听力文本

Close to the pyramid, everything is slowed down,
金字塔附近的一切都慢了下来
again, like the sluggish part of a river.
就像河流的缓流部分那样
Here time itself is passing slower
相对于远处的时间流逝速度
compared to how it's passing further away.
这里的时间速度更慢一些
But what if people near the pyramid look outwards?
如果金字塔附近的人向外看又会怎样
They must see the opposite effect.
他们一定会看到相反的效果
Because they are slowed down,
由于他们自己的时间减慢
they must see time in the distance as running fast.
一定会看到远处时间加速的景象

It's a simple result of the mass of the pyramid.
原因就在于金字塔的巨大质量
This distortion opens the door to the possibility of time travel.
这种时间扭曲为时间旅行提供了可能性
So what we need to really travel in time
因此为实现真正的时间旅行
is something much more massive than a pyramid.
我们需要些质量远大于金字塔的物体
And I know just the thing.
而我恰好知道一个符合条件的物体
Right in the center of the milky way,
就在银河系中央
26,000 light-years from us,
距我们26000光年的地方
lies the heaviest object in the entire galaxy,
有整个银河系中质量最大的物体
hidden by a vast cloud of gas and stars.
隐藏在大片气体和星体中
It's a supermassive black hole
它就是特大质量黑洞
containing the mass of 4 million suns
质量相当于400万个太阳
crushed down into a single point by its own gravity.
在自身重力作用下挤压成一个点
The closer you get to the black hole, the stronger the gravity.
离黑洞越近，引力作用越强
Get really close, and not even light can escape.
接近到一定程度，即便是光也难以逃脱
So it's wrapped in
黑洞隐藏于
a sphere of darkness 15 million miles in diameter.
直径为1500万英里的黑暗球体区域
A black hole like this one has a dramatic effect on time,
像这样的黑洞对时间具有强大的影响力
slowing it down
减慢时间的程度
far more than anything else in the galaxy.
甚于银河系里其他任何物体
That makes it a natural time machine.
这使之成为一个天然的时间机器
I like to imagine how a spaceship might someday be able to
我对未来宇宙飞船如何利用
take advantage of this spectacular phenomenon.
这一奇观拭目以待
Of course it would first have to avoid being sucked in.
当然，它首先必须避免被吸入其中
The trick, I think, would be to aim
我认为关键就在于
just off to the side so they'd miss it.
准确无误地沿切线驶过，才能避过黑洞
They'd have to
宇宙飞船必须
be on exactly the right trajectory and speed,
处于完全正确的轨道并达到精准的速度
or they'd never escape.
否则在劫难逃

视频及简介

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