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I admit this sounds strange,
我承认这听上去有些奇怪
but to cosmologists it's like winning the lottery.
但对宇宙学家来说，这就像是中了头彩
Because to work out where the universe came from,
因为要想探索宇宙的起源
all we need to do is to stop time and make it run in reverse.
我们只需让时间停止，并使时光倒流
Rewind far enough
回到远久之前
and everything gets closer together.
回到万物皆为一体的时候
A lot closer together.
紧密一体的时候
All the galaxies,
所有的星系
in fact, every single thing
实际上，每一个物体
converges to a single point.
都汇聚于某个点
The start of everything, 13.7 billion years ago.
137亿年前，一切起源的瞬间
So it's quite simple really.
事情就是这么简单
Follow the clues and we can deduce
根据线索，我们可以推断出
that a very long time ago,
在很久很久之前
the universe simply burst into existence.
宇宙初现雏形的场景
An event called the Big Bang.
这就是，宇宙大爆炸
But I'm afraid we have to stop a moment
不过在我们痴迷于爆炸和噪音之前
before we get carried away by fire and noise.
我要先在这里停一下
At the very beginning,
在一切开始之际
the Big Bang actually happened in total darkness,
宇宙大爆炸实际发生于完全黑暗之中
because light didn't exist yet.
因为那时，光并不存在
To see it,
要想看到它
we would have needed some kind of cosmic night vision.
我们就需要有某种宇宙夜视能力
But even this,
但即使这样
a view from the outside is impossible.
想要从外部来观看也是不可能的
Again, it sounds strange,
这听起来还是有些奇怪
but space didn't exist then either.
但在那时，空间也同样不存在
So there was no outside.
所以根本就不存在外部
The only place there was was inside.
宇宙只有内部
This early universe was a very strange thing indeed.
早期的宇宙的确是不同寻常
There is still much I dearly love to know about it,
对于它，我还抱有强烈的好奇心
but standard concepts of time or space don't really apply.
但时间或空间的标准概念在这里并不适用
It was just a very tiny ultra hot fog of energy.
它只是一团微小的极端高温能量雾
Then it expanded
然后，它开始膨胀
with a tremendous flash of radiation,
释放出巨量的辐射光
from smaller than an atom to about the size of an orange
从不到原子那么小，膨胀到橘子那么大
in less than a trillionth of a second.
只用了不到万亿分之一秒
Almost no time at all.
其过程极其短暂
The universe simply inflated into existence.
宇宙就在膨胀中产生了
Unfolding, unfurling,
不断延伸，不断展开
getting bigger and cooler with every passing moment.
随着时间的流逝，不断膨胀，逐渐冷却
