万物简史:PART III CH 8爱因斯坦的宇宙（20）
来源：沪江听写酷
2012-01-06 07:45
凡有质量的物体在宇宙的底垫上都能造成一个小小的凹坑。在某种意义上，引力并不存在；使行星和恒星运动的是空间和时间的变形。当然，以下陷的底垫来作比喻，只能帮助我们理解到这种程度，因为还要包含时间的作用。爱因斯坦的广义相对论提出了许多见解。但是也并非完美无缺~~~
❤《万物简史》推出部落节目版，戳这里订阅:http://bulo.hujiang.com/menu/6004/
文中需听写单词或词组用[-No-]表示，句子用[---No---]表示。请边听写边理解文意，这样可以提高听力准确度，并为训练听译打下基础哦~~~
Hints:
reflexively
arbitrarily
counterbalance
Every object that has mass creates a little depression in the fabric of the cosmos. Thus the universe, as Dennis Overbye has put it, is "the ultimate sagging mattress." Gravity on this view is no longer [-1-] an outcome—"not a 'force' but a [-2-] of the warping of spacetime," in the words of the physicist Michio Kaku, who goes on: "[---3---]"
Of course the sagging mattress analogy can take us only so far because it doesn't [-4-] the effect of time. But then our brains can take us only so far because it is so [-5-] impossible to envision a dimension [-6-] three parts space to one part time, all interwoven like the threads in a plaid fabric. [---7---]
Among much else, Einstein's general theory of relativity suggested that the universe must be either expanding or contracting. But Einstein was not a cosmologist, and he accepted the prevailing wisdom that the universe was fixed and eternal. [---8---] Books on the history of science always forgive Einstein this lapse, but it was actually a fairly appalling piece of science and he knew it. He called it "the biggest blunder of my life."
❤《万物简史》推出部落节目版，戳这里订阅:http://bulo.hujiang.com/menu/6004/
文中需听写单词或词组用[-No-]表示，句子用[---No---]表示。请边听写边理解文意，这样可以提高听力准确度，并为训练听译打下基础哦~~~
Hints:
reflexively
arbitrarily
counterbalance
Every object that has mass creates a little depression in the fabric of the cosmos. Thus the universe, as Dennis Overbye has put it, is "the ultimate sagging mattress." Gravity on this view is no longer [-1-] an outcome—"not a 'force' but a [-2-] of the warping of spacetime," in the words of the physicist Michio Kaku, who goes on: "[---3---]"
Of course the sagging mattress analogy can take us only so far because it doesn't [-4-] the effect of time. But then our brains can take us only so far because it is so [-5-] impossible to envision a dimension [-6-] three parts space to one part time, all interwoven like the threads in a plaid fabric. [---7---]
Among much else, Einstein's general theory of relativity suggested that the universe must be either expanding or contracting. But Einstein was not a cosmologist, and he accepted the prevailing wisdom that the universe was fixed and eternal. [---8---] Books on the history of science always forgive Einstein this lapse, but it was actually a fairly appalling piece of science and he knew it. He called it "the biggest blunder of my life."
so much a thing as
byproduct
In some sense, gravity does not exist, what moves the planets and stars is the distortion of space and time.
incorporate
nearly
comprising
At all events, I think we can agree that this was an awfully big thought for a young man staring out the window of a patent office in the capital of Switzerland.
More or less reflexively, he dropped into his equations something called the cosmological constant, which arbitrarily counterbalanced the effects of gravity, serving as a kind of mathematical pause button.
凡有质量的物体在宇宙的底垫上都能造成一个小小的凹坑。因此，正如丹尼斯•奥弗比说的，宇宙是个"最终的下陷底垫"。从这个观点来看，引力与其说是一种东西，不如说是一种结果--用物理学家米奇奥•卡库的话来说：“不是一种‘力'，而是时空弯曲的一件副产品。”卡库接着又说：“在某种意义上，引力并不存在；使行星和恒星运动的是空间和时间的变形。”
当然，以下陷的底垫来作比喻，只能帮助我们理解到这种程度，因为没有包含时间的作用。话虽这么说，其实我们的大脑也只能想像到这个地步。若要想像空间和时间以3∶1的比例像线织成一块格子地垫那样织成一份时空，这几乎是不可能的。无论如何，我想我们会一致认为，对于一位凝视着瑞士首都专利局窗外的年轻人来说，这确实是个了不起的见解。
爱因斯坦的广义相对论提出了许多见解。其中，他认为，宇宙心总是或者膨胀或者收缩的。但是，爱因斯坦不是一位宇宙学家，他接受了流行的看法，即宇宙是固定的，永恒的。多少出于本能，他在自己的等式里加进了他所谓的宇宙常数。他把它作为一种数学暂停键，武断地以此来抵消引力的作用。科学史书总是原谅爱因斯坦的这个失误，但这其实是科学上一件很可怕的事。他把它称之为"我一生中所犯的最大错误"。
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