋白质就被合成。这也是知道的。然而，氨基酸是如何进来的，以及是如何依据RNA中的指令而被排列的，这些细节，还不知道。我们不知道，如何读它{RNA}。如果我们知道的话，例如，知道A , B , C , C , A这一“阵容”，但我们不能告诉你，哪种蛋白质，将被制造。

Certainly no subject or field is making moreprogress on so many fronts at the present moment, than biology, and if we were toname the most powerful assumption of all, which leads one on and on in anattempt to understand life, it is that all things are made of atoms, andthat everything that living things do can be understood in terms of the jigglingsand wigglings of atoms.
在今天，有一点很肯定，就是没有任何一个学科或领域，会像生物学那样，在很多前沿，迅猛发展，如果我们要提名一个最有力的假设，说它带领着我们，不断尝试着去理解生命，那么，它就是：所有的事物都是由原子构成的，活着的生命所做的每件事情，都可以依据原子的摇动和摆动，而被理解。

3–4Astronomy 天文学
In this rapid-fire explanation of the wholeworld, we must now turn to astronomy. Astronomy is older than physics. In fact,it got physics started by showing the beautiful simplicity of the motion of thestars and planets, the understanding of which was the beginning of physics.But the most remarkable discovery in all of astronomy is that the stars aremade of atoms of the same kind as those on the earth.1How was this done? Atoms liberate light which has definite frequencies, somethinglike the timbre of a musical instrument, which has definite pitches or frequenciesof sound. When we are listening to several different tones we can tell them apart,but when we look with our eyes at a mixture of colors we cannot tell the parts fromwhich it was made, because the eye is nowhere near as discerning as the ear inthis connection. However, with a spectroscope we can analyze thefrequencies of the light waves and in this way we can see the very tunes of theatoms that are in the different stars. As a matter of fact, two of the chemicalelements were discovered on a star before they were discovered on the earth. Heliumwas discovered on the sun, whence its name, and technetium was discovered incertain cool stars. This, of course, permits us to make headway in understandingthe stars, because they are made of the same kinds of atoms which are on theearth. Now we know a great deal about the atoms, especially concerning their behaviorunder conditions of high temperature but not very great density, so that we cananalyze by statistical mechanics the behavior of the stellar substance. Even thoughwe cannot reproduce the conditions on the earth, using the basic physical lawswe often can tell precisely, or very closely, what will happen. So it is thatphysics aids astronomy. Strange as it may seem, we understand the distributionof matter in the interior of the sun far better than we understand the interiorof the earth. What goes on inside a star is better understood than one mightguess from the difficulty of having to look at a little dot of light through atelescope, because we can calculate what the atoms in the stars should doin most circumstances.
我们对世界的解释，类似速射，现在转向天文学。天文学比物理学要老。事实上，行星与恒星的运动，有一种美丽的简单性，正是由于要指出此性，才导致物理学的开始，对此的理解，是物理学的开端。但是，所有天文学中最引人注目的发现就是：构成恒星的原子，与构成地球的原子，是同样的。这是如何做到的呢？原子所发出的光，有确定的频率，有点类似乐器的音质，有确定的音高和音频，当我们听几种不同的曲调时，我们可以将其分开，但是，当我们用眼睛，去看多种颜色所合成的光时，我们无法分辨，因为我们眼睛对光的分辨，不如耳朵对声音的分辨。然而，借助一个光谱仪，我们就可以分析光波的频率，这样，对于不同行星上的原子，我们就可以看到其音调。事实上，有两种化学元素，就是先在行星上发现的，然后，才在在地球上发现。氦，就是先在太阳上发现，并由此得名字，而锝，则是在某些冷却的恒星上上发现的。这些确实让我们在理解行星方面，能有所进步，因为，构成它们的原子，与地球上的原子是同类。对于原子，我们现在了解很多，特别是它们在高温条件下的表现，但是，在非常大的密度下的表现，则并不了解，所以，我们可以通过统计力学，来分析行星物质的表现。虽然我们在地球上，不能重现这些条件，但是，使用基本的物理定律，我们通常可以准确地、或者说非常近似地预告，将会发生什么。所以，是物理学在帮助天文学。有一点看上去很奇怪，即我们对太阳内部物质分布的理解，要比对地球内部物质分布的理解，更好一些。通过望远镜看行星，虽然有点困难，但是通过这点光，我们就能对行星上所发生的事情，有较好的理解，这还是超出了一般人的想象，因为，在大多数的情况下，我们可以计算出行星上的原子，应该是在做什么。

One of the most impressive discoveries was theorigin of the energy of the stars, that makes them continue to burn. One of themen who discovered this was out with his girlfriend the night after he realizedthat nuclear reactions must be going on in the stars in order to makethem shine. She said “Look at how pretty the stars shine!” He said “Yes, andright now I am the only man in the world who knows why they shine.” Shemerely laughed at him. She was not impressed with being out with the only man who,at that moment, knew why stars shine. Well, it is sad to be alone, but that isthe way it is in this world.
令人印象深刻的发现之一，就是行星能量的起源，它使得行星持续燃烧。发现这一点的，有好几个人，其中之一，有一天，意识到核反应，应该在行星上持续进行，以使它们闪耀，第二天晚上，他与女朋友外出。她说：“看啊，星光灿烂，多漂亮啊”，他说：“是啊，现在我是地球上唯一知道它们为什么发光的人”，她只是笑话他。她是在与当时地球上唯一知道行星为什么发光的人出游，但这一点，并没有触动她。据说孤独是悲哀的，但这个世界，就是如此。

It is the nuclear “burning” of hydrogenwhich supplies the energy of the sun; the hydrogen is converted into helium. Furthermore,ultimately, the manufacture of various chemical elements proceeds in the centersof the stars, from hydrogen. The stuff of which we are made, was “cooked”once, in a star, and spit out. How do we know? Because there is a clue. Theproportion of the different isotopes—how much C12 , how much C13 , etc., is something which is never changed by chemical reactions,because the chemical reactions are so much the same for the two. The proportionsare purely the result of nuclear reactions. By looking at the proportionsof the isotopes in the cold, dead ember which we are, we can discover what the furnacewas like in which the stuff of which we are made was formed. That furnace was likethe stars, and so it is very likely that our elements were “made” in the stars andspit out in the explosions which we call novae and supernovae. Astronomy is soclose to physics that we shall study many astronomical things as we go along.
给太阳提供能量的，是氢原子核的燃烧；氢被转成了氦。另外，在恒星的内部，从氢出发，各种化学元素的制造过程，都在进行中。构成我们的东西，在恒星中，被“烹饪”一次，然后被吐出来。我们是如何知道的呢？因为有一个线索。不同的同位素的比例，即有多少C12，有多少C13等等，是一个在化学反应中永远不变的东西，因为化学反应对它们两个来说，是一样的。这个比例，纯粹是原子核反应的结果。我们可以做东西{原子核反应}，等到灰烬变冷后，通过查看灰烬中的同位素的比例，我们可以发现，这个熔炉，像什么，我们所做的东西，会在这个熔炉中形成。这个熔炉，就像恒星一样，所以，我们的元素，很有可能，就是在恒星中被“制造”出来，然后，在爆炸中被吐出，这种爆炸，我们称为新星或超新星。天文学与物理学是如此接近，以致于随着我们的进展，我们将会研究很多天文学的事情。

3–5Geology 地质学
We turn now to what are called earthsciences, or geology. First, meteorology and the weather. Of coursethe instruments of meteorology are physical instruments, and the developmentof experimental physics made these instruments possible, as was explained before.However, the theory of meteorology has never been satisfactorily worked out bythe physicist. “Well,” you say, “there is nothing but air, and we know the equationsof the motions of air.” Yes we do. “So if we know the condition of air today, whycan’t we figure out the condition of the air tomorrow?” First, we do not reallyknow what the condition is today, because the air is swirling and twisting everywhere.It turns out to be very sensitive, and even unstable. If you have ever seen waterrun smoothly over a dam, and then turn into a large number of blobs and drops asit falls, you will understand what I mean by unstable. You know the conditionof the water before it goes over the spillway; it is perfectly smooth; but the momentit begins to fall, where do the drops begin? What determines how big the lumpsare going to be and where they will be? That is not known, because the water isunstable. Even a smooth moving mass of air, in going over a mountain turns intocomplex whirlpools and eddies. In many fields we find this situation of turbulentflow that we cannot analyze today. Quickly we leave the subject of weather,and discuss geology!
我们现在转向地球科学，或地质学。首先，是气象和天气。当然，气象的仪器，就是物理的仪器，如前所述，实验物理学的发展，使得这些仪器变得可能。然而，气象理论，从来没有被物理学家们满意地得出过。“好”你说，“地面上方无非只是空气，且我们知道空气运动的方程。”我们确实知道。“所以，如果我们知道今天空气的条件，那么我们为什么不能得出明天空气的条件呢？”首先，我们并不真正地知道今天的条件是什么，因为空气到处都在旋转、扭动。所以，空气很敏感，并且很不稳定。如果你曾经看到过水流缓缓地流过一个大坝，然后，在下降的时候，变成无数大大小小的水珠，你就理解我所说的不稳定了。在水通过溢洪道之前，你知道水的条件；它很平稳；但是，当它开始降落的时候，水珠是从什么地方开始的呢？是什么决定了这些水块的大小，及它们将会去往哪里呢？这些并不知道，因为水是不稳定的。甚至，一团平稳运动的空气，在过山的时候，也会变成复杂的漩涡和涡流。在很多地方，我们都发现了湍流，这种情况，我们今天还无法分析。天气问题，我们速战速决，下面开始讨论地质学。

The question basic to geology is, what makesthe earth the way it is? The most obvious processes are in front of your veryeyes, the erosion processes of the rivers, the winds, etc. It is easy enough tounderstand these, but for every bit of erosion there is an equal amount of somethingelse going on. Mountains are no lower today, on the average, than they were inthe past. There must be mountain-forming processes. You will find, if youstudy geology, that there are mountain-forming processes and volcanism,which nobody understands but which is half of geology. The phenomenon of volcanoesis really not understood. What makes an earthquake is, ultimately, not understood.It is understood that if something is pushing something else, it snaps and willslide—that is all right. But what pushes, and why? The theory is that there arecurrents inside the earth—circulating currents, due to the difference in temperatureinside and outside—which, in their motion, push the surface slightly. Thus ifthere are two opposite circulations next to each other, the matter will collectin the region where they meet and make belts of mountains which are in unhappystressed conditions, and so produce volcanoes and earthquakes.
对地质学来说，一个基本问题就是，究竟是什么，使得地球成为现在这个样子？最明显的过程，就在我们眼前，即河流与风的侵蚀等等，理解这些很容易，但是，对于每一点侵蚀来说，都有某种等量的东西，在发生着。山脉在过去，平均来说，并不像今天这么低。应该有一个山脉形成的过程和火山运动，火山运动没有人能理解，但是，它却是地质学的一半。火山现象确实未被理解。地震的原因，也不知道。能理解的是，如果某物推着另一个物，那么，就会出现断裂、滑动，这是完全正确的。但是，什么在推呢？这又是为什么呢？理论就是，在地球内部，有急流--循环的急流，这是由于地球内外温度的差异--，这种急流，在其运动中，轻推地表。这样，如果有两种相反的循环，挨在一起，那么，物质就会在它们相遇的地方堆积，然后，形成山脉，山脉不幸，处于压力之下，所以就会产生火山和地震。

What about the inside of the earth? A greatdeal is known about the speed of earthquake waves through the earth and the densityof distribution of the earth. However, physicists have been unable to get a goodtheory as to how dense a substance should be at the pressures that would be expectedat the center of the earth. In other words, we cannot figure out the propertiesof matter very well in these circumstances. We do much less well with the earththan we do with the conditions of matter in the stars. The mathematics involvedseems a little too difficult, so far, but perhaps it will not be too long beforesomeone realizes that it is an important problem, and really works it out. Theother aspect, of course, is that even if we did know the density, we cannotfigure out the circulating currents. Nor can we really work out the propertiesof rocks at high pressure. We cannot tell how fast the rocks should “give”; thatmust all be worked out by experiment.
地球内部又是什么情况呢？关于地震波通过地球的速度和地球的密度分布，已经知道了很多。地球的中心，我们认为会有高压，一个具体物质，在这种高压下，密度会是什么样子呢？对此，物理学家还得不到一个好的理论。换句话说，对于在这种情景下的物质的属性，我们想象不出来。我们对于地球所做的，与我们对于恒星上的物质的条件所做的相比，要差得多。目前为止，所牵扯到的数学，似乎有点太难，但是，可能要不了多久，就会有人的意识到，这是一个重要的问题，然后，做出真正的工作。当然，另一方面就是，即使我们知道了密度，我们还是想象不出此循环的急流。我们对于高压下岩石的属性，同样也得不出。我们无法知道，岩石应该“提供”的应该有多快；这些都应该通过实验来得到。

3–6Psychology 心理学
Next, we consider the science of psychology.Incidentally, psychoanalysis is not a science: it is at best a medical process,and perhaps even more like witch-doctoring. It has a theory as to what causesdisease—lots of different “spirits,” etc. The witch doctor has a theory that adisease like malaria is caused by a spirit which comes into the air; it is not curedby shaking a snake over it, but quinine does help malaria. So, if you are sick,I would advise that you go to the witch doctor because he is the man in thetribe who knows the most about the disease; on the other hand, his knowledge isnot science. Psychoanalysis has not been checked carefully by experiment, andthere is no way to find a list of the number of cases in which it works, the numberof cases in which it does not work, etc.
下面我们考虑心理科学。顺便说一下，心理分析不是一门科学：它最多是一个治疗过程，或许，更像巫医。对于究竟是什么引起疾病的，它有一种说法，即有很多不同的“精神”，等等。巫医有一种理论，就是像疟疾这种疾病，是由一种来到空气中的精神所引起的；它的治愈，并不是在上面晃动一个蛇，而是奎宁。所以，如果你病了，我建议你去看巫医，因为他是部落中对疾病了解最多的人；另一方面，他的知识不是科学。心理分析，还没有被实验仔细地检查过，也没有办法找到一个清单，用来指出，在那些情况下它有用，在那些情况下它没用，等等。

The other branches of psychology, which involvethings like the physiology of sensation—what happens in the eye, and what happensin the brain—are, if you wish, less interesting. But some small but realprogress has been made in studying them. One of the most interesting technical problemsmay or may not be called psychology. The central problem of the mind, if youwill, or the nervous system, is this: when an animal learns something, it can dosomething different than it could before, and its brain cell must have changedtoo, if it is made out of atoms. In what way is it different? We do not knowwhere to look, or what to look for, when something is memorized. We do not knowwhat it means, or what change there is in the nervous system, when a fact is learned.This is a very important problem which has not been solved at all. Assuming, however,that there is some kind of memory thing, the brain is such an enormous mass ofinterconnecting wires and nerves that it probably cannot be analyzed in a straightforwardmanner. There is an analog of this to computing machines and computing elements,in that they also have a lot of lines, and they have some kind of element, analogous,perhaps, to the synapse, or connection of one nerve to another. This is a veryinteresting subject which we have not the time to discuss further—the relationshipbetween thinking and computing machines. It must be appreciated, of course, thatthis subject will tell us very little about the real complexities of ordinaryhuman behavior. All human beings are so different. It will be a long time beforewe get there. We must start much further back. If we could even figure out how adog works, we would have gone pretty far. Dogs are easier to understand,but nobody yet knows how dogs work.
心理学的其他分支，包括诸如感觉的生理学—即眼睛里发生了什么，大脑里发生了什么等，如果你想了解的话，就要知道，它们的趣味性要更差一些。但是，关于它们的研究，还是做出了一些小的和真实的进步。最有趣的技术课题之一，可以被称为心理学，当然你也可以不这样称呼它。心灵{mind}的中心问题，或者，你也可以把它称为神经系统的问题，就是，当一个动物学会了某件事情，那么，它做某事的方式，就会与前不同，这样，其大脑细胞，如果是由原子构成的话，就应该发生了改变。这种不同究竟是以何种方式发生的呢？当某事被记起来的时候，我们不知道去哪里找，或者去找什么。当我们学到一个事实的时候，我们并不知道，它意味着什么，或者，在神经系统中发生了什么样的改变。这是一个很重要的问题，还根本未被解决。然而，假设有某种记忆的东西，而大脑就是一大团相互连接着的线和神经，它们大概不能以一种直接的方式被分析。这一点，可以与计算机器和计算元素，做个类比，即它们也有很多线，还有某种的元素，可以与突触相类比，或者：与一个神经与另一个神经的连接，相类比。这个话题很有趣，但是，关于思维与计算机器之间的关系，我们没有时间做深入的讨论了。当然，应该承认，这个话题，在普通人类的复杂性方面，告诉我们的会很少。人与人之间，区别很大。我们要彻底理解这些，需要很长时间。我们应该从更近些的地方开始。如果我们可以搞清楚，狗是如何工作的，那么，我们就已经走的相当远了。狗还是比较容易理解的，尽管如此，目前还是没有人知道，狗是如何工作的。

3–7How did it get that way? 事情该如何走上{物理}这条路？
In order for physics to be useful to othersciences in a theoretical way, other than in the invention of instruments,the science in question must supply to the physicist a description of the objectin a physicist’s language. They can say “why does a frog jump?,” and the physicistcannot answer. If they tell him what a frog is, that there are so many molecules,there is a nerve here, etc., that is different. If they will tell us, more orless, what the earth or the stars are like, then we can figure it out. In orderfor physical theory to be of any use, we must know where the atoms are located.In order to understand the chemistry, we must know exactly what atoms are present,for otherwise we cannot analyze it. That is but one limitation, of course.
对于仪器的发明，物理学是有用的，对于其他科学，为了让物理学除这种作用外，在理论上也有用，那么，待考那门科学，就应该用物理学家的语言，给物理学家提供相关对象的描述。他们可以说：“为什么青蛙在跳？”物理学家不能回答。如果他们告诉物理学家，什么是青蛙，即有很多分子，有一根神经等等，这就不同了。如果他们或多或少地告诉我们，地球或恒星是什么样子的，那么，我们就可以搞清楚它们是什么了。为了让物理理论派上用场，我们应该知道，原子在什么地方。为了理解化学，我们应该知道，在场的原子是什么，否则的话，我们就不能分析它了。当然，这无非是一种限制{条件}。

There is another kind of problem in thesister sciences which does not exist in physics; we might call it, for lack ofa better term, the historical question. How did it get that way? If we understandall about biology, we will want to know how all the things which are on the earthgot there. There is the theory of evolution, an important part of biology. Ingeology, we not only want to know how the mountains are forming, but how the entireearth was formed in the beginning, the origin of the solar system, etc. That, ofcourse, leads us to want to know what kind of matter there was in the world. Howdid the stars evolve? What were the initial conditions? That is the problem ofastronomical history. A great deal has been found out about the formation ofstars, the formation of elements from which we were made, and even a little aboutthe origin of the universe.
在姐妹科学中，还有另外一种问题，这些问题在物理学中并不存在；由于缺乏更好的词汇，所以我们可以把其称为历史性的问题。事情是如何走上这条路的？如果我们理解了关于生物学的所有事情，那么，我们就想知道，地球上的所有事情，是如何变成今天这个样子的。有进化论，它是生物学的重要部分，在地理学中，我们不仅想知道，山是如何形成的？我们还想知道，整个地球最初是如何形成的？太阳系的起源等等。这些问题，当然会引发我们去思索，过去的世界，究竟有哪些物质？行星是如何演化的？初始条件是什么？这些就是天文历史的问题。关于恒星的形成，已经找到了很多信息，即构成我们的元素是如何的形成的，甚至，宇宙起源的一点信息。

There is no historical question being studiedin physics at the present time. We do not have a question, “Here are the laws ofphysics, how did they get that way?” We do not imagine, at the moment, that thelaws of physics are somehow changing with time, that they were different in thepast than they are at present. Of course they may be, and the moment wefind they are, the historical question of physics will be wrapped up withthe rest of the history of the universe, and then the physicist will be talkingabout the same problems as astronomers, geologists, and biologists.
当前在物理学中，并没有人在研究历史性的问题。我们并没有这样一个问题：“这里是物理学的定律，它们是如何走到这一步的？”这个时候，我们并不去想象，物理学的定律是以某种方式，随着时间而改变，即它们在过去，与在现在，是不一样的。当然，它们可能如此，当我们发现它们如此的时候，那么，物理学的历史性问题，将会与宇宙的其他历史，捆在一起，那时，物理学家所讨论的问题，将与天文学家、地质学家和生物学家所讨论的问题类似。

A poet once said, “The whole universe is ina glass of wine.” We will probably never know in what sense he meant that, forpoets do not write to be understood. But it is true that if we look at a glassof wine closely enough we see the entire universe. There are the things of physics:the twisting liquid which evaporates depending on the wind and weather, the reflectionsin the glass, and our imagination adds the atoms. The glass is a distillationof the earth’s rocks, and in its composition we see the secrets of the universe’sage, and the evolution of stars. What strange array of chemicals are in the wine?How did they come to be? There are the ferments, the enzymes, the substrates, andthe products. There in wine is found the great generalization: all life is fermentation.Nobody can discover the chemistry of wine without discovering, as did Louis Pasteur,the cause of much disease. How vivid is the claret, pressing its existence intothe consciousness that watches it! If our small minds, for some convenience, dividethis glass of wine, this universe, into parts—physics, biology, geology, astronomy,psychology, and so on—remember that nature does not know it! So let us put it allback together, not forgetting ultimately what it is for. Let it give us one morefinal pleasure: drink it and forget it all!
一位诗人曾经说过：“整个宇宙，就是一玻璃杯的红酒”。我们大概永远也不会知道，他这样说时，感情为何，因为诗人写诗，并不是为了被理解。但是，有一点是真的，那就是，如果我们足够近的看一杯红酒的话，我们就可以看到整个宇宙。有物理上的事情：扭动的液体，其蒸发，依赖于风和天气；杯子的反光，以及我们加上原子的想象。玻璃杯是地球岩石的蒸馏，在它的组合中，我们看到了宇宙年龄的秘密，以及恒星的演化。在红酒中，究竟有什么样奇异的化学排列呢？它们又是如何如此的呢？有发酵、酶、基底物，以及产品。在红酒中，找到了最伟大的普遍化：所有的生命都是发酵。任何人，如果他能发现红酒的化学过程，那么，他就不可能不会发现很多疾病的原因，正如路易斯·巴斯德所做那样。干红葡萄酒是多么地清澈明亮，栩栩如生，会使观看它的人，印象深刻。如果我们小的心灵，为了某种方便，把这杯红酒、这个宇宙，分成不同的部分—物理学，生物学，地质学，天文学，心理学等等--，那么要记住，自然并不知道此事！所以，让我们把它们全放在一旁，不要忘记了它的终极目的。让它给我们最终的快乐：抛开一切，浮一大白！

1. How I’m rushing through this! How much each sentence in this brief storycontains. “The stars are made of the same atoms as the earth.” I usually pick onesmall topic like this to give a lecture on. Poets say science takes away from thebeauty of the stars—mere globs of gas atoms. Nothing is “mere.” I too can see thestars on a desert night, and feel them. But do I see less or more? The vastnessof the heavens stretches my imagination—stuck on this carousel my little eye cancatch one-million-year-old light. A vast pattern—of which I am a part—perhaps mystuff was belched from some forgotten star, as one is belching there. Or see themwith the greater eye of Palomar, rushing all apart from some common starting pointwhen they were perhaps all together. What is the pattern, or the meaning, or thewhy? It does not do harm to the mystery to know a little about it. For farmore marvelous is the truth than any artists of the past imagined! Why do the poetsof the present not speak of it? What men are poets who can speak of Jupiter if hewere like a man, but if he is an immense spinning sphere of methane and ammoniamust be silent?
脚注1、我把这些，快速地过了一遍，多么惊奇。这个简短故事中的每句话，究竟包含了多少内容呢。“构成恒星的原子，与构成地球的原子，是一样的。”我通常选一个类似这样的小话题，然后给一个讲座。诗人们说，科学把星星的美，拿走了，仅仅剩下一团大气原子。没有任何东西是“仅仅的”。在一个沙漠的夜晚，我也可以看到星星，并感觉到它们。但是，我看到的是更少，还是更多呢？浩瀚的天空，扩展了我的想象力，在这个移动的传送带上，我的渺小的眼睛，可以看到100万年前的光。这是一个巨大的模型，我是其中的一部分，或许我的一些东西，是从某个被遗忘的星球，打喷嚏喷出来的，就好像有个人在那里打喷嚏一样。或者是用帕罗马{ Palomar }的更大的眼睛来，就是这样：它们曾经都在一起，从这些共同的开始点出发，冲了出来{大爆炸？}。这个模型是什么呢？或者意义为何，或者为什么呢？对它有所了解，并不会对它的神秘，有任何伤害。因为真相，要比过去任何艺术家所能想象的，都要更加地不可思议。为什么当代的诗人不谈论它呢？一个会说到木星的诗人，如果他像一个人的话，他是一个什么样的人呢？但是，如果他是一个由甲烷和氨气所构成的巨大的旋转的球体，他应该沉默吗？{？}
{ Palomar:加州理工的天文望远镜装置}