外刊精读寻找消失的魔法-韦伯望远镜的使命

capstone · 发表于 2022-7-18 10:37

本文转自《Scientific American》。我节选了前半部分并译了第一段，和今年高考语文作文似乎很搭！希望高中生能读得下去。

Children are scientists in a primordial(原始的) world. In those first years they’ll learn the laws of gravity, the shapeless flow of time, the first principles of love. Everything must be discovered, from peanut butter to rainstorms, and all things may as well be magic. And then, as children age, magic is stolen from them. It’s slow for some, and faster for many who feel the weight placed on the color of skin or the balance of a bank account. The vibrant world desaturates(褪色，变得黯淡). The tooth fairy was a lie, days are long but life is short, and dreams are harder to achieve than advertised. We grow unimpressed and disappointed. We disconnect from life on Earth to inhabit small rectangles of glass, the screen our new horizon. That magical world fades away.

儿童是原始世界的科学家。在最初几年，他们学习万有引力定律、无形的时间流动、爱之首要原则。一切都得探索，从花生酱到暴雨，魔法可能无处不在。然后，年岁渐长，魔法从孩子们身上被盗走，或迟或早，感受到肤色或银行账户余额的重压。充满活力的世界变得黯淡无光。牙仙子是个谎言，日子难熬人生苦短，梦想并非宣传的那么容易实现。我们变得无动于衷、心生失望。我们与地球的生机脱节，栖居于小小的玻璃方块之中，屏幕成了我们的新视野。那个神奇的世界消逝了。

Each day that passes brings fewer things to discover, save for(除了) some rare moments. Today is one. As unveiled by President Joe Biden in a special presentation from the White House, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has now seen light from the edge of time, delivering the deepest-yet infrared(红外线的) view of the cosmos(宇宙). Captured by directing JWST’s lingering(持久的) gaze toward a region of space known as SMACS 0723, this triumphant(取得巨大成功的) first image shows starlight in its infancy, and galaxies coalescing(合并) from primeval(早期的，原始的) chaos. We—meaning not only NASA and the European and Canadian space agencies, but also humanity at large—built the telescope to tell the story of the cosmos in its becoming, and all of us are part of that story. Yet amid so many more urgent battles on Earth, be they viral pandemics, invading armies or rising oceans, it’s worth asking if there are other reasons to build telescopes, and why we fund costly pursuits of celestial(天空的，天体的) discovery.

I believe it’s to seek the magic we all once lost. We build telescopes and probes and rovers(探测器) because they are drawn in crayon by kids worldwide whose beds are starships(星舰). NASA shows them that starships are real; for one has flown past the surface of Pluto(冥王星), returning images that will be taped onto bedroom walls all around the world. Telescopes show them that amid the inequity and hardship of life on Earth, we can point glass to the dark and find kingdoms of stars and citadels(城堡) of light. Children will paint nebulae(星云) with brushes dipped in every color. They’ll wonder what wonders lie within, how large the Earth is in comparison, and if there might be alien worlds forming around those infant suns.

A child will be inspired to pursue science because that new Hubble(哈勃) image is not just a galaxy but proof of the magic of nature. They’ll grow, learn, teach and build microscopes and telescopes and particle colliders(粒子对撞机) to show the next generation how we wrest(谋求，获得) meaning from the relentless march of time. Transformative(颠覆性的) science is almost beside the point(无关紧要). Wonder is the engine of human progress.

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You can barely see the stars from most cities nowadays. They’re dimmed by the light-polluted haze(雾霾) and confused with swarms of satellites. Children look up and wonder what lies beyond. We build telescopes to show them, and to bring magic to their hearts. We build telescopes to look at all those distant worlds and decide that ours is the one worth fighting for. Telescopes teach us to find signal in an age of noise. To look into the dark and find so much light within.