How can you actually sum it up?

你該怎麼去解釋？

It turns out it's really pretty simple.

其實這非常的簡單。

We are dead stars, looking back up at the sky.

我們就是那些回首仰望天空、死去的恆星。

Everything you are, I mean literally the iron in your blood, comes from the instant before a star dies.

你身體的每個部分，像是血液裡面的鐵質，是恆星死掉前的瞬間所形成的物質。

You cut yourself, and you see that red from that oxygenated hemoglobin.

把身體切開，你可以看到氧合血紅蛋白的紅色物質，

That was the instant of the death of a solar system.

那是太陽系死亡的瞬間所產生的物質。

The universe began with only the element hydrogen,

宇宙剛形成時只有氫元素，

the very very simplest atom that exists.

氫元素是結構最簡單的原子。

And the only thing in the universe that can make a bigger atom is a star.

宇宙裡唯一可以讓原子變得更大的東西就是恆星。

The entire periodic table, every element you ever heard of was processed inside the body of a star.

週期表上你所有聽過的元素，都是在恆星內部處理形成的。

That star then unravelled or exploded.

之後恆星會散開或是爆炸。

And here we are.

然後，我們就產生了。

All a star is, is a dust cloud that is collapsing under the force of gravity.

其實恆星就是一團受到重力而塌縮的塵埃雲。

That's it. And when you compress gas together, it actually heats up.

就這樣。當你把這些氣體壓縮，他的溫度會升高。

There's a time when that's hot enough to set off a nuclear fusion reaction.

當溫度夠高時，就足以產生核融合反應。

That actually supports the star.

核融合反應其實可以支持恆星運作。

This nuclear explosion inside supports the star against further collapse.

恆星內部的核融合支持恆星，防止進一步引力塌縮。

But that nuclear fusion reaction is using fuel, it's using hydrogen.

不過核融合反應必須使用燃料，用的是氫元素。

And so eventually, that will burn out, and the collapse of gravity will keep going.

核融合反應到最後，氫元素會用完，但是引力會持續塌縮。

In the case of a more massive star, the gravity crushes more and more tightly.

在這種情況下，質量較大的恆星，更容易被引力向內擠壓更緊。

Things get hotter inside, you create things like carbon, oxygen, nitrogen,

恆星內部越來越熱，其他元素像是碳、氧、氮也會產生，

until finally, you get to the element iron.

直到最後，會得到鐵元素。

It fuses iron together, and instead of energy coming out, energy is actually absorbed.

鐵元素會融合在一起，而能量不是被釋放出來，反而被吸收。

And the core of the star collapses.

恆星的核心開始塌陷。

And that sets off the most violent, brilliant reaction we know of called a supernova reaction.

這會造成很激烈、非常不可思議的反應，也就是超新星反應。

Everything outside the element of iron, everything heavier.

所有在鐵元素外、更重的物質，

All the gold, all the silver, all the lead, all the uranium.

像是金、銀、鉛、鈾，

That's formed in that supernova explosion.

都是在超新星爆炸所產生的物質。

A single star will glow as brightly as entire galaxies, that's hundreds of billions of stars, in that moment of death.

單一顆恆星在死亡的瞬間，會跟所有星系加起來一樣亮，那是好幾千億顆恆星加總。

And that's what you are.

這就組成了人類。

That literally what your body is...

你身體的組成

Is that instant of death.

就是恆星死亡瞬間所產生的物質。

You know, it's so tempting. Humans have done this before, for literally tens of thousands of years.

這非常容易誤解。人類也已經錯了好幾千萬年了，

They think of the stars as eternal.

他們認為恆星是永恆的。

Stars will all burn out someday.

恆星總有一天都會燃燒殆盡。

There's only a certain amount of stellar fuel, hydrogen.

只會剩下少數的燃料、氫氣，

Stars are burning through it.

恆星運用這些燃料燃燒。

And the stars, as we know them, will all die out in some trillions of years.

在幾兆年之後，我們所知的這些恆星都會死亡。

And the universe will be dark, for the rest of time. Whatever that means.

在往後的日子，宇宙將會一片黑暗。不管這帶有什麼含意。

But think about that, we're actually living in Eden right now.

不過你想想，我們現在是活在伊甸園。

We're living in a time when this ten-billion-year-lived thing, the sun,

我們活在擁有一百億年生命的太陽之下，

is pouring down free energy, we are using it, we are evolving,

它提供我們能量，我們正在使用它，它讓我們進化，

we are becoming sentient, we are looking out at the universe.

我們變得更靈敏，我們向著宇宙展望。

And what an amazing thing to think that that's for a tiny little brief part of the universe's history.

很神奇的是在宇宙悠久的歷史裡，這只佔了非常小的一段時間。

And everything else will be dark.

其他時候都會是黑暗的。

It does give you an ownership, about how wonderful this time is.

這給我們一種體認，就是這段時間是多麼美好，

How wonderful your life is right now. Your literal life.

生命是多麼美妙。你現有的生命。

But also how wonderful this time of the universe is.

以及這段時間宇宙的美好。

Someday I wonder, if people will have myths about the days when stars rained down free sunlight, free energy.

我好奇將來有一天，人類是否會寫有關恆星散發陽光、能量的神話故事。