Name: 如果你擁有世界上「所有的錢呢？ (What if you literally had all the money in the world?)
Uploaded: 2025-05-30T21:01:10.000Z
Duration: 2 min 58 s

第二類條件句型

Who notes that people sometimes say, if I had all the money in the world, in order to discuss what they do if they had no financial constraints.

他指出，人們有時會說「如果我有世界上所有的錢」，以此來討論如果沒有經濟限制，他們會做什麼。

情態副詞

Of course, it's natural to then ask, what would happen if you literally had all the world's money?

當然，人們很自然地會問，如果你真的擁有了全世界所有的錢，會發生什麼呢？

I don't know how you would actually gather all the world's money.

我不知道你如何才能收集到全世界的錢。

So let's just assume that you invented some kind of a money summoning magic spell.

所以，讓我們假設你發明了某種召喚金錢的魔法咒語。

Most of the world's wealth isn't physical money, it's land and houses, bank accounts, businesses, intellectual property, cryptocurrency, and so on.

世界上大部分財富都不是實物貨幣，而是土地和房屋、銀行帳號、企業、知識產權、加密貨幣等等。

In theory, you could edit all the property records on earth to say you own all the stuff and edit all the banking records to say you own all the money.

理論上，你可以編輯地球上所有的財產記錄，說你擁有所有的東西，編輯所有的銀行記錄，說你擁有所有的錢。

But everyone else would disagree with those records, and they would edit them back or ignore them.

但其他人會不同意這些記錄，他們會將其編輯回去或忽略不計。

Money is an idea, and you can't make the entire world agree with your version of the idea.

金錢是一種理念，你不可能讓全世界都認同你的理念。

Getting all the world's cash on the other hand is much more straightforward.

而獲取全世界的現金則要簡單得多。

At any given time, there is a certain amount in the world, which right now it's somewhere north of $10 trillion, and you want it all.

在任何時候，世界上都有一定數量的資金，現在大約有 10 萬億美元，而你想要全部得到。

It won't necessarily do anything for you, since without the cooperation of the outside world, you probably won't be able to spend it.

這不一定對你有什麼好處，因為如果沒有外界的合作，你很可能花不起這筆錢。

But maybe you can swim around in it like Scrooge McDuck in his giant room full of gold.

不過，也許你可以在裡面游來游去，就像麥克達克（Scrooge McDuck）在他裝滿黃金的大房間裡一樣。

So you cast your magic spell and summon all the money.

於是，你施展魔法，召喚出所有的錢。

The pile of cash is taller than the Statue of Liberty and heavier than the Empire State Building.

這堆現金比自由女神像還高，比帝國大廈還重。

You probably don't want to be standing under it, so let's assume that you're standing over here off to the side.

你可能不想站在它下面，所以我們假設你站在這邊的邊上。

The vast majority of the weight in the pile is coins, and the biggest single contributor is the US penny.

這堆硬幣中絕大部分是硬幣，其中最大的貢獻者是美分。

There are probably more than 200 billion pennies in circulation for a total weight of over 500,000 tons.

流通中的硬幣可能超過 2,000 億枚，總重量超過 500,000 噸。

Although circulation is maybe overly generous since most pennies sit around in drawers and jars and are rarely used for actual financial transactions.

儘管流通量可能過於慷慨，因為大多數硬幣都放在抽屜和罐子裡，很少用於實際的金融交易。

Canada even recently eliminated the penny completely, and a lot of people barely noticed.

加拿大最近甚至完全取消了便士，但很多人幾乎沒有注意到。

In total, US coins and bills are responsible for about 20% of the pile's weight, while the European Union contributes roughly 25%.

總的來說，美國硬幣和紙幣約佔這堆紙幣重量的 20%，而歐盟約佔 25%。

Unfortunately for you, the pile doesn't stay a pile for long, and what seems like a safe distance isn't so safe.

對你來說，不幸的是，這堆東西並沒有堆多久，看似安全的距離其實並不那麼安全。

In Boston in 1919, a large molasses storage tank collapsed, molasses is thick, so you might think it would flow out slowly, but it didn't.

1919 年在波士頓，一個大型糖蜜儲罐倒塌了，糖蜜很粘稠，所以你可能會認為它會慢慢流出來，但事實並非如此。

The wave of molasses swept down the streets too fast to outrun, demolishing buildings and killing 21 people.

糖蜜的浪潮席捲了街道，速度之快讓人無法躲避，建築物被摧毀，21 人喪生。

Something similar happens with the pile of coins. As it collapses, the pile spreads outward, a wave of money carrying a staggering amount of momentum.

類似的情況也發生在硬幣堆上，當硬幣坍塌時，硬幣堆就會向外擴散，錢的浪潮會帶來驚人的動力。

The pennies, quarters, loonies, and euros scour the landscape in an expanding ring.

硬幣、25 美分硬幣、1 角硬幣和歐元在不斷擴大的環形圖案中穿梭。

Within seconds, the wave of coins engulfs you and you die.

幾秒鐘之內，硬幣的浪潮就會把你吞沒，然後你就死了。

有一些方法可以避免這種情況，

You could say, build a wall to contain the coins and then summon them.

你可以建一堵牆來圍住硬幣，然後召喚它們。

Unfortunately, you might now face a problem worse than death -- building code violations.

不幸的是，你現在可能面臨比死亡更可怕的問題——違反建築法規。

Places with large skyscrapers like those in Manhattan need ground sturdy enough to hold them up.

像曼哈頓這樣有大型摩天大樓的地方，需要足夠堅固的地面來支撐它們。

A search through this giant document of New York City building codes suggests that if we went ahead with this plan,

通過對紐約市建築法規這一巨型文件的搜索，我們發現如果我們繼續執行這一計劃，

we would be in serious danger of violating section 1806, allowable load-bearing values of soils and rocks.

我們將面臨違反第 1806 條（土壤和岩石的允許承載值）的嚴重危險。

Which makes me wonder, how much did Scrooge McDuck bribe city officials to get his pool built?

這讓我不禁要問，史古治-麥克達克到底賄賂了市政官員多少錢，才建起了他的游泳池？