So when I was growing up as a young girl—in Wisconsin actually—

我还是个小女孩的时候——那时候住在威斯康星州——

I was ten years old when Carl Sagan’s show Cosmos came on public broadcasting.

当时10岁 《卡尔·萨根的宇宙》这部纪录片正在播出

And as a ten year old kind of living in rural Wisconsin I had never really met an astronomer.

作为一个住在威斯康星州乡下的十岁小女孩儿 我还从来没见过真正的宇航员

That’s not someone you routinely meet.

那可不是你随便就能认识的人

Whenever people tell me, you know, you don’t really seem like an astronomer.

每次人们跟我说 你看起来不像宇航员

The wonderful next thing to ask is, “How many astronomers do you know?”

接下来该问的好问题就是“你认识多少宇航员？”

So my vision of what an astronomer was was this man on this television show, on public television, Carl Sagan.

当时我对宇航员的幻想就是出现在公共电视屏幕上的卡尔·萨根那个样子

And the thing that Carl did better than anybody else I’d ever seen was this emotional connection to the science.

卡尔比我认识的任何人都要出色的一点是 他对科学的情感联系

He loved to tell stories.

他很喜欢讲故事

He would tell stories about the history but also it was from him that I learned where all of the atoms in my body come from.

他会讲述历史故事 也是从他那里 我知道了我体内的原子都源自何方

The fact that they were all formed in stars.

以及它们都是在恒星上形成的事实

And when Carl talks about that on the show

当卡尔在节目上谈论这些的时候

I mean we sort of made a joke that there are these things called “Carl moments”

我们还开了个玩笑 把某些瞬间称为“卡尔时刻”

where Carl sort of gazes dramatically off into space

也就是卡尔戏剧性地凝视着太空

and the camera sort of close up, you know, close up on his face.

然后他的脸慢慢从相机镜头中消失

And you can see him sort of emoting at how wonderful this is.

你能看到他在很夸张地去表达这一切是多么美好

And these days, you know, decades later those scenes seem a little bit silly and a little bit contrived.

现在 几十年过后 这样的剧情显得有些愚蠢 做作

But as a child I was taken along for this incredible emotional journey.

但我小时候 曾跟随他体验过这种很棒的情感历程

Carl was a real rock star.

卡尔是真正的时代巨星

He had this charisma and people would just listen to what he was saying

他身上有种魅力 让人们愿意听他讲话

and they would love to follow along with his stories.

愿意沉浸在他讲述的故事中

And that became to me the image of what a scientist was, what an astronomer was,

这一切让我形成了对科学家、宇航员的形象认知

was somebody that could tell the stories of the universe.

我觉得他们就是讲述关于宇宙故事的人

So I never ended up meeting Carl. I always wanted to.

我从来没见过卡尔 我一直想见见他的

He unfortunately died very young, he died in his early 60s and I was a graduate student at the time.

很不幸的是 他英年早逝 60刚出头就去世了 那时候我才刚毕业

I always figured I would see him at some astronomy conference,

我一直想象着我会在某一场天文学会议上碰到他

I’d somehow, you know, wander past him at one of these scientific meetings

或许我会在某一场科学会议上跟他意外相遇

and tell him how much that his show had meant to me.

告诉他他的节目对我意义有多么重大

But I never got that chance.

但我从来没有得到这个机会

I never left though that idea, that what a scientist really does is tell stories.

不过我也从未抛弃科学家真正做的事就是讲故事这个想法

It’s about the narrative and it’s about the emotions.

他们的工作就是叙事 就是情感

And Carl did that better than anyone I’ve ever seen.

在这一点上 卡尔比我认识的任何人都要优秀