英語流利說 Level8 Unit3 Part3 ：The history of our world
David Christian: The history of our world in 18 minutes
TED2011 ? 17:40 ? Posted April 2011
The history of our world in 18 minutes
18分鐘了解世界史
L8-U3-P3: The history of our world 1
1
First, a video.
首先，我們來看一段視頻。
2
Yes, it is a scrambled egg.
是的，這是個打散的雞蛋。
3
But as you look at it, I hope you'll begin to feel just slightly uneasy.
但是當你看這個視頻的時候，我希望你會開始感到有點不對勁。
4
Because you may notice that what's actually happening is that the egg is unscrambling itself.
因為你可能注意到了，視頻的內容是這個雞蛋在復原。
5
And you'll now see the yolk and the white have separated.
你現在會看到蛋黃和蛋清已經分離了。
6
And now they're going to be poured back into the egg.
現在他們要倒回到雞蛋里。
7
And we all know in our heart of hearts that this is not the way the universe works.
我們內心深處都知道，這不是宇宙運行的方式。
8
A scrambled egg is mush -- tasty mush -- but it's mush.
一個打散的雞蛋是一團糊 -- 可口的糊狀物 -- 但它一定是糊狀物。
9
An egg is a beautiful, sophisticated thing that can create even more sophisticated things, such as chickens.
雞蛋是一種漂亮、復雜的東西，它可以創造出更加復雜的東西來，比如小雞。
10
And we know in our heart of hearts that the universe does not travel from mush to complexity.
我們內心深處知道，宇宙不會從混沌走向復雜。
11
In fact, this gut instinct is reflected in one of the most fundamental laws of physics, the second law of thermodynamics, or the law of entropy.
事實上，這個直覺反映了一個很重要的基礎物理定律，熱力學第二定律，或叫做熵定律。
12
What that says basically is that the general tendency of the universe
這基本上說的就是宇宙的總體趨勢
13
is to move from order and structure to lack of order, lack of structure -- in fact, to mush.
從有序和結構化轉向無序、無結構 -- 事實上，是轉向混沌。
14
And that's why that video feels a bit strange.
這就是為啥那個視頻讓人感覺有點怪。
15
And yet, look around us.
現在，看下我們周圍。
16
What we see around us is staggering complexity.
我們可以看到周圍非常地復雜。
17
Eric Beinhocker estimates that in New York City alone, there are some 10 billion SKUs, or distinct commodities, being traded.
Eric Beinhocker估算，單單在紐約城，有100億件存貨，或者說100億種不同的商品，在交易著。
18
That's hundreds of times as many species as there are on Earth.
這比地球上的物種數量還要多幾百倍。
19
And they're being traded by a species of almost 7 billion individuals,
這些商品，在70億個的同一物種之間交易著，
20
who are linked by trade, travel, and the Internet into a global system of stupendous complexity.
他們被交易、航行以及互聯網所連接進一個極其復雜的全球系統中。
L8-U3-P3: The history of our world 2
21
So here's a great puzzle:
所以這里有個很大的疑問：
22
in a universe ruled by the second law of thermodynamics,
在一個被熱力學第二定律所約束的宇宙，
23
how is it possible to generate the sort of complexity I've described,
它是怎么可能產生我所描述的那種復雜的，
24
the sort of complexity represented by you and me and the convention center?
這種由你我和這個會議中心所代表的這種復雜？
25
Well, the answer seems to be, the universe can create complexity, but with great difficulty.
答案似乎是：這個宇宙可以創造復雜，但是非常困難。
26
In pockets, there appear what my colleague, Fred Spier, calls "Goldilocks conditions"
在這種情況下，我得提一下我的同事，Fred Spier, 他稱之為"金發姑娘條件"
in pockets中的pockets應該指“像口袋一樣，范圍很小”，in pockets的意思我理解為：在這樣一個很小的情況下。
從全球來看，應該都沒幾個人研究宇宙史吧。
我認為Goldilocks conditions在這里也可以理解為“剛性條件”、“平衡條件”。
27
-- not too hot, not too cold, just right for the creation of complexity.
不是太熱，不是太冷，正適合創造復雜性。
28
And slightly more complex things appear.
稍微有點復雜的事情出現。
29
And where you have slightly more complex things, you can get slightly more complex things.
當你有稍微復雜一點的東西時，你可以得到稍微復雜一點的東西。
30
And in this way, complexity builds stage by stage.
在這種方式下，復雜性一步步形成了。
31
Each stage is magical because it creates the impression of something utterly new appearing almost out of nowhere in the universe.
每一步都很魔幻，因為它創建了一個全新的東西，它幾乎在宇宙的任何地方都沒出現過。
32
We refer in big history to these moments as threshold moments.
我們在歷史上把這些時刻稱為極限時刻。
33
And at each threshold, the going gets tougher.
在每一個極限，過程都會變得更困難。
34
The complex things get more fragile, more vulnerable;
復雜的事變得更脆弱；
35
the Goldilocks conditions get more stringent,
金發姑娘條件變得更苛刻，
36
and it's more difficult to create complexity.
宇宙更難去創造復雜性了。
37
Now, we, as extremely complex creatures, desperately need to know this story of how the universe creates complexity despite the second law,
現在，我們，作為極其復雜的生物，迫切需要知道宇宙是如何創造復雜的，盡管有熱力學第二定律，
38
and why complexity means vulnerability and fragility.
以及為什么復雜意味著無助和弱小。
vulnerability意思是受到攻擊的概率大，因為復雜本就難以形成，而宇宙中率先具備復雜性的事物又容易受到攻擊，所以我在這里將這個詞翻譯成了“無助”
fragility意思是受到攻擊后易被破壞。
39
And that's the story that we tell in big history.
這是我們在大歷史中要講的故事。
big history這個詞就是這個演講者創造的，研究從宇宙到現在的歷史，他也創建了一個網站，名叫：Big History Project。
40
But to do it, you have do something that may, at first sight, seem completely impossible.
但是要去講這個故事，你需要先開始做一些或許看上去很不可能的事。
41
You have to survey the whole history of the universe.
你需要去縱觀宇宙的整個歷史。
42
So let's do it.
我們來做吧。
43
Let's begin by winding the timeline back 13.7 billion years, to the beginning of time.
讓我們開始把時間線調回到137億年前，回到時間的起點。
44
Around us, there's nothing.
我們身邊空無一物。
45
There's not even time or space.
甚至沒有時間或空間。
46
Imagine the darkest, emptiest thing you can
盡你所能去想象那最黑暗、最空的狀態
47
and cube it a gazillion times and that's where we are.
把它放大無數倍，這就是我們現在所處的時間點。
最開始，宇宙是一個點，幾乎看不見，所以需要放大無數倍。
48
And then suddenly, bang! A universe appears, an entire universe. And we've crossed our first threshold.
突然，bang，一個宇宙出現了，一個完整的宇宙。我們跨過了第一道門檻。
49
The universe is tiny; it's smaller than an atom. It's incredibly hot.
這個宇宙很小；比一個原子還小。但極度熾熱。
50
It contains everything that's in today's universe, so you can imagine, it's busting.
它包含了今天宇宙中有的所有東西，所以你可以想象下，它爆炸了。
51
And it's expanding at incredible speed.
然后以一個驚人的速度擴張。
52
And at first, it's just a blur, but very quickly distinct things begin to appear in that blur.
一開始，它只是一團混沌，但很快，不同的東西開始出現在混沌中。
53
Within the first second, energy itself shatters into distinct forces including electromagnetism and gravity.
在第一秒內，能量分解成不同的力，包括電磁力和重力。
54
And energy does something else quite magical: it congeals to form matter
能量還有其他神奇的作用：它凝結形成物質
55
-- quarks that will create protons and leptons that include electrons.
夸克，它會產生包含電子的質子和輕子。
proton n. [物] 質子
lepton n. 輕粒子
56
And all of that happens in the first second.
所有這一切發生在第一秒內。
57
Now we move forward 380,000 years.
現在，往后走38萬年。
58
That's twice as long as humans have been on this planet.
這比人類在地球上存在的時間長2倍。
59
And now simple atoms appear of hydrogen and helium.
現在結構單一的原子——氫原子和氦原子出現了。
60
Now I want to pause for a moment,
現在我想停下片刻，
61
380,000 years after the origins of the universe, because we actually know quite a lot about the universe at this stage.
在宇宙起源38萬年后，因為關于宇宙現在的階段，我們事實上了解的挺多的。
62
We know above all that it was extremely simple.
首先，我們知道它極其簡單。
above all 首先；尤其是
63
It consisted of huge clouds of hydrogen and helium atoms, and they have no structure.
它由大量的氫和氦原子組成，它們沒有結構。
64
They're really a sort of cosmic mush.
它們就是一團宇宙塵埃。
cosmic adj. 宇宙的
65
But that's not completely true.
但這不完全正確。
66
Recent studies by satellites such as the WMAP satellite have shown that, in fact, there are just tiny differences in that background.
最近，由像WMAP等這樣的衛星研究表明，事實上，在那樣的背景下還是有細微的差別。
67
What you see here, the blue areas are about a thousandth of a degree cooler than the red areas.
正如你在這里看到的，藍色區域大約比紅色區域溫度低千分之一度。
68
These are tiny differences, but it was enough for the universe to move on to the next stage of building complexity. And this is how it works.
那是細微的差別，但是對于宇宙走向創造復雜性的下一步來說，足夠了。下面是它如何形成的。
69
Gravity is more powerful where there's more stuff.
物質越多，引力就越強。
70
So where you get slightly denser areas, gravity starts compacting clouds of hydrogen and helium atoms.
在更密的區域，引力開始聚集大量的氫原子和氦原子。
71
So we can imagine the early universe breaking up into a billion clouds.
所以我們可以想象早期宇宙分裂成十億團云。
72
And each cloud is compacted, gravity gets more powerful as density increases,
每一團云聚合在一塊，引力就隨著密度的變大而變大，
73
the temperature begins to rise at the center of each cloud,
溫度開始在每一團云的中心升高，
74
and then, at the center of each cloud, the temperature crosses the threshold temperature of 10 million degrees,
然后，在每一團云的中心，溫度突破1千萬度的極限。
75
protons start to fuse, there's a huge release of energy, and -- bam! We have our first stars.
質子開始融化，這會釋放出巨大的能量，然后 -- 砰！我們有了第一批恒星。
76
From about 200 million years after the Big Bang, stars begin to appear all through the universe, billions of them.
在大爆炸約2億年后，恒星開始在宇宙各個角落中出現，數以十億計。
77
And the universe is now significantly more interesting and more complex.
宇宙現在更加有趣和復雜。
78
Stars will create the Goldilocks conditions for crossing two new thresholds.
恒星開始為了跨越兩個新的門檻來創造金發姑娘條件。
79
When very large stars die, they create temperatures so high
當巨大的恒星死亡時，它們會制造很高的溫度
80
that protons begin to fuse in all sorts of exotic combinations, to form all the elements of the periodic table.
質子開始融化進各種外部混合物，去形成元素周期表上的所有元素。
periodic table [化學] 周期表
81
If, like me, you're wearing a gold ring, it was forged in a supernova explosion.
如果你像我一樣，帶了個金戒指，它是在一個超新星爆炸中鑄造出來的。
82
So now the universe is chemically more complex.
所以現在這個宇宙在化學上非常復雜。
83
And in a chemically more complex universe, it's possible to make more things.
在一個化學上非常復雜的宇宙，就可能創造更多的東西。
84
And what starts happening is that, around young suns,young stars,
接下來開始發生的事情是，在所有新生的太陽，所有的新恒星周圍
85
all these elements combine, they swirl around, the energy of the star stirs them around,
所有元素結合在一起，它們旋轉起來，恒星的能量攪動著它們，
86
they form particles, they form snowflakes, they form little dust motes, they form rocks,
它們形成了粒子，它們形成了雪花，它們形成了小塵埃，它們形成了巖石，
87
they form asteroids, and eventually, they form planets and moons.
它們形成了小行星，最終，它們形成了行星和衛星。
88
And that is how our solar system was formed, four and a half billion years ago.
這就是我們太陽系的形成過程，在45億年前。
89
Rocky planets like our Earth are significantly more complex than stars because they contain a much greater diversity of materials.
像我們地球這樣的巖質行星比恒星更復雜，因為它們包含了更加多樣的物質。
90
So we've crossed a fourth threshold of complexity.
所以我們跨過了復雜性的第四道門檻。
L8-U3-P3: The history of our world 3
91
Now, the going gets tougher.
現在過程更艱難了
92
The next stage introduces entities that are significantly more fragile, significantly more vulnerable,
下一步出現了更加弱小、無助的東西，
93
but they're also much more creative and much more capable of generating further complexity.
但是它們也更加有創造力，更能生成更進一步的復雜性。
94
I'm talking, of course, about living organisms.
我談論的就是關于生物體的。
95
Living organisms are created by chemistry. We are huge packages of chemicals.
生物體由化學創造。我們是巨大的化學物質集合。
96
So, chemistry is dominated by the electromagnetic force.
所以，化學由電磁力主導。
97
That operates over smaller scales than gravity, which explains why you and I are smaller than stars or planets.
它相對引力而言，作用在更小的物體上，這也解釋了為什么你我都比恒星或行星小。
98
Now, what are the ideal conditions for chemistry?
那么對于化學來說，理想的條件是什么？
99
What are the Goldilocks conditions? Well, first, you need energy, but not too much.
金發姑娘條件是什么？首先，你需要能量，但不需要太多。
100
In the center of a star, there's so much energy that any atoms that combine will just get busted apart again.
在一個恒星的中心，有很大的能量，以至于任何組合在一起的原子都會再次分開。
101
But not too little.
但這能量也不會很小。
102
In intergalactic space, there's so little energy that atoms can't combine.
在銀河系中，能量太小，原子就無法結合。
intergalactic adj. 星系間的；銀河間的
103
What you want is just the right amount, and planets, it turns out, are just right, because they're close to stars, but not too close.
你想要的是剛好合適的量，而行星，事實證明，正好合適，因為它們的能量與恒星接近，但又不是太近。
104
You also need a great diversity of chemical elements, and you need liquids, such as water. Why?
我們需要非常多樣的化學元素，還需要一些液體，比如水，為什么呢？
105
Well, in gases, atoms move past each other so fast that they can't hitch up.
在氣體中，原子相互間移動很快以至于它們不能相遇。
106
In solids, atoms are stuck together, they can't move.
在固體中，原子貼在一塊，它們無法移動。
107
In liquids, they can cruise and cuddle and link up to form molecules.
在液體中，他們能夠游動并且相遇以及組合在一起形成分子。
cruise v. 乘船游覽；以平穩的速度行駛；巡航
cuddle vt. 擁抱；親熱地摟住；撫愛地擁抱
108
Now, where do you find such Goldilocks conditions?
那么我們在哪可以找到這樣的金發姑娘條件？
109
Well, planets are great, and our early Earth was almost perfect.
行星足夠了，我們早期的地球幾乎完美。
110
It was just the right distance from its star to contain huge oceans of liquid water.
它與恒星之間的距離適中，正好可以容納大量的液態水。
111
And deep beneath those oceans, at cracks in the Earth's crust,
在這些海洋的深處，在地殼的裂縫處，
crust n. 地殼；外殼；面包皮；堅硬外皮
112
you've got heat seeping up from inside the Earth, and you've got a great diversity of elements.
熱量會從地球內部滲出，由此我們可以得到多種多樣的元素。
113
So at those deep oceanic vents, fantastic chemistry began to happen, and atoms combined in all sorts of exotic combinations.
在那些深海的通風口，神奇的化學反應發生了，原子在各種外部組合條件下組合在了一起。
vent n. （氣體、液體的）進出口，通風口，排放口
114
But of course, life is more than just exotic chemistry.
當然，生命不僅僅是奇異的化學反應。
115
How do you stabilize those huge molecules that seem to be viable?
你如何使那些看上去能夠存活的大分子穩定下來呢？
116
Well, it's here that life introduces an entirely new trick.
就是在這，生命呈現了一個全新的方式。
117
You don't stabilize the individual;
你不需要穩定個體；
118
you stabilize the template, the thing that carries information, and you allow the template to copy itself.
你需要穩定這個攜帶信息的模板，然后讓模板自身復制。
119
And DNA, of course, is the beautiful molecule that contains that information.
DNA是包含信息的美麗的分子。
120
You'll be familiar with the double helix of DNA. Each rung contains information.
你會對DNA的雙螺旋結構很熟悉。每個橫檔都包含信息。
helix n. 螺旋，螺旋狀物；[解剖] 耳輪
rung n. （梯子的）橫檔；梯級
121
So, DNA contains information about how to make living organisms.
所以，DNA包含如何制造生物體的信息。
122
And DNA also copies itself.
DNA也自身復制。
123
So, it copies itself and scatters the templates through the ocean.
它復制自身，并在海中傳播這個模板。
scatter v. 撒播；散開；散布
124
So the information spreads. Notice that information has become part of our story.
所以信息擴散開來。請注意信息成為了我們故事的一部分。
125
The real beauty of DNA though is in its imperfections.
然而DNA最美妙的地方在于它的不完美。
126
As it copies itself, once in every billion rungs, there tends to be an error.
在它復制自身的時候，每十億橫檔中就會有一處錯誤。
127
And what that means is that DNA is, in effect, learning.
這意味著DNA實際上是在學習。
128
It's accumulating new ways of making living organisms because some of those errors work.
它在積累制造生物體的新方法，因為一些錯誤是有效的。
129
So DNA's learning and it's building greater diversity and greater complexity.
所以DNA在學習，它在建造豐富的多樣性和更大的復雜性。
130
And we can see this happening over the last 4 billion years.
我們在過去的40億年可以看到這一幕。
131
For most of that time of life on Earth, living organisms have been relatively simple -- single cells.
在地球生命的大多數時間里，生物體相對簡單 -- 它們主要是單細胞生物。
132
But they had great diversity, and, inside, great complexity.
但是它們有豐富的多樣性，當然它們內部也很復雜。
133
Then from about 600 to 800 million years ago, multi-celled organisms appear.
在大約6至8億年前，多細胞生物出現了。
134
You get fungi, you get fish, you get plants, you get amphibia, you get reptiles, and then, of course, you get the dinosaurs.
我們有了真菌，魚類，植物，兩棲類動物，爬行動物，然后，我們有了恐龍。
fungi n. 真菌；菌類
amphibia n. 兩棲類，兩棲綱
135
And occasionally, there are disasters.
偶然間，災難發生了。
136
65 million years ago, an asteroid landed on Earth near the Yucatan Peninsula,
6500萬年前，一個小行星降臨在地球尤卡坦半島附近。
Peninsula n. 半島
137
creating conditions equivalent to those of a nuclear war, and the dinosaurs were wiped out.
它的影響等同于一場核戰爭，恐龍滅絕了。
138
Terrible news for the dinosaurs, but great news for our mammalian ancestors,
這對恐龍來說是滅頂之災，但是對我們哺乳動物的祖先來說卻是個大好的消息。
139
who flourished in the niches left empty by the dinosaurs.
他們在恐龍滅絕后留下的空檔期瘋狂發育。
140
And we human beings are part of that creative evolutionary pulse that began 65 million years ago with the landing of an asteroid.
我們人類是那場開始于6500萬年前，隨著小行星著陸地球而發生的創造性變革狂潮的一部分。
L8-U3-P3: The history of our world 4
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Humans appeared about 200,000 years ago.
人類大約出現在20萬年前。
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And I believe we count as a threshold in this great story. Let me explain why.
我認為我們是這個偉大歷史中的一個突破。我來解釋下為什么。
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We've seen that DNA learns in a sense, it accumulates information. But it is so slow.
我們看到了DNA在某種意義上是在學習，它在積累信息。但這太慢了。
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DNA accumulates information through random errors, some of which just happen to work.
DNA通過隨機錯誤積累信息，其中一些錯誤是碰巧發生的。
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But DNA had actually generated a faster way of learning: it had produced organisms with brains, and those organisms can learn in real time.
DNA事實上生成了一個快速學習的方式：它生產出了帶有大腦的生物體，而那些生物體可以在短時間內學會東西。
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They accumulate information, they learn.
他們匯集信息，他們學習東西。
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The sad thing is, when they die, the information dies with them.
令人悲傷的是，當他們死亡時，信息也隨他們一起去了。
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Now what makes humans different is human language.
而讓人類不同的就是人類的語言。
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We are blessed with a language, a system of communication, so powerful and so precise
我們有幸擁有這樣一個溝通系統的語言，它如此強大和精準。
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that we can share what we've learned with such precision that it can accumulate in the collective memory.
我們可以很精準的分享自己學到的東西，這些知識可以積累在集體記憶中。
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And that means it can outlast the individuals who learned that information, and it can accumulate from generation to generation.
這意味著，這種集體記憶會比學習這些信息的人活得更久，并且它可以一代代地積累。
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And that's why, as a species, we're so creative and so powerful, and that's why we have a history.
這就是為什么，作為一個物種，我們非常有創造性和強大，以及為什么我們擁有歷史。
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We seem to be the only species in 4 billion years to have this gift.
我們似乎是40億今年中擁有這個天賦的唯一物種。
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I call this ability collective learning. It's what makes us different.
我把這種能力成為集體學習。這使我們變得不同。
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We can see it at work in the earliest stages of human history.
我們可以在人類歷史的早期階段看到它的作用。
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We evolved as a species in the savanna lands of Africa,
我們作為一個物種，在非洲的熱帶草原上進化，
savanna n. [生態] 熱帶草原；熱帶的稀樹大草原
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but then you see humans migrating into new environments,
然后你會看見人類遷徙到新的環境，
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into desert lands, into jungles, into the Ice Age tundra of Siberia -- tough, tough environment -- into the Americas, into Australasia.
到沙漠去，到雨林去，到西伯利亞的冰河世紀凍土地帶 -- 艱苦的環境 -- 到美國，到澳洲。
tundra n. [生態] 苔原；[地理] 凍原；凍土地帶
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Each migration involved learning -- learning new ways of exploiting the environment, new ways of dealing with their surroundings.
每種遷移都涉及到學習 -- 學習探索環境的新方式，與周圍環境相處的新方式。
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Then 10,000 years ago, exploiting a sudden change in global climate with the end of the last ice age, humans learned to farm.
1萬年前，隨著冰河時代末期全球氣候的突然變化，人類學會了耕作。
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Farming was an energy bonanza.
耕作是一個能量源泉。
bonanza n. 富礦帶；帶來好運之事；幸運
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And exploiting that energy, human populations multiplied. Human societies got larger, denser, more interconnected.
通過利用這個能量，人類人口數劇增。人類社會變得更大，更密，聯系更多。
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And then from about 500 years ago, humans began to link up globally through shipping, through trains,through telegraph, through the Internet,
在大約500年前，人類開始在全球范圍內，通過船運、火車、電報、互聯網聯系在一起，
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until now we seem to form a single global brain of almost 7 billion individuals.
直到現在，我們似乎形成了一個接近70億群體的全球大腦。
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And that brain is learning at warp speed.
這個大腦以一個驚人的速度學習著。
warp n. 彎曲，歪曲；偏見；乖戾
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And in the last 200 years, something else has happened. We've stumbled on another energy bonanza in fossil fuels.
在過去200年中，有些事情發生了。我們碰巧在化石燃料中發現了另一個能源寶藏。
stumble vt. 使…困惑；使…絆倒
stumble on 無意中發現；偶然遇到，碰巧找到
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So fossil fuels and collective learning together explain the staggering complexity we see around us.
所以化石燃料和群體學習一起解釋了我們所看到的、周圍的那種驚人的復雜性。
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So -- Here we are, back at the convention center.
所以，在這里，我們回到這個會上來。
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We've been on a journey, a return journey, of 13.7 billion years.
我們在一段旅程中，一個返回的旅程中，一個137億年的旅程。
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I hope you agree this is a powerful story.
我希望你認同這是個強悍的故事。
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And it's a story in which humans play an astonishing and creative role.
在這個故事中，人類扮演了一個驚奇且有創造力的角色。
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But it also contains warnings.
但它也包含了警告。
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Collective learning is a very, very powerful force, and it's not clear that we humans are in charge of it.
集體學習是一個非常強的力量，我們不清楚人類是否掌控了它。
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I remember very vividly as a child growing up in England, living through the Cuban Missile Crisis.
我還清楚地記得我小時候在英國長大，經歷過古巴導彈危機。
missile n. 導彈；投射物
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For a few days, the entire biosphere seemed to be on the verge of destruction.
有幾天，整個生物圈似乎都處于毀滅的邊緣。
on the verge of 瀕臨于；接近于
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And the same weapons are still here, and they are still armed.
同樣的武器還存在著，它們還在虎視眈眈。
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If we avoid that trap, others are waiting for us.
如果我們避開這個陷阱，其它的陷阱還在等著我們。
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We're burning fossil fuels at such a rate
我們以這樣的一個速度消耗著化石能源
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that we seem to be undermining the Goldilocks conditions that made it possible for human civilizations to flourish over the last 10,000 years.
我們似乎正在破壞那個讓人類文明在過去一萬年里蓬勃發展的金發姑娘條件。
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So what big history can do is show us the nature of our complexity and fragility and the dangers that face us,
大歷史能做的就是給我們展示我們復雜性和弱小的本質，以及我們面臨的危險，
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but it can also show us our power with collective learning.
它也能給我們展示我們集體學習的力量。
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And now, finally -- this is what I want.
最后 -- 這是我想要的。
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I want my grandson, Daniel, and his friends and his generation, throughout the world, to know the story of big history,
我想讓我的孫子——Daniel，以及他的朋友和后代，在這個世界上能夠去了解大歷史，
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and to know it so well that they understand both the challenges that face us and the opportunities that face us.
并且是好好地去了解，讓他們既了解我們面臨的挑戰，也了解我們面臨的機遇。
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And that's why a group of us are building a free, online syllabus in big history for high-school students throughout the world.
這就是為什么我們這群人，正在全世界范圍內，針對高中生，在大歷史方面，做一個免費的在線課程大綱。
syllabus n. 教學大綱，摘要；課程表
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We believe that big history will be a vital intellectual tool for them,
我們認為大歷史對他們來說是一個重要的智力工具，
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as Daniel and his generation face the huge challenges and also the huge opportunities ahead of them
當Daniel和他的后代面對這些巨大的挑戰，以及他們面前巨大的機會
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at this threshold moment in the history of our beautiful planet.
在我們這個美麗星球歷史中的起始點。
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I thank you for your attention.
感謝你們的關注。
