sun as 8 light-minutes away, and thought "what is this nonsense? Measuring distances with

或是距離太陽8光分遠，然後思考著"這是什麼亂七八糟方法?用時間來測量距離?"

time?"

But actually, we measure distances using time almost every day. How far is it from your

但事實上我們幾乎每天都會用時間測量距離。從你家到

house to the store? About ten minutes. And how far is it from New York to Boston? About

商店有多遠?大約十分鐘。從紐約到波士頓呢?

four hours. Los Angeles to Sydney? 14 hours.

大約四小時。洛杉磯到雪梨呢?十四小時。

But of course, what we really mean is that the store is ten bike-minutes from your house,

當然我們真正的意思是，從你家到商店騎腳踏車要十分鐘

New York is 4 car-hours from Boston, and Sydney is 14 plane-hours from LA. In fact, using

紐約到波士頓開車要四小時，洛杉磯到雪梨坐飛機要十四小時

time to measure distances is so useful that I only know the distance from LA to Sydney

用時間去量距離的好處是因為，我只知道從洛杉磯搭飛機到雪梨

in plane-hours, not miles or kilometers… though I suppose I could figure it out by

的時間，而不是兩地距離幾英哩/公里。雖然我應該能算出

multiplying 14 plane-hours by the 550-miles-per-hour speed of a plane to get roughly 7500 miles.

飛機時速550英哩乘以航程14小時，總距離約7500英哩

But Sydney is also 5 sailboat-weeks from LA, 7 humpback-whale months from LA, 5 message-in-a-bottle

你也可以說從洛杉磯到雪梨搭船要五週，大翅鯨要游七個月，瓶中信要漂流五年

years from LA, and 0.04 light-seconds from LA. On the other hand, the moon is 18 airplane-days

光要跑0.04秒。換句話說，地球到月亮坐飛機要18天

away, 6 car-months away, and 15 whale-years away. Which means, in fact, that a whale might

開車要六個月，鯨魚要游十五年。這表示這段旅程

swim as far as the distance to the moon over the course of its lifetime .

將會耗盡鯨魚的一生

And if that's not crazy enough, sometimes we even measure times in distance! How long

若這樣還不夠瘋狂，我們甚至可以用距離測量時間!

is a movie? 8,000 feet – of film! And MinutePhysics? 30 meters.

一部電影有多久?8000英呎。那"分鐘物理"節目呢?30公尺!