Free exchange | out there

自由交換|在那里

【關于out there，有道詞典的英英解釋有Out There was a short-lived science fiction television program broadcast on Sundays at 6:00 p.m.。這是一款節(jié)目？】

Amazon’s boss reckons that humanity needs an HQ2

亞馬遜老板認為人類需要一個HQ2

詞匯

Reckon/測算，估計；認為；計算

HQ2[head quarter總部，亞馬遜的第二總部HQ2]

Jeff bezos wants humans to live in space. On May 9th the founder and boss of Amazon, who also runs Blue Origin, a private rocketry ?rm, unveiled plans for a lunar lander. “Blue Moon”, as it is called, is just one phase of a bold plan to establish large o?-world settlements. It is a vision ripped directly from 20th-century science ?ction. Having persuaded people to take other leaps of faith, from shopping online to placing his ?rm’s always-on listening posts in their homes, he could be just the person to convince millions to leave Earth. But it will take a unique economic pitch.

杰夫·貝佐斯希望人類能生活在太空中。5月9日，亞馬遜的創(chuàng)始人兼老板，同時也是私營火箭公司Blue Origin（藍色起源）的老板，公布了登月計劃?！八{月亮”，正如它的名字，只是一個大膽的計劃的一個階段，建立大規(guī)模的地球以外的定居點。這是一個直接取自20世紀科幻小說的愿景。從（讓人們開始接受）網(wǎng)上購物到把他的公司的24h持續(xù)開放的意見箱放在用戶家中（隨時可以反饋意見），他已經(jīng)說服人們進行了思想上的轉(zhuǎn)變，（因此）他可能成為就是那個說服數(shù)百萬人離開地球的人。但這需要一個獨特的經(jīng)濟策略。

詞匯

listening posts/聽音哨；情報站

Unless Mr Bezos obtains the state-like power to order masses of people around, his plans will require émigré Earthlings to leave voluntarily. Their motives need not be entirely economic. The Puritans left Britain for America in search of freedom from religious persecution. Mr Bezos might well ?nd recruits among unhappy minorities—or among deeply devoted believers in his vision for humanity. He is not an entirely implausible cult ?gure.

除非貝佐斯獲得像國家一樣的權(quán)力來命令周圍的民眾，否則他的計劃將要求地球上的移民自愿離開。他們的動機不一定完全是經(jīng)濟上的。清教徒離開英國到美國尋求宗教迫害的自由。貝佐斯很可能會在不快樂的少數(shù)群體中找到志愿者，或者在對他的人性愿景深信不疑的人中找到志愿者。他不是一個完全不可信的邪教人物。

詞匯

state-like/state有州、國家的意思，但是翻譯給出的都是“國家一樣的”

émigré/【來自法語】（通常因政治原因移居外國的）流亡者，逃亡者

Earthlings/凡人，眾生

Puritan/清教徒

Persecution/迫害

Recruit/招聘；新兵；新成員

Cult/狂熱；異教團體；宗教信仰；信徒

Per his presentation, however, Mr Bezos’s cities will be home to millions: numbers demanding a cost-bene?t proposition with mass appeal. People might line up if the costs or risks of staying on Earth were to rise—because of a deteriorating environment, say, or imminent collision with a massive asteroid. But there are problems with the notion of space settlements as doomsday arks. Even an Earth dramatically less habitable than it is now would be substantially more so than anywhere else in the solar system. Any technology that could conceivably be used to create huge, humanfriendly environments in space or on other planets could presumably be used at less expense on Earth. The logistics would be challenging, too. Elon Musk, the boss of Tesla, who also operates a private space ?rm, aims to settle Mars to ensure humanity’s continuation as a species against an extinction-level event. But relocating a great number of people to a desolate planet millions of miles away is fantastically hard. He wants to build an interplanetary ship with a capacity of 100. Even one departing every minute would not keep pace with Earth’s population growth.

然而，通過他的演講，貝佐斯的城市將成為數(shù)百萬人的家園:這些人需要一個具有大眾吸引力的成本效益主張。如果呆在地球上的成本或風險上升，比如由于環(huán)境惡化，或者即將與一顆巨大的小行星相撞，人們可能會排隊等候。但將太空定居點視為“末日方舟”的想法存在一些問題。即使地球變得比現(xiàn)在更不適宜居住，其宜居程度也將大大超過太陽系的任何其他地方。任何可以在太空或其他星球上創(chuàng)造巨大的、對人類友好的環(huán)境的技術(shù)都可以在地球上以更低的成本使用。后勤也將是一個挑戰(zhàn)。特斯拉的老板埃隆·馬斯克(Elon Musk)也經(jīng)營著一家私人太空公司，他的目標是在火星定居，以確保人類作為一個物種的延續(xù)不受滅絕級別事件的影響。但是，將大量的人遷移到數(shù)百萬英里之外的一個荒涼星球上是非常困難的。他想建造一艘能容納100人的星際飛船。即使每分鐘就有一個人離開，也趕不上地球人口的增長。

詞匯

Deteriorating/退化，惡化

Imminent/即將來臨的；迫近的

Asteroid/小行星

?

Space cities might lure settlers by o?ering to make them rich. But if extraterrestrial settlements remained dependent on imports from Earth, then their cost of living would be astronomical, and the income paid by space work would need to be correspondingly high to provide residents with a generous level of welfare. That, in turn, would require export industries selling things to Earthlings that could not be made on Earth far more cheaply.

太空城市可能會通過讓定居者變得富有來吸引他們。但是，如果外星定居點的物資仍然依賴從地球進口，那么他們的生活成本將是天文數(shù)字，太空工作所支付的收入將需要相應的高，才能為居民提供慷慨的福利。反過來，這將要求出口行業(yè)向地球人出售在地球上無法以更低的成本生產(chǎn)的產(chǎn)品。

詞匯

Lure/誘惑；引誘

Extraterrestrial/地球外的

Astronomical/天文學的

Might such space niches exist? Mining extraterrestrial objects could be economical, but would provide a weak reason for mass habitation, since it could be done most easily and cheaply by robots. Service industries o?er more potential. If life in space were to prove therapeutic in some way, then o?-world sanitariums could turn a pro?t. Space tourism would create a steady demand for o?world labour. The space economy might also thrive as a hub for activities banned on Earth, such as human cloning. Once a viable source of exports was found, agglomeration could drive further growth as Earthlings sought their fortunes o?-world, plying goods and services to workers in the export industries. There would be obstacles, not all related to survival. The laws governing space enterprise are murky. An Outer Space Treaty signed in 1967 prohibits governments from asserting claims over extraterrestrial land and resources, but says they retain jurisdiction over their own crafts (in the manner of ships in international waters). An American law passed in 2015 gives companies the right to own whatever useful material they can harvest in space, though not all countries accept this. Tech bros who prefer asking forgiveness to begging permission are unlikely to be much impeded by such uncertainties.

這樣的空間利基可能存在嗎?開采地外物資可能是經(jīng)濟的，但會為大規(guī)模居住提供一個薄弱的理由，因為這可以由機器人這種最容易、最廉價的方式完成。服務業(yè)提供了更多的潛力。如果太空生活能在某種程度上證明具有治療作用，那么遠離地球的療養(yǎng)院就能盈利。太空旅游業(yè)將創(chuàng)造大量的“地球外勞動”的穩(wěn)定的勞動力需求。太空經(jīng)濟或許也會帶來地球內(nèi)禁止的活動蓬勃發(fā)展，成為這類活動開展的中心，比如克隆人。一旦找到一個可行的出口來源，隨著地球人在世界之外尋找財富，為出口行業(yè)的工人提供商品和服務，這類非法活動可能會推動進一步的擴大。太空探索會有一些障礙，并非都與生存有關。管理太空事業(yè)的法律是模糊的。1967年簽署的一項《外層空間條約》禁止各國政府對外星土地和資源提出主權(quán)要求，但表示各國政府保留對本國船只的管轄權(quán)(就像國際水域中的船只一樣)。2015年通過的一項美國法律賦予公司擁有在太空中收集到的任何有用材料的權(quán)利，盡管并非所有國家都接受這一點。喜歡請求諒解而不是乞求許可的科技公司不太可能受到這種不確定性的阻礙。

詞匯

Space niche/空間生態(tài)位[niche/壁龕]

Therapeutic/治療的；治療學的；有益于健康的

Sanitarium/療養(yǎng)院；療養(yǎng)所

Thrive/繁榮，興旺；茁壯成長

Agglomeration/凝聚，結(jié)塊；（雜亂的）一批，一群

Murky/黑暗的；朦朧的；陰郁的

Impede/阻礙；妨礙；阻止

Mr Bezos appears to have in mind something other than a trade-based interplanetary economy, however. His plans take for granted speedy technological progress of the sort that would enable large-scale mining and materials processing by autonomous robots, and construction of vast o?-world habitats. The works of science ?ction from which his vision borrows often assume the emergence of “fully automated luxury communism”, in which clever machines enable the emergence of a post-scarcity world.

然而，貝佐斯似乎考慮的不是以貿(mào)易為基礎的星際經(jīng)濟。他的計劃想當然地認為，快速的技術(shù)進步將使自動機器人能夠大規(guī)模采礦和材料加工，以及建造廣闊的外星棲息地。他的愿景所借鑒的科幻作品，往往假定出現(xiàn)了“完全自動化的驕奢的——主義”，在這種——主義中，聰明的機器使落后匱乏世界的（成為人類適宜居住地）出現(xiàn)成為可能。

詞匯

interplanetary /太陽系內(nèi)的；行星間的

?

Such advances might not just enable the settlement of space, but might be realisable only in space. The resource demands of a world where everyone can have everything they want would probably outstrip Earth’s material capacity. Space, however, holds a virtually unlimited supply of the raw materials needed for universal abundance. But intensive use of extraterrestrial resources on Earth could pose environmental hazards or nuisance costs that humans would lobby to prevent. And even nearly free resources would not enable 9bn people to live where and how they want. Not everyone can have an estate on the Californian coast.

這些科技的進步可能不僅使人類居住空間的問題得以解決，而且可能只有在太空中才能實現(xiàn)。地球上，每個人幾乎有著想要一切他想要的資源的想法，這也許會超出地球的物資容量。然而，太空幾乎擁有無限的原料供應，而這些原料是構(gòu)成豐富的宇宙所必需的。但是，在地球上大量使用地球以外資源可能會造成環(huán)境危害或令人厭惡的浪費，而人類會游說阻止這些危害。即便是近乎免費的資源，也無法讓90億人過上他們想要的生活。并不是每個人都能在加利福尼亞海岸擁有房產(chǎn)。

詞匯

Outstrip/超過；勝過；比…跑得快

Hazard/危險，風險；冒險的事；

Nuisance/ ?討厭的人；損害

?

Free enterprise

自由企業(yè)

Space, on the other hand, has plenty. In addition to its countless resource-rich rocks, it o?ers more than enough room to build whatever habitats, with whichever climates and vistas, are needed to satisfy humanity’s demands. In the context of the ?nitude of Earth, insatiable resource consumption seems wasteful, even obscene. But o?-world, why be stingy? Given a choice between a cheek-by-jowl existence down here and indecent luxury up there, many might accept the risks of starting a new life in the heavens.

另一方面，太空有很多資源。除了無數(shù)資源豐富的巖石，它還提供了足夠的空間來建造任何棲息地，無論氣候和景色如何，都可以滿足人類的需求。在地球有限的背景下，貪得無厭的資源消耗似乎是浪費，甚至是可憎的。但一旦脫離地球束縛，何必吝嗇?如果要在這里過著緊湊型的生活和地球之外的奢侈的生活之間做出選擇，許多人可能會接受在天堂開始新生活的風險。

詞匯

?nitude/有限；界限；限制

obscene/淫穢的；猥褻的；可憎的

stingy /吝嗇的，小氣的；

cheek-by-jowl/緊密地

In the 19th century Europeans streamed into America because wages were higher. They were high because of the continent’s extraordinary abundance—an abundance resulting from the mass deaths and displacement of indigenous people, but abundance nonetheless. The living that could be made on the near-inexhaustible supply of resource-rich land forced urban ?rms to pay high wages, lest workers left for the frontier. Space is a forbidding place for frail humans. But the ?nal frontier may be the only one capable of providing humankind with endless material wealth.

19世紀，歐洲人涌入美國，因為工資更高。這些數(shù)字之所以高，是因為美洲大陸有著異常豐富的資源——這是由于大量土著人死亡和流離失所帶來的物資豐富，但盡管如此，富饒就是富饒。人們可以選擇過依靠幾乎取之不盡的資源豐富的土地所能帶來的生活，這便迫使城市企業(yè)支付高工資，以免工人離開城市去邊疆。對于身體虛弱的人來說，太空是一個令人生畏的地方。但是，最后的疆域可能是能夠為人類提供無盡物質(zhì)財富的唯一疆域。

詞匯

Indigenous/本土的；土著的；國產(chǎn)的；固有的