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That's a challenge for 21st-century science. If my research group had a logo, it would be this picture here: an ouroboros,
那将是21世纪科学面临的挑战。如果我的研究小组要选择个徽标的话，将会是这张图片：一条首尾相连的环形衔尾蛇，
where you see the micro-world on the left -- the world of the quantum -- and on the right the large-scale universe of planets, stars and galaxies.
在左边是微观世界 - 即量子世界 - 而在右边是宏观的宇宙包括行星，恒星和星系。
We know our universes are united though -- links between left and right. The everyday world is determined by atoms, how they stick together to make molecules.
我们知道宇宙万物是联系在一体的 - 这张图片的左边连结到右边。寻常世界决定于原子，即它们是如何结合在一起组成分子。
Stars are fueled by how the nuclei in those atoms react together.
恒星利用原子核的相互作用来提供燃料。
And, as we've learned in the last few years, galaxies are held together by the gravitational pull of so-called dark matter:
我们近年来已了解到星系也是由所谓的暗物质的引力作用连系在一起。
particles in huge swarms, far smaller even than atomic nuclei.
暗物质粒子比原子核要小很多，且大量密集。
But we'd like to know the synthesis symbolized at the very top. The micro-world of the quantum is understood.
但是我们还需了解图上部的结合体（即蛇吞尾）的象征意义。微观的量子世界已被了解。
On the right hand side, gravity holds sway. Einstein explained that. But the unfinished business for 21st-century science is to link together cosmos
右边的宏观世界中引力支配一切，爱因斯坦也已给出了解答。而二十一世纪科学尚需完成的任务是将宏观宇宙
and micro-world with a unified theory -- symbolized, as it were, gastronomically at the top of that picture.
和微观量子世界用一个统一理论联系起来 - 正如在图的上部以美食的角度所象征的那样。
And until we have that synthesis, we won't be able to understand the very beginning of our universe
在我们找到那样的统一理论之前，我们无法理解宇宙最开端时的情况，
because when our universe was itself the size of an atom, quantum effects could shake everything.
因为当宇宙的尺度同一个原子大小相仿时，量子效应可以摧毁一切。
And so we need a theory that unifies the very large and the very small, which we don't yet have.
所以我们需要一个将极大和极小统一起来的理论，目前我们还没能找到。
One idea, incidentally -- and I had this hazard sign to say I'm going to speculate from now on -- is that our Big Bang was not the only one.
顺便提一句，有一个想法是 - 我用这个警示标识表明我在此开始进行的是推测 - 即我们最初的大爆炸并非唯一的一个。
One idea is that our three-dimensional universe may be embedded in a high-dimensional space, just as you can imagine on these sheets of paper.
我们的三维宇宙，可能是嵌入在一个更高维度的空间里，就像你可以想象一下这几张纸。
You can imagine ants on one of them thinking it's a two-dimensional universe, not being aware of another population of ants on the other.
其中一张纸上的蚂蚁认为纸就是它们的二维宇宙，而它无从知晓其它纸张（二维宇宙）上的别的蚂蚁。
So there could be another universe just a millimeter away from ours,
所以可能存在另一个宇宙，距离我们的只有一毫米远，但我们却不能感知它，
but we're not aware of it because that millimeter is measured in some fourth spatial dimension, and we're imprisoned in our three.
因为那一毫米距离是某个四维空间维度的尺寸，而我们被禁锢在我们的三维空间里。
And so we believe that there may be a lot more to physical reality than what we've normally called our universe -- the aftermath of our Big Bang.
所以我们相信应该有更多的物理事实存在于我们通常称为宇宙的地方之外。而宇宙是大爆炸的产物。
And here's another picture. Bottom right depicts our universe, which on the horizon is not beyond that, but even that is just one bubble, as it were, in some vaster reality.
这里有另一张图片。在其右下角描述的是我们的宇宙，也就是远端众多泡沫中的一个，但那也不过是更广阔现实中的一个泡沫。
Many people suspect that just as we've gone from believing in one solar system to zillions of solar systems, one galaxy to many galaxies,
很多人猜想随着我们开始相信不止有一个太阳系而是有无数的其他类太阳系，不止有一个银河系而是有很多其他星系，
we have to go to many Big Bangs from one Big Bang, perhaps these many Big Bangs displaying an immense variety of properties.
我们甚至应该考虑不止有一个大爆炸而是许多大爆炸。或许这许多大爆炸展示出极其多样的物理特性。
