《那些古怪又讓人憂心的問題》第132期:最孤獨的人(3)

Loneliness

孤獨

After returning to Earth, Apollo 11 command module pilot Mike Collins said he did not feel at all lonely. He wrote about the experience in his book Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut's Journeys:

返回地球后，阿波羅11號指令長邁克爾•科林斯表示，他一點兒都不覺得孤獨。他在描述這一經歷的書《帶着希望的火種：一位宇航員的旅程》中寫道：

Far from feeling lonely or abandoned, I feel very much a part of what is taking place on the lunar surface . . . I don't mean to deny a feeling of solitude. It is there, reinforced by the fact that radio contact with the Earth abruptly cuts off at the instant I disappear behind the moon.

我絲毫不覺得孤獨或者被遺棄。相反，我覺得自己是月球表面上發生的一切的一部分……但我並不是說我沒有一種孤寂感，這種感覺確實存在，尤其是當我轉到月球的背面，和地球通信的無線電信號突然中斷的時候。

I am alone now, truly alone, and absolutely isolated from any known life. I am it. If a count were taken, the score would be three billion plus two over on the other side of the moon, and one plus God knows what on this side.

我現在是一個人，真的是一個人，與任何已知的生命形式隔絕。如果數一下的話，在月球的另一邊有地球上的30億人和兩位登月的宇航員，而在這邊只有我，加上天知道什麼東西。

Al Worden, the Apollo 15 command module pilot, even enjoyed the experience.

阿波羅15號指令長阿爾弗萊德•戈登甚至還十分享受這個過程：

There's a thing about being alone and there's a thing about being lonely, and they're two different things. I was alone but I was not lonely. My background was as a fighter pilot in the air force, then as a test pilot-and that was mostly in fighter airplanes-so I was very used to being by myself. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I didn't have to talk to Dave and Jim any more . . . On the backside of the Moon, I didn't even have to talk to Houston and that was the best part of the flight.

一個人是一回事兒，孤獨是另一回事兒，二者全然不同。我現在是一個人，但我不覺得孤獨。我曾經是一名空軍飛行員，後來是一名試飛員——這期間大多數時間我都在戰鬥機裏度過——所以我很適應這種環境。我完全享受它，我不用和戴夫和吉姆通話……在月球的背面，我甚至都不用和休斯敦聯繫，這真的是這次旅途中最棒的一部分。

Introverts understand; the loneliest human in history was just happy to have a few minutes of peace and quiet.

內向的人都明白：史上最孤獨的人類非常樂於享受這幾分鐘的安寧與寂靜。

1 Because of the curve of the Earth, you actually have to go 3619 kilometers across the surface to qualify.

1． 由於地球表面有弧度，因而你需要相隔超過3619千米的地表距離才行。

2 Amundsen's expedition had left the continent by then.

2． 那時候阿蒙森的團隊都已經離開南極大陸了。

WEIRD (AND WORRYING) QUESTIONS FROM THE WHAT IF? INBOX, #11

那些古怪而又讓人憂心的問題合集十一

Q. What if everyone in Great Britain went to one of the coasts and started paddling? Could they move the island at all?

Q．如果英國所有人都跑到一側海岸邊並開始划槳，會發生什麼？他們能推動整個島嗎？

——Ellen Eubanks

——埃倫•尤班克斯

Q. Are fire tornadoes possible?

Q．真的有火龍捲風嗎？

——Seth Wishman

——塞思•威什曼