But no matter how much power the train has,
但无论列车有多大动力
it can never quite
物理法则的限定
reach the speed of light since the laws of physics forbid it.
使它永远无法到达光速
Instead, let's say it gets close,
但我们能假定它无限趋近于光速
just shy of that ultimate speed.
仅略微慢一些
Now something extraordinary happens.
神奇的事情就会发生
Time starts flowing slowly on board relative to the rest of the world,
相对于列车外,列车内的时间逐渐减慢
just like near the black hole, only more so.
就如同黑洞周围的情形,不过更慢
Everything on the train is in slow motion.
列车上的一切动作都缓慢下来
This happens to protect the speed limit,
这是为了维护速度极限
and it's not hard to see why.
我们不难看出其中的原因
Imagine a child running forwards up the train.
试想一个孩子沿列车运行方向奔跑
Her forward speed is added to the speed of the train,
她的速度与列车速度相加
so couldn't she break the speed limit simply by accident?
那她岂不是无意间就打破速度极限了吗
The answer is no.
答案是否定的
The laws of nature prevent the possibility
自然法则通过减慢列车内的时间
by slowing down time on board.
来防止这一可能的发生
Now she can't run fast enough to break the limit.
这样她就不可能突破速度极限
Time will always slow down just
时间总是能够减慢
enough to protect the speed limit.
足以保护极限速度不被突破
And from that fact comes the possibility of
基于此,便产生了
traveling large distances into the future.
通过时间旅行穿梭至久远未来的无限可能
Imagine the train left the station on January 1, 2050.
假设列车2050年1月1日从站台出发
It circles the earth over and over again for 100 years
周而复始地环绕地球100年
before finally coming to a halt on New Year's Day, 2150.
最后在2150年元旦停下来
The passengers will have only lived one week because
此时列车上的旅客仅度过了1周
time is slowed down that much inside the train.
因为列车内的时间被减缓了
When they got out,
当他们走出列车
they'd find a very different world than the one they'd left.
会发现世界发生了天翻地覆的变化
In one week, they'd have traveled 100 years into the future.
一周内,他们穿越到了未来100年