时间简史

Friends ask me, Well, if a black hole is black how can you see it?

朋友们问我 那个 如果黑洞是黑的 你要怎么看到它呢

And I say, Have you ever been to a ball?

于是我就说 你总该去过舞会的吧

Have you ever watched the young men dressed in their black evening tuxedos

舞会上那些 穿着黑色燕尾服的年轻男子

and the girls in their white dresses whirling around, held in each other's arms

和着白色礼服的姑娘们 手拉着手转圈

and the lights turned low and all you can see is the girls?

当灯光暗下来后 你就只能看到姑娘们了

Well, the girl is the ordinary star and the boy is the black hole.

打个比方 如果一个女孩子是一颗普通的恒星 而男子是一个黑洞

You can't see the black hole any more than you can see the boy

尽管你不能看到男子 正如你无法看到黑洞

but the girl going around gives you convincing evidence

但那个转着圈的姑娘能让你确信

there must be something there holding her in orbit.

一定另有什么拉着她转圈

One evening, shortly after the birth of my daughter, Lucy

有天晚上 我的女儿露西刚出生不久

I started to think about black holes as I was getting into bed.

上床之前 我开始思考黑洞

My disability makes this rather a slow process so I had plenty of time.

我的身体缺陷让上床这一过程十分缓慢 所以我有的是时间

Suddenly I realized that the area of the event horizon must always increase with time.

突然之间 我意识到事件视界的面积 必须随着时间的流逝而增大

The increase in the area of the event horizon was very reminiscent of a quantity called entropy

视界面积的增大 很容易让人联想到一个叫做熵的物理量

which measures the degree of disorder of a system.

它用来度量一个系统的混乱程度

It is a matter of common experience that disorder tends to increase with time if things are left to themselves.

这其实是一种常识 如果你把一些东西放任不管 它们会倾向于变得无序

重点讲解

1、ordinary

平常的；普通的；一般的；平凡的

I strongly suspect that most ordinary people would agree with me.

我坚定地认为绝大部分老百姓会赞同我的观点。

It has 25 calories less than ordinary ice cream.

它所含热量比普通的冰激凌少了25卡路里。

平庸的；平淡无奇的

I'm just a very ordinary, boring normal guy.

我只是一个颇为平庸无趣的普通人。

Your life since then must have seemed very ordinary.

你的生活从那时起一定非常平淡无奇。

不寻常的；非凡的；特殊的

The boy's knowledge was out of the ordinary.

这个男孩懂得的知识非比寻常。

I've noticed nothing out of the ordinary.

我没注意到什么特别之处。

2、common

常见的;普遍的

His name was Hansen, a common name in Norway.

他的名字叫汉森，在挪威是一个常见的名字。

Oil pollution is the commonest cause of death for seabirds.

石油污染是造成海鸟死亡最常见的原因。

共有的;共同的

Moldavians and Romanians share a common language.

摩尔达维亚人和罗马尼亚人使用同一种语言。

Such behaviour is common to all young people.

这种行为在年轻人中司空见惯。

寻常的;普通的

Democracy might elevate the common man to a position of political superiority.

民主也许能提升普通人的政治地位，让他们产生优越感。

Common salt is made up of 40% sodium and 60% chloride.

食盐由40%的钠和60%的氯化物构成。