The brown ant had already forgotten its home. To the twilight Earth and the stars that were just coming out, the span of time may have been negligible, but, for the ant, it was eons.
褐蚁已经忘记这里曾是它的家园。这段时光对于暮色中的大地和刚刚出现的星星来说短得可以忽略不计，但对于它来说却是漫长的。
In days now forgotten, its world had been overturned. Soil had taken flight, leaving a broad and deep chasm, and then soil had come crashing down to fill it back in. At one end of the disturbed earth stood a lone black formation. Such things happened frequently throughout this vast domain, the soil flying away and returning, chasms opening up and being filled, and rock formations appearing like visible markers of each catastrophic change. Under the setting sun, the ant and hundreds of its brethren had carried off the surviving queen to establish a new empire.
在那个已被忘却的日子里，它的世界颠覆了。泥土飞走，出现了一条又深又宽的峡谷，然后泥土又轰隆隆地飞回来，峡谷消失了，在原来峡谷的尽头出现了一座黑色的孤峰。其实，在这片广阔的疆域上，这种事常常发生，泥土飞走又飞回，峡谷出现又消失，然后是孤峰降临，好像是给每次灾变打上一个醒目的标记。褐蚁和几百个同族带着幸存的蚁后向太阳落下的方向走了一段路，建立了新的帝国。
Its return visit was only a chance passing while searching for food. The ant arrived at the foot of the formation, sensing its indomitable presence with its feelers. Noting that the surface was hard and slippery, yet still climbable, up it went, with no purpose in mind but the random turbulence of its simple neural network. Turbulence was everywhere, within every blade of grass, every drop of dew on a leaf, every cloud in the sky, and every star beyond. The turbulence was purposeless, but in huge quantities of purposeless turbulence, purpose took shape.
这次褐蚁来到故地，只是觅食途中偶然路过而已。它来到孤峰脚下，用触须摸了摸这顶天立地的存在，发现孤峰的表面坚硬光滑，但能爬上去，于是它向上爬去。没有什么且的，只是那小小的简陋神经网络中的一次随机扰动所致。这扰动随处可见，在地面的每一株小草和草叶上的每一粒露珠中，在天空中的每一片云和云后的每一颗星辰上……扰动都是无目的的，但巨量的无目的扰动汇集在一起，目的就出现了。
The ant sensed vibrations in the ground and knew from how they intensified that another giant presence was approaching from somewhere on the ground. Paying it no mind, the ant continued its climb up the formation. At the right angle where the foot of the formation met the ground, there was a spider web. This, the ant knew. It carefully detoured around the sticky hanging strands, passing by the spider lying in wait, its legs extended to feel for vibrations in the threads. Each knew of the other’s presence but — as it had been for eons — there was no communication.
褐蚁感到了地面的震动，从震动由弱变强的趋势来判断，它知道地面上的另一个巨大的存在正在向这里运动，它没有理会，继续向孤峰上攀爬。在孤峰底部和地面形成的直角空间里有一面蛛网，褐蚁知道那是什么，它小心地绕过了粘在悬崖上的蛛丝，从那个缩起所有的腿静等着蛛丝震动的蜘蛛旁经过，它们彼此都感觉到了对方的存在，但同过去的一亿年一样，双方没有任何交流。
The vibrations crescendoed and then stopped. The giant being had reached the formation. It was far taller than the ant and blotted out most of the sky. The ant was not unfamiliar with beings of this sort. It knew that they were alive, that they frequently appeared in this region, and that their appearances were closely related to the swiftly disappearing chasms and multiplying formations.
震动达到高峰后停止了，那个巨大的存在已经来到了孤峰前，褐蚁看到这个存在比孤峰还要高许多，遮住了很大一部分天空。对这类存在褐蚁并不陌生，它知道他们是活的，常常出现在这片疆域，那些出现后很快就消失的峡谷和越来越多地耸现的孤峰，都与他们有着密切的关系。
The ant continued its climb, knowing that the beings were not a threat, with a few exceptions. Down below, the spider encountered one such exception when the being, which had evidently noticed its web reaching between the formation and the ground, whisked away the spider and web with the stems of a bundle of flowers it held in one limb, causing them to land broken in a pile of weeds. Then the being gently placed the flowers in front of the formation.
褐蚁继续向上攀登，它知道这类存在一般不会威胁到自己——当然也有例外。对于已处于下方的那个蜘蛛，这种例外已经出现，那个存在显然发现了孤峰与地面之间的蛛网，用一个肢体上拿着的一束花的花柄拂去了它，蜘蛛随着断开的蛛丝落到了草丛中。然后，他把花轻轻地放在了孤峰前。
Then another vibration, weak but intensifying, told the ant that a second living being of the same sort was moving toward the formation. At the same time, the ant encountered a long trough, a depression in the surface of the formation with a rougher texture and different color: off-white. It followed the trough, for its roughness made for a far easier climb. At each end was a short, thinner trough: a horizontal base from which the main trough rose, and an upper trough that extended at an angle. By the time the ant climbed back out onto the slick black surface, it had gained an overall impression of the shape of the troughs: “1.”
这时。另一个震动出现了，很微弱，但也在增强中。褐蚁知道，另一个同类型的存在正在向孤峰移动。与此同时，在前方的峭壁上，它遇到了一道长长的沟槽，与峭壁表面相比，沟槽的凹面粗糙一些，颜色也不同，呈灰白色，它沿着沟槽爬，粗糙的表面使攀登容易了许多。沟槽的两端都有短小的细槽。下端的细槽与主槽垂直，上端的细槽则与主槽成一个角度相交。当褐蚁重新踏上蛸壁光滑的黑色表面后，它对槽的整体形状有了一个印象：“1”。
Then the height of the being in front of formation was cut in half, so it was roughly even with the formation. Evidently it had dropped to its knees, revealing a patch of dim blue sky where the stars had begun to come out behind it. The being’s eyes gazed at the top of the formation, causing the ant to hesitate momentarily while deciding whether it ought to intrude into his line of sight. Instead, it changed direction and started crawling parallel with the ground, quickly reaching another trough and lingering in its rough depression as it savored the pleasant sensation of the crawl. The color was reminiscent of the eggs that surrounded its queen. With no hesitation, the ant followed the trough downward, and after a while, the layout become more complicated, a curve extended beneath a complete circle. It reminded the ant of the process of searching out scent information and eventually stumbling across the way home. A pattern was established in its neural network: “9.”
这时，孤峰前的活着的存在突然矮了一半，与孤峰的高度相当了，他显然是蹲下了，在露出的那片暗蓝的天空中，星星已经开始稀疏地出现。他的眼睛看着孤峰的上端，褐蚁犹豫了一下，决定还是不要直接进入他的视线，于是转向沿着与地面平行的方向爬。很快，它遇到了另一道沟槽，它很留恋沟槽那粗糙的凹面，在上面爬行感觉很好，同时槽面的颜色也让它想起了蚁后周围的蚁卵。它不惜向下走回头路，沿着槽爬了一趟。这道槽的形状要复杂些，很弯曲，转了一个完整的圈后再向下延伸一段，让它想起在对气味信息的搜寻后终于找到了回家的路的过程，它在自己的神经网络中建立起了它的形状：“9”。
Then the being kneeling before the formation made a sound, a series of sounds that far exceeded the ant’s capacity to comprehend: “It’s a wonder to be alive. If you don’t understand that, how can you search for anything deeper?”
这时，蹲在孤峰前的存在发出了声音，这串远超出褐蚁理解力的话是这样的：“活着本身就很妙，如果连这道理都不懂，怎么去探索更深的东西呢？”
The being made a sound like a gust of wind blowing across the grass — a sigh — and then stood up.
他发出穿过草丛的阵风那样的空气流动的声音，那是叹息，然后他站了起来。
The ant continued to crawl parallel to the ground and entered a third trough, one that was nearly vertical until it turned, like this: “7.” The ant didn’t like this shape. A sharp, sudden turn usually meant danger or battle.
褐蚁继续沿着与地面平行的方向爬，进入了第三道沟槽，它是一个近似于直角的转弯，是这样的：“7”。它不喜欢这形状，平时，这种不平滑的、突然的转向，往往意味着危险和战斗。
The first being’s voice had obscured the vibrations, so it was only now that the ant realized that the second being had reached the formation. Shorter and frailer, the second being had white hair that stood out against the dark blue background of the sky, bobbing silver in the wind, connected somehow to the increasing number of stars.
话声掩盖了震动，褐蚁这时才感觉到第二个活着的存在已经来到了孤峰前，第一个存在站起来就是为了迎接她。第二个存在比第一个要矮小瘦弱许多，有一头白发，白发在暮空暗蓝的背景上很醒目，那团在微风中拂动的银色似乎与空中越来越多的星星有某种联系。
The first being stood up to welcome her. “Dr. Ye, is it?”
“叶老师，您……您来了？”
“You’re… Xiao Luo?”
“你是……小罗吧？”
“Luo Ji. I went to high school with Yang Dong. Why are you… here?”
“我是罗辑，杨冬的高中同学，您这是……”
“It’s a nice place, and easy to get to by bus. Lately, I’ve been coming here to take walks fairly often.”
“那天知道了这个地方，很不错的，坐车也方便，最近常来这儿散散步。”
“My condolences, Dr. Ye.”
“叶老师，您要节哀啊。”
“That’s all in the past…”
“哦，都过去了……”
Down on the formation, the ant wanted to turn toward the sky, but then discovered another trough ahead of it, identical to the “9”-shaped trough it had crawled through before the “7.” So it continued horizontally through the “9,” which it found better than both the “7” and the “1.” although it could not say exactly why. Its aesthetic sense was primitive and single-celled. The indistinct pleasure it had felt upon crawling through the “9” intensified. A primitive, single-celled state of happiness. These two spiritual monocells, aesthetics and pleasure had never evolved. They had been the same a billion years ago, and would be the same a billion years hence.
孤峰上的褐蚁本来想转向向上攀登，但发现前面还有一道凹槽，同在“7”之前爬过的那个它喜欢的形状“9”一模一样，它就再横行过去，爬了一遍这个“9”。它觉得这个形状比“7”和“1”好，好在哪里当然说不清，这是美感的原始单细胞态；刚才爬过“9”时的那种模糊的愉悦感再次加强了，这是幸福的原始单细胞态。但这两种精神的单细胞没有进化的机会，现在同一亿年前一样，同一亿年后也一样。
“Xiao Luo, Dong Dong often spoke of you. She said you’re in… astronomy?”
“小罗啊，冬冬常提起你，她说你是……搞天文学的？”
“I used to be. I teach college sociology now. At your school, actually, although you had already retired when I got there.”
“以前是，现在我在大学里教社会学，就在您那所学校，不过我去时您已经退休了。”
“Sociology? That’s a pretty big leap.”
“社会学，跨度这么大？”
“Yeah. Yang Dong always said my mind wasn’t focused.”
“是，杨冬总说我这人心很散。”
“She wasn’t kidding when she said you’re smart.”
“哦，怪不得她说你很聪明的。”
“Just clever. Nothing like your daughter’s level. I just felt astronomy was an undrillable chunk of iron. Sociology is a plank of wood, and there’s bound to be someplace thin enough to punch through. It’s easier to get by.”
“小聪明而已，和您女儿不在一个层次。只是感觉天文专业是铁板一块，在哪儿钻个眼儿都不容易；而社会学之类的是木板，总能找些薄的地方钻透的，比较好混吧。”
In the hope of reaching another “9,” the ant continued its horizontal advance, but the next thing it encountered was a perfectly straight horizontal like the first trough, except longer than the “1” and turned on its side. And no smaller troughs at the ends. A “-” shape.
抱着再遇到一个“9”的愿望，褐蚁继续横行，但前面遇到的却是一道直直的与地面平行的横槽，好像是第一道槽横放了，但它比“1”长，两端没有小细槽，呈“一”状。
“You shouldn’t put it like that. It’s a normal person’s life. Not everyone can be Dong Dong.”
“不要这么说，这是正常人的生活嘛，都像冬冬那样怎么行。”
“I really don’t have that kind of ambition. I drift.”
“我这人确实胸无大志，很浮躁的。”
“I’ve got a suggestion. Why don’t you study cosmic sociology?”
“我倒是有个建议：你为什么不去研究宇宙社会学呢？”
“Cosmic sociology?”
“宇宙社会学？”
“A name chosen at random. Suppose a vast number of civilizations are distributed throughout the universe, on the order of the number of detectable stars. Lots and lots of them. Those civilizations make up the body of a cosmic society. Cosmic sociology is the study of the nature of this supersociety.”
“我随便说的一个名词，就是假设宇宙中分布着数量巨大的文明，它们的数目与能观测到的星星是一个数量级的，很多很多，这些文明构成了一个总体的宇宙社会，宇宙社会学就是研究这个超级社会的形态。”
The ant had not crawled very much farther along the formation. It had hoped, after crawling out of the “-” depression, to find a pleasurable “9,” but instead it encountered a “2,” with a comfortable initial curve but a sharp turn at the end that was as fearsome as that of the “7.” The premonition of an uncertain future. The ant continued onward to the next trough, a closed shape: “0.” The path seemed like part of a “9,” but it was a trap. Life needed smoothness, but it also needed direction. One could not always be returning to the point of origin. This, the ant understood. Although there were still two more troughs up ahead, it had lost interest. It turned vertically again.
孤峰上的褐蚁继续横向爬了不远，期望在爬过形状为“一”的凹槽后再找到一个它喜欢的“9”，但它遇到的是“2”。这条路线前面部分很舒适，但后面的急转弯像前面的……7一样恐怖，似乎是个不祥之兆。褐蚁继续横爬，下一道凹槽是一个封闭的形状：“0”。这种路程是“9”的一部分，但却是一个陷阱：生活需要平滑，但也需要一个方向，不能总是回副起点，褐蚁是懂这个的。虽然前面还有两道凹槽，但它已失去了兴趣，转身向上攀登。
“But… ours is the only civilization we know of right now.”
“可……目前只知道我们这一个文明啊。”
“Which is why no one’s done it before. The opportunity is left to you.”
“正因为如此没有人去做这个事情，这就留给你一个机会嘛。”
“Fascinating, Dr. Ye. Please go on.”
“叶老师，很有意思！您说下去。”
“My thinking is that this can link your two disciplines together. The mathematical structure of cosmic sociology is far clearer than that of human sociology.”
“我这么想是因为能把你的两个专业结合起来，宇宙社会学比起人类社会学来呈现出清晰的数学结构。”
“Why do you say that?”
“为什么这么说呢？”
Ye Wenjie pointed at the sky. Twilight still illuminated the west, and they could still count the stars that had come out, making it easy to remember how the firmament had looked a few moments ago: a vast expanse and a blue void, or a face without pupils, like a marble statue. Now, though the stars were few in number, the giant eyes had pupils. The void was filled. The universe had sight. The stars were tiny, just single twinkling points of silver that hinted at some unease on the part of its creator. The cosmic sculptor had felt compelled to dot pupils onto the universe, yet had a tremendous terror of granting it sight. This balance of fear and desire resulted in the tininess of the stars against the hugeness of space, a declaration of caution above all.
叶文洁指指天空，西方的暮光仍然很亮，空中的星星少得可以轻易数出来。这很容易使人回想起一个星星都没有出现时的苍穹，那蓝色的虚空透出一片广阔的茫然，仿佛是大理石雕像那没有瞳仁的眼睑。现在尽管星星很稀少，这巨大的空跟却有了瞳仁。于是空虚有了内容，宇宙有了视觉。但与空间相比，星星都是这么微小，只是一个个若隐若现的银色小点，似乎暗示了宇宙雕刻者的某种不安——他（它）克服不了给宇宙点上瞳仁的欲望，但对宇宙之眼赋予视觉又怀着某种巨大的恐惧，最后，宅间的巨大和星星的微小就是这种欲望和恐惧平衡的结果，昭示着某种超越一切的谨慎。
“See how the stars are points? The factors of chaos and randomness in the complex makeups of every civilized society in the universe get filtered out by the distance, so those civilizations can act as reference points that are relatively easy to manipulate mathematically.”
“你看，星星都是一个个的点，宇宙中各个文明社会的复杂结构，其中的混沌和随机的因素，都被这样巨大的距离滤去了，那些文明在我们看来就是一个个拥有参数的点，这在数学上就比较容易处理了。”
“But there’s nothing concrete to study in your cosmic sociology, Dr. Ye. Surveys and experiments aren’t really possible.”
“但，叶老师，您说的宇宙社会学没有任何可供研究的实际资料，也不太可能进行调查和实验。”
“That means your ultimate result will be purely theoretical. Like Euclidean geometry, you’ll set up a few simple axioms at first, then derive an overall theoretic system using those axioms as a foundation.”
“所以你最后的成果就是纯理论的，就像欧氏几何一样，先设定几条简单的不证自明的公理，再在这些公理的基础上推导出整个理论体系。”
“It’s all fascinating, but what would the axioms of cosmic sociology be?”
“叶老师，这……真是太有意思了，可是宇宙社会学的公理是什么呢？”
“First: Survival is the primary need of civilization. Second: Civilization continuously grows and expands, but the total matter in the universe remains constant.”
“第一，生存是文明的第一需要；第二，文明不断增长和扩张，但宇宙中的物质总量保持不变”
The ant had not gone far before it realized that there were other troughs above it, many of them, in a complicated maze structure. The ant was sensitive to shapes and was confident of being able to work it out, but the limited storage capacity of its tiny neural network meant it had to forget the shapes it had previously crawled through. It did not feel any regret at forgetting the “9,” for constant forgetting was part of life. There were few things that it needed to remember forever, and those were etched by its genes into the storage area known as instinct.
褐蚁向上爬了不远，才知道上方也有凹槽，而且是一堆凹槽的组合，结构像迷宫般复杂。褐蚁对形状是敏感的，它自信能够搞清这个形状，但为此要把前面爬过的那些形状都忘掉，因为它那小小的神经网络存贮量是有限的。它忘掉“9”没有感到遗憾，不断地忘却是它生活的一部分，必须终身记住的东西不多，都被基因刻在被称做本能的那部分存贮区了。
Having cleared its memory, the ant entered the maze. After navigating its twists and turns, it established another pattern in its simple consciousness: the Chinese character — mu, meaning “grave,” although the character and its meaning were not known to the ant. Farther up was another combination of troughs — far simpler this time, but to continue its exploration the ant had no choice but to clear its memory and forget the mu. Then it entered a wonderful line-trough, a shape that reminded it of the abdomen of a recently deceased cricket it had discovered not long ago. It quickly made out the new structure:, zhi, the Chinese possessive modifier. Then, as it continued upward, it encountered two more trough combinations, the first of which consisted of two droplet-shaped depressions and a cricket stomach: the character — dong, meaning “winter.” The top one was split into two parts, which together formed the character — yang, meaning “poplar.” This was the last shape the ant remembered, and the only one it retained from its entire journey. The interesting shapes it previously encountered had all been forgotten.
清空记忆后，它进入迷宫，经过一阵曲折的爬行，它在自己简陋的意识中把这个形状建立起来：“墓”。再向上，又是一个凹槽的组合，但比前一个简单多了，不过为了探索它，褐蚁仍不得不清空记忆，忘掉“墓”。它首先爬进一道线条优美的槽，这形态让它想起了不久前发现的一只刚死的蝈蝈的肚子。它很快搞清了这个结构：“之”。以后向上的攀登路程中，又遇到两个凹槽组合。前一个中包括两个水滴状的坑和一个蝈蝈肚子——“冬”；最上面的一个分成两部分，组合起来是“杨”。这是褐蚁最后记住的一个形状，也是这段攀登旅程中唯一记住的一个，前面爬过的那些有趣的形状都忘掉了。
“Those two axioms are solid enough from a sociological perspective… but you rattled them off so quickly, like you’d already worked them out,” Luo Ji said, a little surprised.
“叶老师，从社会学角度看，这两条公理都是足够坚实的……·您这么快就说出来，好像胸有成竹似的。”罗辑有些吃惊地说。
“I’ve been thinking about this for most of my life, but I’ve never spoken about it with anyone before. I don’t know why, really… One more thing: To derive a basic picture of cosmic sociology from these two axioms, you need two other important concepts: chains of suspicion, and the technological explosion.”
“我已经想了大半辈子，但确实是第一次同人谈起这个，我真的不知道为什么要谈……哦，要想从这两条公理推论出宇宙社会学的基本图景，还有两个重要概念：猜疑链和技术爆炸。”
“Interesting terms. Can you explain them?”
“很有意思的两个名词，您能解释一下吗？”
Ye Wenjie glanced at her watch. “There’s no time. But you’re clever enough to figure them out. Use those two axioms as a starting point for your discipline, and you might end up becoming the Euclid of cosmic sociology.”
叶文洁看看表：“没有时间了，其实你这样聪明，自己也能想出来，你可以先从这两条公理着手创立这门学科，那你就有可能成为宇宙社会学的欧几里得了。”
“I’m no Euclid. But I’ll remember what you said and give it a whirl. I might come to you for guidance, though.”
“叶老师，我成不了欧几里得，但会记住您的话，试着去做做，以后我可能还会去请教您。”
“I’m afraid there won’t be that opportunity… In that case, you might as well just forget I said anything. Either way, I’ve fulfilled my duty. Well, Xiao Luo, I’ve got to go.”
“怕没有机会了……或者，体就当我随便说说，不管是哪种情况，我都尽了责任。好，小罗，我走了。”
“Take care, Professor.”
“……叶老师，您保重。”
Ye Wenjie went off through the twilight to her final meet-up.
叶文洁在暮色中离去，走向她那最后的聚会。
The ant continued its climb and reached a round basin on the rock face, whose slick surface bore an extremely complicated image. It knew that its tiny neural net had no way to store such a thing, but after determining the overall shape of the image, its primitive one-cell aesthetic was as sparked as it had been by the sense of the “9.” And somehow it seemed to recognize part of the image, a pair of eyes. The ant was sensitive to eyes, because their gaze meant danger. Yet it felt no anxiety now, for it knew the eyes were lifeless. It had already forgotten that when the giant being named Luo Ji knelt down in silence before the formation, he had been looking at those eyes. The ant climbed out of the basin and up onto the formation’s peak. It felt no sense of towering above its surroundings, because it had no fear of falling. It had been blown off of places higher than this many times without any injury. Without the fear of heights, there can be no appreciation for the beauty of high places.
褐蚁继续攀登，进入了峭壁上的一个圆池，池内光滑的表面上有一个极其复杂的图像，它知道自己那小小的神经网络绝对无力存贮这样的东西，但了解了图像的大概形状后，它又有了对“9”的感觉，原细胞态的美感又萌动了一下。而且它还似乎认出了图像中的一部分，那是一双眼睛，它对眼睛多少有一些敏感，因为被眼睛注视就意味着危险。不过此时它没有什么忧虑，因为它知道这双眼睛没有生命。它已经忘记了那个叫罗辑的巨大的存在在第一次发出声音前蹲下来凝视孤峰上端的情形，当时他凝视的就是这双眼睛。接着，它爬出圆池，攀上峰顶。在这里。它并没有一览众山小的感觉，因为它不怕从高处坠落，它曾多次被风从比这高得多的地方吹下去，但毫发无损，没有了对高处的恐惧就体会不到高处之美：
At the foot of the formation, the spider that Luo Ji had swept aside with the flowers was beginning to reconstruct its web. It drew a glistening strand from the rock face and swung itself like a pendulum to the ground. Three more swings and the skeleton of the web was complete. Ten thousand times the web could be destroyed, and ten thousand times the spider would rebuild it. There was neither annoyance nor despair, nor any delight, just as it had been for a billion years.
在孤峰脚下，郡只被罗辑用花柄拂落的蜘蛛开始重建蛛网，它从峭壁上拉出一根晶莹的丝，把自己像钟摆似的甩到地面上。这样做了三次，网的骨架就完成了。网被破坏一万次它就重建一万次，对这过程它没有厌烦和绝望，也没有乐趣，一亿年来一直如此。
Luo Ji stood in silence for a while and then departed. When the vibrations in the ground had dissipated, the ant crawled a different way down the formation to hurry back to the nest and report on the location of a dead beetle. The stars had grown dense in the sky. When the ant passed the spider down at the foot of the formation, they felt each other’s presence, but did not communicate.
罗辑静立了一会儿，也走了。当地面的震动消失后，褐蚁从孤峰的另一边向下爬去，它要赶回蚁穴报告那只死甲虫的位置。天空中的星星密了起来，在孤峰的脚下，褐蚁又与蜘蛛交错而过，它们再次感觉到了对方的存在，但仍然没有交流。
As that distant world held its breath to listen, neither ant nor spider was aware that they, out of all life on Earth, were the sole witnesses to the birth of the axioms of cosmic civilization.
褐蚁和蜘蛛不知道，在宇宙文明公理诞生的时候，除了那个屏息聆听的遥远的世界，仅就地球生命而言，它们是仅有的见证者。
Somewhat earlier, in the dead of night, Mike Evans was standing on the bow of Judgment Day as the Pacific Ocean slipped past like a swath of satin beneath the heavens. Evans enjoyed talking with the distant world at times like these because the text the sophon displayed on his retinas stood out wonderfully against the night sea and sky.
更早一些的时候，深夜，麦克·伊文斯站在“审判日”号的船首，星空下的太平洋像一块黑色的巨缎在下面滑过。伊文斯喜欢在这种时候与那个遥远的世界对话，因为在星空和夜海的背景上，智子在视网膜上打出的字很醒目。
This is our twenty-second real-time conversation. We have come across some difficulties in our communication.
字幕：这是我们的第二十二次实时对话了，我们在交流上遇到一些困难。
“Yes, Lord. I’ve learned that you can’t actually understand a significant amount of the reference materials on humanity we’ve given you.”
伊文斯：“是的，主，我发现我们发给您的人类文献资料，有相当部分您实际上没有看懂。”
Yes. You’ve explained the parts very clearly, but we are unable to understand the whole. Something is different.
字幕：是的，你们把其中的所有元素都解释得很清楚，但整体上总是无法理解，好像是因为你们的世界比我们多了什么东西，而有时又像是少了什么东西。
“Just one thing?”
伊文斯：“这多的和少的是同一样东西吗？”
Yes. But it sometimes seems as if your world is missing something, other times that it has something extra, and we don’t know which.
字幕：是的，我们不知道是多了还是少了。
“What is the area of confusion?”
伊文斯：“那会是什么呢？”
We’ve carefully studied your documents and have discovered that the key to understanding the problem lies in a pair of synonyms.
字幕：我们仔细研究了你们的文献，发现理解困难的关键在于一时同义词上。
“Synonyms?”
伊文斯：“同义词？”
There are many synonyms and near-synonyms in your languages. In the first language we received from you, Chinese, there were words that expressed the same meaning, like “cold” and “chill,” “heavy” and “weighty,” “long” and “far.”
字幕：你们的语言中有许多同义词和近义词，以我们最初收到的汉语而言。就有“寒”和“冷”，“重”和“沉”，“长”和“远”这一类，它们表达相同的含义。
“What pair of synonyms created the obstacle to understanding you’ve just mentioned?”
伊文斯：“那您刚才说的导致理解障碍的是哪一对同义词呢‘”
“Think” and “say.” We’ve just learned, to our surprise, that they are not, in fact, synonyms.
字幕：“想”和“说”，我们刚刚惊奇地发现，它们原采不是同义词。
“They are not synonyms at all.”
伊文斯：“它们本来就不是同义词啊。”
In our understanding, they ought to be. “Think” means using thought organs to conduct mental activity. “Say” means communicating the content of thoughts to a counterpart. The latter, in your world, is accomplished through the modulation of vibrations in the air produced by the vocal cords. Are these definitions correct?
字幕：按我们的理解，它们应该是同义词：想，就是用思维器官进行思维活动；说，就是把思维的内容传达给同类。后者在你们的世界是通过被称为声带的器官对空气的振动波进行调制来实现的。这两个定义你认为正确吗？
“They are. But doesn’t this demonstrate that ‘think’ and ‘say’ aren’t synonyms?”
伊文斯：“正确，但由此不正表明”想“和”说“不是同义词吗？”
In our understanding, this shows that they are synonyms.
字幕：按照我们的理解，这正表明它们是同义词。
“May I think about this for a moment?”
伊文斯：“您能让我稍稍想一想吗，”
Very well. We both need to think about it.
字幕：好的，我们都需要想一想。
For two minutes, Evans gazed in thought at the waves undulating beneath the starlight.
伊文斯看着星光下涌动的洋面思考了两分钟。
“My Lord, what are your organs of communication?”
伊文斯：“我的主，你们的交流器官是什么？”
We do not have organs of communication. Our brains can display our thoughts to the outside world, thereby achieving communication.
字幕：我们没有交流器官，我们的大脑可以把思维向外界显示出来，这样就实现了交流。
“Display thoughts? How is that done?”
伊文斯：“显示思维，怎样实现呢？”
The thoughts in our brains emit electromagnetic waves on all frequencies, including what is visible light to us. They can be displayed at a significant distance.
字幕：大脑思维发出电磁波，包括我们的可见光在内的各种波长，可以在相当远的距离上显示。
“So that means that to you, thinking is speaking?”
伊文斯：“也就是说，对你们而言，想就是说。”
Hence they are synonyms.
字幕：所以说它们是同义词。
“Oh… That is not the case for us, but even so, that shouldn’t present an obstacle to understanding those documents.”
伊文斯：“哦但即使如此，应该也不会造成对文献理解的障碍。”
True. In the areas of thought and communication, the differences between us are not large. We both have brains, and our brains produce intelligence through huge numbers of neural connections. The only difference is that our brain waves are stronger and can be directly received by our counterparts, eliminating the need for communication organs. That’s the only difference.
字幕：是的，在思维和交流方面我们之间的差异并不大，我们都有大脑。而且大脑揶是以巨量神经元互联的方式产生智能，唯一的区别是我们的脑电波更强。能直接被同类接收，因而省去了交流器官，就这么一点差异。
“No. I suspect a major difference might be getting lost. My Lord, let me think about it again.”
伊文斯：“不，这中间可能还隐藏着更大的差异。我的主，请让我再想一想。”
Very well.
字幕：好的。
Evans left the bow and strolled along the deck. Over the gunwale, the Pacific rose and fell silently in the night. He imagined it as a thinking brain.
伊文斯离开了船首，在甲板上漫步着，船舷外，太平洋仍在夜色中无声地起伏着，他把它想象成一个正在思维的大脑。
“My Lord, let me tell you a story. To prepare for it, you need to understand the following elements: wolf, child, grandmother, and a house in the forest.”
伊文斯：“主，我想给你讲一个小故事，作为准备，您理解以下的元素吗：狼、孩子、外婆、林中的小屋。”
These elements are all easy to understand, except for “grandmother.” I know that this is a blood relation among humans, and usually means a woman of advanced age. But her actual kinship status requires more explanation.
字幕：这都是很好理解的元素，只是关于外婆，我知道是人类的一种血缘关东，通常她的年纪较大。她在血缘结构中的位置还需要你解释一下。
“Lord, that is not important. All you need to know is that she and the children have a close relationship. She is one of the only people the children trust.”
伊文斯：“主，这不重要。您只需要知道她与孩子们的关系是很亲密的，她是孩子们最信任的人之一。”
Understood.
字幕：理解。
“I’ll make it simple. Grandmother had to go out, so she left the children in the house, telling them they must make sure the door is shut and not to open it to anyone but her. On the road, Grandmother met a wolf, which ate her, and then put on her clothing and assumed her appearance. Then it went to the house and came up to the door, and said to the children, ‘I’m your grandmother. I’ve come back. Open the door for me.’ The children looked through the crack in the door and saw what looked like their grandmother, and so they opened the door, and the wolf came in the house and ate them. Do you understand this story, my Lord?”
伊文斯：“我把故事简化了一下：外婆有事外出，把孩子们留在小屋里，嘱咐他们一定要关好门，除了她之外不要给别人开门。外婆在路上遇到了狼，狼把外婆吃了。并穿上她的衣服装扮成她的样子，来到小屋前叫门。狼对屋里的孩子们说我是你们的外婆，我回来了，请把门打开。孩子们透过门缝看到它是外婆的样子，就把门打开了，狼进入小屋把孩子们也都吃了。主，您能理解这个故事吗？”
Not the slightest bit.
字幕：完全无法理解。
“Then maybe I’ve guessed right.”
伊文斯：“那我可能猜对了。”
First of all, the wolf wanted all along to enter the house and eat the children, correct?
字幕：首先，狼一直想进入小恰到好处吃掉孩子们，是吗？
“Correct.”
伊文斯：“是的。”
It engaged in communication with the children, correct?
字幕：它与孩子们进行了交流，是吗？
“Correct.”
伊文斯：“是的。”
This is what’s incomprehensible. In order to achieve its own aims, it shouldn’t have communicated with the children.
字幕：这就不可理解了，为了达到自己的日的，它不应该与孩子们交流的。
“Why?”
伊文斯：“为什么？”
Isn’t it obvious? If there was communication between them, the children would have known that the wolf wanted to come in and eat them, and they wouldn’t have opened the door.
字幕：这不是很明显的事吗？如果他们之间进行交流，孩子们就会知道狼要进屋吃掉他们的企图，当然就不会给狼开门了。
Evans stayed silent for a while. “I understand, my Lord. I understand.”
伊文斯（沉默良久）：“我明白了，主，我明白了。”
What do you understand? Isn’t what I said obvious?
字幕：你明白了什么？这一切不都是很明白的吗？
“Your thoughts are completely exposed to the outside world. You can’t hide.”
伊文斯：“你们的思维对外界是完全暴露的，不可能隐藏。”
How can thoughts hide? Your ideas are confusing.
字幕：思维怎么能隐藏呢？你的想法太不可思议了。
“I mean, your thoughts and memories are transparent to the outside world, like a book placed out in public, or a film projected in a plaza, or a fish in a clear fishbowl. Totally exposed. Readable at a glance. Er, maybe some of the elements I just mentioned are…”
伊文斯：“就是说，你们的思维和记忆对外界是全透明的，像一本放在公共场合的书，或者说是在广场上放映的电影，或者像一个全透明鱼缸里的鱼，完全暴露，可以从外界一览无遗。哦，我上面说的一些元素您可能……”
I understand them all. But isn’t all that perfectly natural?
字幕：我都理解，这一切不是很自然的吗？
Evans was silent again. “So that’s it… My Lord, when you communicate face-to-face, everything you communicate is true. It’s impossible for you to cheat or lie, so you can’t pursue complicated strategic thinking.”
伊文斯（沉默良久）：“原来是这样……我的主，当你们面对面交流时，所交流的一切都是真实的，不可能欺骗，不可能撒谎，那你们就不可能进行复杂的战略思维。”
We can communicate over significant distances, not just face-to-face. The words “cheating” and “lying” are another two that we have had a hard time understanding.
字幕：不只是面对面，我们可以在相当远的距离上交流。另外，欺骗和撒谎这两个词我们一直难以理解。
“What sort of a society is it when thought is completely transparent? What sort of culture does it produce? What sort of politics? No scheming, no pretending.”
伊文斯：“一个思想全透明的社会是怎样的社会，会产生怎样的文化、怎样的政治？你们没有计谋，不可能伪装。”
What are “scheming” and “pretending”?
字幕：计谋和伪装是什么？
Evans said nothing.
伊文斯：“……”
Human communication organs are but an evolutionary deficiency, a necessary compensation for the fact that your brains can’t emit strong thought waves. This is one of your biological weaknesses. Direct display of thought is a superior, more efficient form of communication.
字幕：人类的交流嚣官不过是一种进化的缺陷而已，是对你们大脑无法产生强思维电波的一种不得已的补偿，是你们的一种生物学上的劣势，用思维的直接显示，当然是效率更高的高级交流方式。
“A deficiency? A weakness? No, my Lord, you are wrong. This time you are totally wrong.”
伊文斯：“缺陷？劣势？不，主，您错了，这一次，您是完完全全地错了。”
Is that so? Let me think about it. It’s a shame you can’t see my thoughts.
字幕：是吗？让我也想一想吧，很可惜，你看不到我的思想。
This time the interruption was longer. When twenty minutes had passed and no more text had appeared, Evans strolled from bow to stern, watching a school of fish leaping out of the ocean, tracing an arc on the surface that glittered silver under the starlight. Several years ago, he had spent some time on a fishing boat in the South China Sea investigating the effect of overfishing on coastal life. The fishermen called this phenomenon “the passing of dragon soldiers.” To Evans, they looked like text projected on the eye of the ocean. Then text appeared before his own eyes.
这一次对话的间隔时间很长，字幕有二十分钟没有出现，伊文斯已经从船首踱到船尾了。他看到有一队鱼不断地从海里跃出，在海面上方划出一条在星光下银光闪闪的弧线。几年前，为了考察过度捕捞对沿海物种的影响，他曾经在南中国海的渔船上待过一段时间，渔民们把这种景象叫“龙兵过”，伊文斯现在感觉那很像映在海洋瞳孔上的字幕。这时，他自己眼腈中的字幕也出现了。
You are correct. Looking back at those documents, I understand them a little better.
字幕：你是对的，现在回想那些文献，我有些懂了。
“My Lord, there’s a long road to travel before you arrive at a true understanding of human matters. I’m almost afraid that you’ll never be able to.”
伊文斯：“我的主，你要真正弄懂人类的那些东西，还有很长的路要走，我甚至怀疑，您最终是否有可能弄懂。”
Indeed, they are complicated. All I know now is why I didn’t understand them before. You are right.
字幕：是的，真的是太复杂，我现在只是知道了自己以前为什么不理解你是对的。
“My Lord, you need us.”
伊文斯：“我的主，您需要我们。”
I am afraid of you.
字幕：我害怕你们。
The conversation stopped. This was the last time that Evans received a message from Trisolaris. He stood at the stern watching the snow-white body of Judgment Day stretch off into the hazy night, like time slipping away.
对话中断了，这是伊文斯最后一次收到来自三体世界的信息。这时他站在船尾，看着“审判日”号的雪白的航迹延伸到迷蒙的夜幕中，像流逝的时间。
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