Sometimes when I'm on a long plane flight,

有時候，在搭長程航班的時候

I gaze out at all those mountains and deserts

我會一邊看著外面的山和沙漠

and try to get my head around how vast our Earth is.

一邊讚嘆地球是如此浩瀚無邊

And then I remember that there's an object we see every day

接著就想到

that would literally fit one million Earths inside it.

其實我們每天都會看到 能裝下一百萬顆地球的龐然大物

The sun seems impossibly big,

太陽夠大了吧！

but in the great scheme of things, it's a pinprick,

但若宏觀而論， 太陽就如針頭般渺小

one of about 400 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy,

在銀河系約四千億顆恆星中， 它也只是其中一員

which you can see on a clear night as a pale, white mist stretched across the sky.

銀河就是在無雲的夜晚裡可以看到的 橫跨天空的一條淡淡的白色霧般的光帶

And it gets worse.

更誇張的是

There are maybe 100 billion galaxies detectable by our telescopes,

用當今望遠鏡所觀測到的銀河系 已高達一千億個

so if each star was the size of a single grain of sand,

如果把恆星視為一粒細沙

just the Milky Way has enough stars to fill

那麼我們所在的銀河系裡 所有恆星放在一起

a 30 foot by 30 foot stretch of beach three feet deep with sand.

就是一個長寬各三十呎 深三呎的沙坑 （一呎=30公分）

And the entire Earth doesn't have enough beaches

而地球上 所有沙灘的沙粒集合起來

to represent the stars in the overall universe.

還夠不上整個宇宙裡的恆星的數量呢！

Such a beach would continue for literally hundreds of millions of miles.

大概要有個綿延幾億哩的沙灘才比得上 (一哩=1.6公里，地球週長約四萬公里)

Holy Stephen Hawking, that is a lot of stars.

哇咧 史蒂芬 霍金 哩! 恆星有這麼多啊！ (史蒂芬 霍金 是著名的物理學家)

But he and other physicists now believe in

霍金跟其他的物理學家開始相信

a reality that is unimaginably bigger still.

真相, 可能更大, 超乎想像的大

First of all, the 100 billion galaxies within range of our telescopes

首先, 我們的望遠鏡能觀察到的一千億個銀河系

are probably a minuscule fraction of the total.

可能只是整體的一小塊而已

Space itself is expanding

空間是一直在膨脹擴張的

at an accelerating pace. The vast majority of the galaxies

而且膨脹的速度一直在增加， 絕大部分的銀河系

are separating from us so fast

都是快速的遠離我們

that light from them may never reach us.

快到它們的光線根本到不了我們這裡

Still, our physical reality here on Earth

但是，在地球上的物理現象

is intimately connected to those distant, invisible galaxies.

仍與這些看不到的遙遠的銀河系們緊密關連

We can think of them as part of our universe.

我們可以把這些銀河系當作我們的宇宙的一部份

They make up a single, giant edifice,

整體屬於一個巨大的架構

obeying the same physical laws and all made from the same types of atoms, electrons,

遵循相同的物理定律，由相同型態的原子，電子

protons, quarks, neutrinos that make up you and me.

正子，夸克，中微子 (這些是基本粒子) 組成你跟我，還有整個宇宙

However, recent theories in physics,

但是最近發展的一些物理學理論

including one called string theory,

其中一種叫做 "弦理論"

are now telling us there could be countless other universes,

推論說可能有無窮多的宇宙存在著

built on different types of particles,

而且每個宇宙是由不同的基本粒子組成的

with different properties, obeying different laws.

具有不同的特性，遵循不同的運作規律

Most of these universes could never support life,

這些宇宙大部分無法演化出生命型態

and might flash in and out of existence in a nanosecond,

也許可能只存在一微秒 (十億分之一秒) 然後就消失

but nonetheless, combined

但是不管怎麼短暫，這些宇宙

they make up a vast multiverse of possible universes.

都是多元宇宙的各種可能性之一

in up to 11 dimensions, featuring wonders beyond our wildest imagination.

有高達 11 個空間維度， 有著超出我們所能想像之外的奇妙性質

And the leading version of string theory

而目前弦理論的最先進的版本

predicts a multiverse made of up to 10 to the 500 universes.

預測說一個多元宇宙是由 10 的 500 次方個單一宇宙組成的

That's a one followed by 500 zeroes,

這個數字是 1 後面跟著 500 個 0

a number so vast that if every atom in our observable universe

這個數字有多大? 如果我們把所觀察到的 單一宇宙裡面的每一個原子

had its own universe

都算自成一個單一宇宙

and all of the atoms in all of those universes

然後再把這些 原子的宇宙裡的每個原子

each had their own universe,

再算各自成一個單一宇宙

and you repeated that for two more cycles,

再這樣重複兩層來算

you'd still be at a tiny fraction of the total --

所得的單一宇宙的數量 仍然只是這個大數字的一小部份

namely, one trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillionth.

只有 一 兆 兆 兆 兆 兆 兆 兆 兆 兆 兆 兆 兆 兆 兆 兆 分之一而已!（1兆=1萬億）

But even that number is minuscule compared to

而這麼大的數字，跟 無窮大 比起來，

another number: infinity.

仍舊是微不足道的

Some physicists think the space-time continuum

有些物理學家認為，所謂的 時空連續體

is literally infinite, and that it contains an infinite number

基本上就是無窮的， 裡面包含了無數個 所謂的 "口袋宇宙"

of so-called pocket universes with varying properties.

各自有不同的特性與物理定律

How's your brain doing?

你的腦袋還跟的上 (能理解) 嗎?

But quantum theory adds a whole new wrinkle.

再來個新的， 量子理論

I mean, the theory's been proven true beyond all doubt,

這個理論已經毫無疑問的被證明其正確性

but interpreting it is baffling.

但是如何解讀卻仍摸不著頭緒

And some physicists think you can only un-baffle it

有些物理學家認為，唯一的解讀方式，

if you imagine that huge numbers of parallel universes

是從 很大數量的平行單一宇宙

are being spawned every moment,

在每個時間點被衍生出來

and many of these universes would actually be very like the world we're in,

而這些單一宇宙中 多數與我們現存的世界非常類似

would include multiple copies of you.

可能每個單一宇宙都有一個你

In one such universe, you'd graduate with honors and marry the person of your dreams.

也許在其中的一個平行單一宇宙中 你以很好的成績畢業，並且與夢中情人結婚

In another, not so much.

在另外一個平行單一宇宙中，可能沒這麼好命

There are still some scientists who would say, hogwash.

也有一些科學家認為，這真是鬼話連篇!

The only meaningful answer to the question of how many universes there are is one,

這些科學家認為，關於有多少個宇宙這個問題, 唯一合理的答案數字是 一個

only one universe.

只有一個宇宙

And a few philosophers and mystics

還有一些哲學家和神秘主義者

might argue that even our own universe is an illusion.

甚至會說連我們所在的宇宙也只是個幻影

So, as you can see,

所以囉，如你所見的

right now there is no agreement on this question,

這個問題目前並沒有大家有共識的答案

not even close.

還早得很哩!

All we know is, the answer is somewhere between zero and infinity.

我們目前只知道，宇宙的數量的正確答案, 應該在 零 與 無窮大 之間

Well, I guess we know one other thing:

另外我們可能還知道一件事情

This is a pretty cool time to be studying physics.

就是，現在是研究物理學的一個最佳時機

We just might be undergoing

因為，物理學正經歷著

the biggest paradigm shift in knowledge that humanity has ever seen.

人類有史以來最重大的知識典範轉移