如果你抛起一根羽毛,它会在空中飘走,然后消失不见;然后你向上扔一个土块,它却不会飘走,而是掉在了地上,每次都是这样。我试了一次又一次,结果都是一样的。为什么呢?毫无疑问,它并不是真的落下来了,但为什么看起来像是落下来了呢?我想,这是视觉上的幻觉。
When you cast up a feather it sails away on the air and goes out of sight;then you throw up a clod and it doesn't. It comes down, every time. I have tried it and tried it, and it is always so. I wonder why it is?Of course it DOESN'T come down, but why should it SEEM to?I suppose it is an optical illusion.
我的意思是,飘走的羽毛和落下的土块,两种现象中有一种是幻觉。我不知道究竟哪一种是幻象。也许是羽毛;也许是泥土;我无法证明究竟是哪个。我只能演示其中的一个是假的,然后让大家自行判断。
I mean, one of them is. I don't know which one. It may be the feather, it may be the clod;I can't prove which it is, I can only demonstrate that one or the other is a fake, and let a person take his choice.
通过观察,我发现星星不能永存。一些我所见过的最美的星星融化了,从天空中落下来。既然一颗星星会融化,那所有的都可能融化;既然都有可能融化,就有可能都在同一天晚上融化。那时我一定会很难过。
By watching, I know that the stars are not going to last. I have seen some of the best ones melt and run down the sky. Since one can melt, they can all melt;since they can all melt, they can all melt the same night. That sorrow will come—I know it.