My experience is, you go talk to kindergarten kids, or first grade kids, you find a class full of science enthusiasts.

我的經驗是，如果你去和幼兒園的孩子或一年級的孩子交談，你會發現班上都是科學愛好者。

And they ask deep questions.

他們提出了深刻的問題。

What is a dream?

什麼是夢想？

Why do we have toes?

我們為什麼有腳趾？

Why is the moon round?

月亮為什麼是圓的？

What's the birthday of the world?

世界的生日是哪一天？

Why is grass green?

草為什麼是綠色的？

These are profound, important questions.

這些都是深刻而重要的問題。

They just bubble right out of them.

它們就這樣從裡面冒出來。

You go and talk to twelfth grade students, and there's none of that.

你去和十二年級的學生談談，他們根本不懂這些。

They've become leaden and incurious.

他們已經變得麻木不仁。

Something terrible has happened between kindergarten and twelfth grade, and it's not just puberty.

從幼兒園到十二年級之間發生了一些可怕的事情，而這不僅僅是青春期的問題。

You could give Aristotle a tutorial, and you could thrill him to the core of his being.

你可以給亞里士多德上一堂課，你可以讓他激動得心潮澎湃。

Aristotle was an encyclopedic polymath, an all-time intellect.

亞里士多德是一位百科全書式的多面手，是一位曠世奇才。

Yet not only can you know more than him about the world, you also can have a deeper understanding of how everything works.

然而，你不僅可以比他更瞭解這個世界，還可以更深入地理解萬物是如何運作的。

I'm not saying you're more intelligent than Aristotle or wiser.

我不是說你比亞里士多德更聰明或更有智慧。

That's not the point.

這不是重點。

The point is only that science is cumulative, and we live later.

問題的關鍵在於，科學是日積月累的，而我們活得更晚。

You don't have to be a scientist.

你不必成為科學家。

You don't have to play the Bunsen burner in order to understand enough science to overtake your imagined need.

你不必為了瞭解足夠的科學知識而去玩本生燈，以超越你想象中的需求。

And fill that fancied gap.

填補想象中的空白。

Science needs to be released from the lab into the culture.

科學需要從實驗室走向文化。

It's like we've forgotten who we are now.

我們好像已經忘記了自己是誰。

Explorers, pioneers, not caretakers.

探索者、開拓者，而不是看護者。

But knowledge is preferable to ignorance.

但知識勝於無知。

Better by far to embrace the hard truth than a reassuring fable.

到目前為止，接受確鑿的事實要比接受令人欣慰的寓言要好得多。

If we crave some cosmic purpose, then let us find ourselves a worthy goal.

如果我們渴望某種宇宙目的，那就讓我們為自己找到一個有價值的目標。

It would be very healthy for the human species if there were less discouragement and more scientists.

如果少一些灰心喪氣，多一些科學家，這對人類來說是非常健康的。