时间简史

这其实是一种常识
It is a matter of common experience…
如果你把一些东西放任不管
that disorder tends to increase with time…
它们会倾向于变得无序
if things are left to themselves.
有天 雅各布·贝肯斯坦走进办公室
Jacob Bekenstein came into the office one day.
“雅各布啊” 我说
“Jacob,” I said…
“有件事我总是想不清楚”
“lt always troubles me…
“当我把一杯热茶放在一杯凉茶边上时”
when I put a hot teacup next to a cold teacup.
“通过让热量从一个杯子转移到另一个上”
I’ve increased, by letting heat flow from one to the other…
“我增大了宇宙的混乱度”
the amount of disorder in the universe.
“但是 雅各布 如果一个黑洞恰好经过”
But Jacob, if a black hole swims by…
“这时候我把两杯茶都扔进去”
and I drop both teacups into this…
“我岂不是就隐藏了我让熵增大的证据 是吗”
I’ve concealed the evidence of my crime, have I not?”
贝肯斯坦是个十分严谨的人
Bekenstein’s a man of great integrity…
他当时看起来很疑惑 不过一会儿他就回来了
and he looked troubled, and he came back to me later…
“不 你没有” 他开口说
and he said, “No, you have not…
“这样并不能掩饰你之前的所作所为”
concealed the evidence of your crime.
黑洞会记录下你行为的痕迹”
The black hole records what’s happened to you.”
史蒂芬·霍金读了
Stephen Hawking read the paper…
贝肯斯坦在其中声明了这个结论的论文之后
in which Bekenstein announced this result…
觉得它太荒谬了
Thought it was preposterous…
他决定要证明它是错的
and decided to prove it was wrong.
我的发现让雅各布·贝肯斯坦做了如下假设
My discoveries led Jacob Bekenstein to suggest…
事件视界的面♥积♥
that the area of the event horizon…
实际上就是一个黑洞的熵
actually was the entropy of a black hole.
但是 这个假设有一个致命的缺陷
But there was one fatal flaw. ..
在贝肯斯坦看来
In Bekenstein’s idea:
如果黑洞有熵
If black holes have an entropy…
那么它们就得有温度
they ought to have a temperature.
而如果黑洞有温度
And if they have a temperature…
那么他们就有辐射
they ought to give off radiation.
可是 既然任何东西都不能逃离黑洞
But how could they give off radiation…
为什么黑洞会有辐射呢
if nothing can escape from a black hole ?
不过最后证明
As it turned out…
贝肯斯坦基本上是正确的
Bekenstein was basically correct…
但却是以一种让人惊异的方式
though in a manner far more surprising…
这方式超出任何人 包括他本人 的意料之外
than he or anyone else had expected.
当他的双手慢慢失去运动能力时
As he gradually lost the use of his hands…
他不得不开始
he had to start developing
精心挑选研究项目
carefully choosing research projects…
那些只需要在脑袋里进行几何运算
that could be tackled and solved…
就能处理好的项目
through geometrical arguments that he could do pictorially in his head.
此外 他还发展了一套非常强力的工具
And he developed a very powerful set of tools
其他任何人都不曾有过
nobody else really had.
在某种程度上 当你失去一套工具时
So in some sense, when you lose one set of tools…
你能发展出另一套工具 不过新的工具
you may develop other tools, but the new tools…
能解决的难题是和之前那套工具不同的
are amenable to different kinds of problems than the old tools.
而如果世上掌握这套工具的人只有你一个
And if you’re the only master in the world of these new tools…
那么有些问题只有你能解决 其他人都无能为力
that means certain kinds of problems you can solve and nobody else can.
直到1973年
My work up to 1973…
我的工作都在广义相对论的范畴内
was in general relativity…
它们被总结在一本我与乔治·埃利斯合著的书中
and was summarized in a book I wrote with George Ellis called…
大尺度下的时空结构
The Large Scale Structure of Space-Time.
那时候 书写对我而言已经很艰难了
Even then, it was difficult for me to write things down…
所以我更倾向于以图形和图表的形式
so I tended to think in pictures and diagrams…
在脑海中进行思考
that I could visualize in my head.
我记得那次探望史蒂芬和简的经历
I remember visiting Stephen and Jane…
他们那时还住在剑桥
at their home in Cambridge.
晚饭过后
After supper in the evening…
当史蒂芬要上♥床♥休息时
when it was time for Stephen to go to bed…
简坚持 而史蒂芬也默认 我猜这是通常的情况
Jane insisted and Stephen acquiesced I guess this was standard
史蒂芬自己尝试上楼梯
that Stephen make his way up
我已经记不清是一层还是两层楼梯
I’ve forgotten whether it was one flight of stairs or two alone…
这一时期 霍金已经不再能行走
and this was a period when he could no longer walk.
他是这么上楼的 他抓住楼梯栏杆的柱子
The way he got up the stairs was, he grabbed hold of the pillars…
把自己拉上去
that support the banister and pulled him up with the strength
用自己上肢的力量把自己拉起来
pulled himself up the stairs with the strength of his own arms…
一级一级地向上拉
dragging himself up…
从一楼到二楼
from the ground floor up to the second story…
好像花了一辈子的时间 缓慢而艰难
in a long, arduous effort.
简解释说
Jane explained that…
这是他物理疗法的一个重要部分
this was an important part of his physical therapy…
能够尽量保持他的协调能力
to maintain his coordination…
还有肌肉力量
and strength as long as possible.
刚开始的时候 我看得心痛不已
At first it was sort of heartrending…
看着他艰难地拉着自己一步步上楼
to watch what appeared to be the agony of pulling himself up the stairs…
后来我意识到 这就是生命的一部分
until I understood it’s just part of life…
像那样拖着自己上楼梯
pulling himself up the stairs like that.
广义相对论被视为
General relativity is what is called…
一种经典理论
a classical theory.
它预言 每个粒子
It predicts a single definite path…
都只有唯一确定的路径
for each particle.
但根据量子力学
But according to quantum mechanics…
存在一种概念叫做概率或者说不确定性
there is an element of chance or uncertainty.
在时空中
A particle does not have…
一个粒子并不只有唯一的路径
just a single path through space and time.
相反 有这么一个不确定原理
Instead, there is an uncertainty principle…
它表明 一个粒子的准确位置
according to which both the exact position…
和准确速度永不可能同时知道
and velocity of a particle can never be known.
我开始研究
I began investigating…
黑洞附近的粒子上
the effect quantum mechanics might have…
的量子力学效应
on particles near a black hole.
我发现 粒子实际上
I found that particles could escape…
是可以逃离黑洞的
from a black hole…
因此 黑洞并不完全是黑的
that black holes are not completely black.
一开始连我自己都无法相信这一点
At first I didn’t believe it.
但当我又做了一遍计算之后
But when I redid the calculations…
我发现量子力学的这种效果是无法摆脱的
I couldn’t get the effect to go away.
我见了马丁·李斯一面 他兴奋得都在颤抖
I met Martin Rees, and he was shaking with excitement…
他说 “你听说了没 那个”
and he said, “Have you heard? Have you heard…
“史蒂芬刚刚发现的东西”
what Stephen has discovered?
“所有一切都不同了 都颠覆了”
Everything is different! Everything is changed!”
我对自己的发现仍抱有怀疑
I was still unsure of my discovery…
所以我只告诉了少数几个同事
so I only told a few colleagues…
不过消息传得飞快
but word soon spread.
罗杰·彭罗斯在我生日当天打来电♥话♥
Roger Penrose phoned up on my birthday.
他兴奋之极 跟我聊得根本停不下来
He was very excited and went on so long…
于是我的生日晚宴就被冷落了
that my birthday dinner got quite cold.
真遗憾 晚宴上有鹅肉诶
It was a great pity, because it was goose…
我超喜欢的
which I’m very fond of.
对我而言 那简直就是个奇迹
To me it’s a miracle,
因为计算过程复杂又混乱
’cause it’s a complicated and messy calculation.
当今这个时代我们再做这事儿就会顺手得多
We can now do these things very much better…
而且发生的事情看起来更加明晰
and it’s more transparent what happens.
从这些混乱的计算中 他得出的结论是
But out of this messy calculation, he showed that black holes…
黑洞在量子力学效应下 并不是黑的
aren’t black with this quantum mechanical effect.
宇宙中存在一种背景辐射
There was a residual radiation.
史蒂芬参加一次会议
Stephen came to a meeting…
人群一阵骚动
and people were flabbergasted.
我记得有人说 “史蒂芬你肯定错了”
I remember someone saying, “You must be wrong, Stephen.
“你的理论我一句话都不信”
I don’t believe a word of it.”
我曾经说过
I once said that I was unhappy…
对粒子负能量子的产生的解释
with the explanation given in terms of
让我很不满意
negative energy particles being created.
不过 我觉得这是科学思辩的一部分
But I feel this is part of the controversy of science.
你必须有所取舍 我很开心自己参与了这场思辩
You must have the give and take, and I’m delighted to be a part of that.
这是个很有趣的过程
That’s what makes it fun.
当人们的脑子里萦绕着闹人的疑惑时
If you all sat down and said, “Oh, lovely”…
如果所有人都试图忽略他们
when you do have niggling questions in your mind…
那么这实际上对科学毫无意义的
that’s not doing a service to science.
不过我对这并不抵触
But I was not antagonistic to it in any way…