Rives: Reinventing the encyclopedia game

Translator: Morton Bast Reviewer: Thu-Huong Ha

譯者: Gina Wang 審譯者: Yuguo Zhang

So, last month, the Encyclopaedia Britannica announced

上個月，大英百科宣布

that it is going out of print

即將停止紙本印刷

after 244 years, which made me nostalgic,

過了244年，這讓我有些懷舊

because I remember playing a game with the colossal encyclopedia set in my hometown library

因為我猶記在家鄉的圖書館 用百科全書玩遊戲

back when I was a kid,

那時我只是個小孩

maybe 12 years old.

也許只有12歲

And I wondered if I could update that game,

如今我猜想 假設我更新遊戲的玩法

not just for modern methods,

不只為了讓玩法現代化

but for the modern me.

也為了長大的我

So I tried.

於是我開始嘗試

I went to an online encyclopedia,

我到網路上的維基百科

Wikipedia, and I entered the term "Earth."

輸入字串「地球」

You can start anywhere, this time I chose Earth.

你可以從任何一個字開始 這次我選地球

And the first rule of the game is pretty simple.

遊戲的第一條規則很簡單

You just have to read the article

你只需要讀文章

until you find something you don't know,

一直到發現你所不知的新知識

and preferably something your dad doesn't even know.

最好連你爸爸都不知道

And in this case, I quickly found this:

這次，我很快就找到這個：

The furthest point from the center of the Earth

離地心最遠的點

is not the tip of Mount Everest, like I might have thought,

並非眾所皆知的聖母峰

it's the tip of this mountain: Mount Chimborazo in Ecuador.

而是在厄瓜多爾 欽博拉索山的峰頂

The Earth spins, of course, as it travels around the sun,

地球繞著太陽公轉時，也會自轉

so the Earth bulges a little bit around the middle,

所以地球赤道那塊會突出一塊

like some Earthlings.

像某種人一樣

And even though Mount Chimborazo isn't the tallest mountain in the Andes,

雖然欽博拉索山並不是安第斯最高的山

it's one degree away from the equator,

離赤道只有一度

it's riding that bulge, and so the summit of Chimborazo

它就在那突起物上 而欽博拉索山山頂也是

is the farthest point on Earth from the center of the Earth.

那山頂是離地球中心最遙遠的點

And it is really fun to say.

而且是個說起來很有趣的詞

So I immediately decided,

所以我立刻決定

this is going to be the name of the game,

這遊戲的名字

or my new exclamation.

或是我的新驚嘆語

You can use it at TED.

你可以在TED這麼用

Chimborazo, right?

就是「欽博拉索」

It's like "eureka" and "bingo" had a baby.

就像是"eureka"和"bingo"的結合 (「我發現了」、「答對了」)

I didn't know that;

我以前不知道

that's pretty cool.

超級酷的

Chimborazo!

欽博拉索！

So the next rule of the game is also pretty simple.

遊戲的下條規則也很簡單

You just have to find another term and look that up.

你只需要找另一個辭彙 並查詢它

Now in the old days, that meant getting out a volume

以前，這表示你要拿出一本大書

and browsing through it alphabetically,

並照著字母瀏覽

maybe getting sidetracked,

也許過程中會發現其它知識

that was fun.

Nowadays there are hundreds of links to choose from.

很好玩

現在有成千上萬的連結可以選擇

I can go literally anywhere in the world,

我可以搜尋世界上任何角落的訊息

I think since I was already in Ecuador,

我想反正我已經在厄瓜多爾

I just decided to click on the word "tropical."

所以我按了「熱帶」一詞

That took me to this wet and warm band of the tropics

連結將我帶到濕熱的熱帶區域

that encircles the Earth.

而它圍繞著地球

Now that's the Tropic of Cancer in the north

這是北回歸線

and the Tropic of Capricorn in the south,

那是南迴歸線

that much I knew,

我只知道這樣

but I was surprised to learn this little fact:

但我很驚訝的學到這件事

Those are not cartographers' lines,

那並不是繪圖者為了方便做出的線

like latitude or the borders between nations,

像是緯度或是國界

they are astronomical phenomena caused by the Earth's tilt,

那是地球傾斜所造成的天文現象

and they change.

而且他們會改變

They move; they go up, they go down.

他們會上下移動

In fact, for years, the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn

事實上，好幾年來，南北迴歸線

have been steadily drifting towards the equator

已不斷的往赤道移動

at the rate of about 15 meters per year,

大概以每年15公尺的速率移動

and nobody told me that.

從來沒有人告訴我這件事

I didn't know it.

我以前也不知道

Chimborazo!

欽博拉索！

So to keep the game going, I just have to find another term and look that one up.

要繼續玩這個遊戲 我只需要再找到另一個詞並查詢它

Since I'm already in the tropics, I chose "Tropical rainforest."

反正我已經在熱帶了，我選了「熱帶雨林」

Famous for its diversity, human diversity.

以它的（人種）多樣性知名

There are still dozens and dozens of uncontacted tribes living on this planet.

在那裡，住著許多沒有與外界聯繫的部族

They're all over the globe, but virtually all of them live in tropical rainforests.

他們分布在地球各地 但全部都位在雨林之中

This is the only place you can go nowadays and not get "friended."

這是世界上唯一一處 你去了而不會被加臉書朋友

The link that I clicked on here was exotic in the beginning and then absolutely mysterious at the very end.

我按得這個連結乍看非常奇特 到最後還真的非常神秘

It mentioned leopards and ring-tailed coatis and poison dart frogs and boa constrictors and then

它提到了豹、長鼻浣熊、箭毒蛙和會將人纏斃的蟒蛇

coleoptera,

鞘翅目昆蟲

which turn out to be beetles.

是一種甲蟲

Now I clicked on this on purpose,

我故意選這個連結

but if I'd somehow gotten here by mistake,

但如果我是不小心選到這個連結

it does remind me, for the band, see "The Beatles,"

它的確會提醒我如果指的是樂團 可搜尋「披頭士」

for the car see "Volkswagon Beetle,"

指汽車，選「德國福斯金龜車」

but I am here for beetle beetles.

但我只想查詢「甲蟲」

This is the most successful order on the planet by far.

這是種地球上目前繁殖最成功的生物

Something between 20 and 25 percent of all life forms on the planet,

占了地球上20~25%的生物種類

including plants, are beetles.

包括植物

That means the next time you are in the grocery store,

這表示下次你去超市的時候

take a look at the four people ahead of you in line.

看看排在你前面的4個人

Statistically, one of you is a beetle.

據統計，你們其中一個是甲蟲

And if it is you, you are astonishingly well adapted.

如果是你，你有超強的環境適應能力

There are scavenger beetles that pick the skin and flesh off of bones in museums.

有專吃皮肉腐物的甲蟲

There are predator beetles, that attack other insects

也有掠食性、會攻擊其他昆蟲的甲蟲

and still look pretty cute to us.

而它們看起來還很可愛

There are beetles that roll little balls of dung

也有專門把糞便推成一球的甲蟲

great distances across the desert floor to feed to their hatchlings.

從沙漠的一端把糞球推到它遙遠的巢穴裡

This reminded the ancient Egyptians of their god Khepri,

這讓我想到古埃及的聖甲蟲神（Khepri）

who renews the ball of the sun every morning,

祂每天更新太陽的火球

which is how that dung-rolling scarab

就是為什麼糞金龜

became that sacred scarab on the breastplate of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun.

成為法老圖坦卡門護胸甲上的聖甲蟲

Beetles, I was reminded, have the most romantic flirtation in the animal kingdom.

我也被提醒 甲蟲是動物界中求愛最浪漫的生物

Fireflies are not flies, fireflies are beetles.

螢火蟲不是蠅類，是甲蟲

Fireflies are coleoptera, and coleoptera communicate in other ways as well.

螢火蟲是鞘翅目昆蟲 而它們用不同的方式溝通

Like my next link:

像我的下個連結：

The chemical language of pheromones.

「費洛蒙的化學語言」

Now the pheromone page took me to a video of a sea urchin having sex.

費洛蒙這頁 讓我看到海膽在交配的影片

Yeah.

沒錯

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

And the link to aphrodisiac.

也有去「春藥」的連結

Now that's something that increases sexual desire,

有某種能激起性慾的東西

possibly chocolate.

可能是巧克力

There is a compound in chocolate called phenethylamine

巧克力中有某種叫苯乙胺的化合物

that might be an aphrodisiac.

可以成為春藥

But as the article mentions,

但文章也提到

because of enzyme breakdown,

因為酵素分解

it's unlikely that phenethylamine will reach your brain if taken orally.

所以口服巧克力時 苯乙胺並不會進到腦中

So those of you who only eat your chocolate, you might have to experiment.

所以那些只吃巧克力的人 你也許想實驗看看

The link I clicked on here,

我現在點這個連結「Sympathetic magic」

"sympathetic magic," mostly because I understand what both of those words mean.

因為我知道這兩個字的分別意思 （有同情心的、魔術）

But not when they're together like that.

但當它們組合在一起 我就不知道是什麼意思

I do like sympathy. I do like magic.

我喜歡同情心和魔術

So when I click on "sympathetic magic,"

所以當我點這個詞

I get sympathetic magic and voodoo dolls.

我得到巫術和巫毒娃娃

This is the boy in me getting lucky again.

我覺得我真是超幸運的

Sympathetic magic is imitation.

巫術是一種模仿

If you imitate something, maybe you can have an effect on it.

假使你模仿某事，也許你可以對它產生影響

That's the idea behind voodoo dolls, and possibly also cave paintings.

這就是巫毒娃娃的原理 洞穴壁畫也可能如此

The link to cave paintings takes me to some of the oldest art known to humankind.

「洞穴壁畫」的連結帶我到某種最古老的人類藝術

I would love to see Google maps inside some of these caves.

如果Google地圖能到這些洞穴裡多好

We've got tens-of-thousands-years-old artwork.

在這有上萬年前的藝術

Common themes around the globe include large wild animals and tracings of human hands,

大多的主題都是地球上的巨大野生動物 和對人手的描繪

usually the left hand.

通常是左手

We have been a dominantly right-handed tribe for millenia,

我們人類長久以來一向慣用右手

so even though I don't know why a paleolithic person would trace his hand

所以即使我不曉得舊石器時代的人為什麼描繪它的手

or blow pigment on it from a tube,

或從管子裡吹出顏料

I can easily picture how he did it.

我可以輕易的想像它怎麼做的

And I really don't think it's that different form our own little dominant hand avatar

我認為他們與慣用右手當圖示的我們其實差異不大

right there that I'm going to use now to click on the term for "hand,"

從這裡我又按了「手」的連結

go to the page for "hand," where I found the most fun and possibly embarrassing bit of trivia

在「手」的頁面我找到最有趣也最令人羞愧

I've found in a long time. It's simply this:

我也找了很久的小知識

The back of the hand is formally called the opisthenar.

手背的學名叫opisthenar

Now that's embarrassing, because up until now,

這讓我羞愧，因為一直以來

every time I've said, "I know it like the back of my hand,"

每次我說：我對某事瞭如指掌

I've really been saying, "I'm totally familiar with that,

我其實是在說：我的確很了解

I just don't know it's freaking name, right?"

我只是不知道它該死的真正學名

And the link I clicked on here,

我現在按的這個連結

well, lemurs, monkeys and chimpanzees have the little opisthenar.

狐猴、猴子和猩猩都有手背

I click on chimpanzee, and I get our closest genetic relative.

我按了「猩猩」 其中基因與人類最相近的一種是黑猩猩

Pan troglodytes, the name we give him, means "cave dweller."

我們給牠的學名是「穴居生物」的意思

He doesn't.

但牠並不住在洞穴

He lives in rainforests and savannas.

牠住在雨林和草原

It's just that we're always thinking of this guy as lagging behind us,

我們一直認為這種生物只比我們在進化上落後一些

evolutionarily or somehow uncannily creeping up on us,

或也許哪天牠們會悄悄趕上

and in some cases, he gets places before us.

但在某種程度上，牠的確比我們先進

Like my next link, the almost irresistible link, Ham the Astrochimp.

我的下個連結，我怎麼能不按它 「太空猩猩Ham」

I click on him, and I really thought he was going to bring me full circle twice, in fact.

我按它，我一直以為它會讓我回到遊戲起點兩次

He's born in Cameroon,

事實上，牠生於喀麥隆

which is smack in the middle of my tropics map,

位於熱帶地區的國家

and more specifically his skeleton wound up in the Smithsonian museum getting picked clean by beetles.

而更精確的說，牠的骸骨在史密森博物館 被甲蟲們腐蝕

In between those two landmarks in Ham's life,

Ham生命中的兩個重要地點中

he flew into space.

牠上到太空

He experienced weightlessness and re-entry

比蘇聯太空人Yuri Gagarin

months before the first human being to do it,

第一位上太空的人類

Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin.

早幾個月體驗無重力並重返地球

When I click on Yuri Gagarin's page,

當我按了蘇聯太空人Yuri Gagarin的頁面

I get this guy who was surprisingly short in stature,

我發現它雖然身高不高

huge in heroism.

卻是受到無比尊敬的英雄

Top estimates, Soviet estimates, put this guy at 1.65 meters,

蘇聯的資料最高估計他165公分高

that is less than five and a half feet tall max,

大概最多不到5.5英呎高

possibly because he was malnourished as a child.

也許因為他小時候營養不足

Germans occupied Russia.

那時德國人占領俄國

A Nazi officer took over the Gagarin household,

一位納粹軍官占領Gagarin的家

and he and his family built and lived in a mud hut.

而他和他的家人建造並住在一間泥土小屋

Years later, the boy from that cramped mud hut

多年後這個住在泥土小屋的男孩

would grow up to be the man in that cramped capsule

長大後住在火箭尖端

on the tip of a rocket

狹小的機艙

who volunteered to be launched into outer space,

並自願被發射前往外太空

the first one of any of us to really physically leave this planet.

是人類史上第一位離開地球的人類

And he didn't just leave it,

他並不只是離開

he circled it once.

他還繞地球一圈

Fifty years later, as a tribute,

50年後，為表崇敬之意

the International Space Station, which is still up there tonight,

今晚仍然在太空的國際太空站

synced its orbit with Gagarin's orbit,

與Gagarin的小艇 在同樣的時程和路徑同步繞地球

at the exact same time of day,

與Gagarin的小艇 在同樣的時程和路徑同步繞地球

and filmed it,

並拍攝

so you can go online and you can watch over 100 minutes

所以你可以上網看這超過100分鐘

of what must have been an absolutely mesmerizing ride,

史上第一個人親眼所見

possibly a lonely one,

十分令人著迷的旅程

the first person to ever see such a thing.

可能也非常孤獨

And then when you've had your fill of that,

當你陶醉於這情景

you can click on one more link.

你可以再按另一個連結

You can come back to Earth.

回到「地球」

You return to where you started.

你就回到原點

You can finish your game.

可以結束遊戲

You just need to find one more fact that you didn't know.

你只需要再找出一個你不知道的知識

And for me, I quickly landed on this one:

而我很快的找到這個：

The Earth has a tolerance of about .17 percent from the reference spheroid,

地球的橢圓比大約是0.17%

which is less than the .22 percent allowed in billiard balls.

比撞球的0.22%還稍小一些

This is the kind of fact I would have loved as a boy.

這是我小時候很愛的小知識

I found it myself.

我自己找到的

It's got some math that I can do.

有我可以算的數學

I'm pretty sure my dad doesn't know it.

我相信我爸也不知道

What this means is that if you could shrink the Earth to the size of a billiard ball,

這代表你如果將地球縮到像撞球這麼小

if you could take planet Earth, with all its mountain tops and caves

如果你可以把地球和它的高山、洞穴

and rainforests, astronauts and uncontacted tribes and chimpanzees, voodoo dolls,

雨林、太空人、與世隔絕的部落、猩猩、巫毒娃娃

fireflies, chocolate, sea creatures making love in the deep blue sea,

螢火蟲、巧克力、在深海交配的海洋生物

you just shrink that to the size of a billiard ball,

你只要把它縮成像撞球這麼小

it would be as smooth as a billiard ball,

它就會像撞球一樣平滑

presumably a billiard ball with a slight bulge around the middle.

也許是一顆中間稍稍凸起的撞球

That's pretty cool.

實在很酷

I didn't know that.

我從來都不曉得這件事

Chimborazo!

欽博拉索

Thank you.

(Applause)

謝謝

（掌聲）