zh-cn	汪淼驱车沿京密路到密云县，再转至黑龙潭，又走了一段盘山路，便到达中科院国家天文观测中心的射电天文观测基地。
en-us	Wang Miao drove along Jingmi Road until he was in Miyun County. From there he headed to Heilongtan, climbed up the mountain along a winding road, and arrived at the radio astronomy observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences' National Astronomical Center.

zh-cn	他看到二十八面直径为九米的抛物面天线在暮色中一字排开，像一排壮观的钢铁植物，2006年建成的两台高大的五十米口径射电望远镜天线矗立在这排九米天线的尽头，车驶近后，它们令汪淼不由想起了那张杨冬母女合影的背景。
en-us	He saw a line of twenty-eight parabolic antenna dishes, each with a diameter of nine meters, like a row of spectacular steel plants. At the end were two tall radio telescopes with dishes fifty meters in diameter, built in 2006. As he drove closer, Wang could not help but think of the background in the picture of Ye and her daughter.

zh-cn	但叶文洁的学生从事的项目与这些射电望远镜没有什么关系，沙瑞山博士的实验室主要接收三颗卫星的观测数据：1989年11月升空、即将淘汰的微波背景探测卫星COBE，2003年发射的威尔金森微波各向异性探测卫星WMAP和2009年欧洲航天局发射的普朗克高精度宇宙微波背景探测卫星Planek。
en-us	But the work of Sha Ruishan, Ye's student, had nothing to do with these radio telescopes. Dr. Sha's lab was mainly responsible for receiving the data transmitted from three satellites: the Cosmic Background Explorer, COBE, launched in November of 1989 and about to be retired; the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, WMAP, launched in 2003; and Planck, the space observatory launched by the European Space Agency in 2009.

zh-cn	宇宙整体的微波背景辐射频谱非常精确地符合温度为2.726K的黑体辐射谱，具有高度各向同性，但在不同局部也存在大约百万分之五涨落的幅度。
en-us	Cosmic microwave background radiation very precisely matched the thermal black body spectrum at a temperature of 2.7255 K and was highly isotropic—meaning nearly uniform in every direction—with only tiny temperature fluctuations at the parts per million range.

zh-cn	沙瑞山的工作就是根据卫星观测数据，重新绘制一幅更精确的全宇宙微波辐射背景图。
en-us	Sha Ruishan's job was to create a more detailed map of the cosmic microwave background using observational data.

zh-cn	这个实验室不大，主机房中挤满了卫星数据接收设备，有三台终端分别显示来自三颗卫星的数据。
en-us	The lab wasn't very big. Equipment for receiving satellite data was squeezed into the main computer room, and three terminals displayed the information sent by the three satellites.

zh-cn	沙瑞山见到汪淼，立刻表现出了那种长期在寂寞之地工作的人见到来客的热情，问他想了解哪方面的观测数据。
en-us	Sha was excited to see Wang. Clearly bored with his long isolation and happy to have a visitor, he asked Wang what kind of data he wanted to see.

zh-cn	“我想观测宇宙背景辐射的整体波动。”
en-us	"I want to see the overall fluctuation in the cosmic microwave background."

zh-cn	“您能…… 说具体些吗？”
en-us	"Can you ... be more specific?" "What I mean is ...

zh-cn	沙瑞山看汪淼的眼神变得奇怪起来。 “就是，宇宙3K微波背景辐射整体上的各向同性的波动，振幅在百分之一至百分之五之间。”
en-us	I want to see the isotropic fluctuation in the overall cosmic microwave background, between one and five percent," he said, quoting from Shen's email. Sha grinned.

zh-cn	沙瑞山笑笑，早在本世纪初，密云射电天文基地就对游客开放参观，为挣些外快，沙瑞山时常做些导游或讲座的事，这种笑容就是他回答游客（他已适应了他们那骇人的科盲）问题时常常露出的。
en-us	Starting at the turn of the century, the Miyun Radio Astronomy Observatory had opened itself to visitors. In order to earn some extra income, Sha often played the role of tour guide or gave lectures. This was the grin he reserved for tourists, as he had grown used to their astounding scientific illiteracy.

zh-cn	“汪先生，您…… 不是搞这个专业的吧？”
en-us	"Mr. Wang, I take it you're not a specialist in the field?"

zh-cn	“我搞纳米材料。”
en-us	"I work in nanotech."

zh-cn	“哦，那就对了。
en-us	"Ah, makes sense.

zh-cn	不过，对于宇宙3K背景辐射，您大概有个了解吧？”
en-us	But you must have some basic understanding of the cosmic microwave background?"

zh-cn	“知道的不多。
en-us	"I don't know much.

zh-cn	目前的宇宙起源理论认为，宇宙诞生于距今约一百四十亿年前的一次大爆炸。 在诞生早期，宇宙温度极高，随后开始冷却，形成被称为微波背景辐射的‘余烬’。
en-us	I know that as the universe cooled after the big bang, the leftover 'embers' became the cosmic microwave background.

zh-cn	这种弥漫全宇宙的残留背景辐射，在厘米波段上是可以观测到的。
en-us	The radiation fills the entire universe and can be observed in the centimeter wavelength range.

zh-cn	好像是在一九六几年吧，两个美国人在调试一个高精度卫星接收天线时意外地发现了宇宙背景辐射……”
en-us	I think it was back in the sixties when two Americans accidentally discovered the radiation when they were testing a supersensitive satellite reception antenna—"

zh-cn	“足够了，”沙瑞山挥手打断了汪淼的话，
en-us	"That's more than enough," Sha interrupted, waving his hands.

zh-cn	“那你就应该知道，与我们观测的不同部分的微小不均匀不同，宇宙整体辐射背景波动是随着宇宙的膨胀，在宇宙时间尺度上缓慢变化的，以Planck卫星的精度，直到一百万年后都未必能测出这种变化，你却想在今天晚上发现它百分之五的波动？！
en-us	"Then you must know that unlike the local variations we observe in different parts of the universe, the overall fluctuation in the cosmic microwave background is correlated with the expansion of the universe. It's a very slow change measured at the scale of the age of the universe. Even with the sensitivity of the Planck satellite, continuous observation for a million years might not detect any such shift. But you want to see a five percent fluctuation tonight?

zh-cn	知道这意味着什么吗？
en-us	Do you realize what that would mean?

zh-cn	这意味着整个宇宙像一个坏了的日光灯管那样闪烁！”
en-us	The universe would flicker like a fluorescent tube that's about to burn out!"

zh-cn	而且是为我闪烁，汪淼心里说。
en-us	And it will be flickering for me, Wang thought.

zh-cn	“叶老师这是在开什么玩笑。”
en-us	"This must be some joke from Professor Ye," Sha said.

zh-cn	沙瑞山摇摇头说。 “但愿真是个玩笑。” 汪淼说，本想告诉他，叶文洁并不知道详情，但又怕因此招致他的拒绝，不过这倒是他的心里话。
en-us	"Nothing would please me more than to discover that it was a joke," Wang said. He was about to tell Sha that Ye didn't know the details of his request, but he was afraid that Sha would then refuse to help him.

zh-cn	“既然是叶老师交待的，就观测吧，反正也不费劲，百分之一的精度。 用老古董COBE就行了。”
en-us	"Well, since Professor Ye asked me to help you, let's do the observation. It's not a big deal. If you just need one percent precision, data from the antique COBE is sufficient."

zh-cn	沙瑞山说着，在终端上忙活起来，很快屏幕上出现一条平直的绿线，“你看，这就是当前宇宙整体背景辐射的实时数值曲线，哦，应该叫直线才对，数值是2.726±0.010K，那个误差是银河系运动产生的多普勒效应，已经滤掉了。
en-us	As he spoke, Sha typed quickly at the terminal. Soon a flat green line appeared on the screen. "This curve is the real-time measurement of the overall cosmic microwave background—oh, calling it a straight line would be more accurate. The temperature is 2.725±0.002K. The error range is due to the Doppler effect from the motion of the Milky Way, which has already been filtered out.

zh-cn	如果发生你所说的超过百分之一振幅的波动，这条线就会变红并将波动显示出来。
en-us	If the kind of fluctuation you anticipate—in excess of one percent—occurs, this line would turn red and become a waveform.

zh-cn	我敢打赌直到世界末日它也是条绿直线，要看到它显现肉眼看得到的变化，可能比看太阳毁灭还要等更长的时间。”
en-us	I would bet that it's going to stay a flat green line until the end of the world, though. If you want to see it show the kind of fluctuation observable by the naked eye, you might have to wait until long after the death of the sun."

zh-cn	“这不会影响您的正常工作吧？”
en-us	"I'm not interfering in your work, am I?" "No.

zh-cn	“当然不会，那么粗的精度，用COBE观察数据的边角料就足够了。
en-us	Since you need such low precision, we can just use some basic data from COBE. Okay, it's all set.

zh-cn	好了，从现在开始，如果那伟大的波动出现，数值会自动存盘。”
en-us	From now on, if such great fluctuations occur, the data will be automatically saved to disk."

zh-cn	“可能要等到凌晨一点。”
en-us	"I think it might happen around one o'clock A.M."

zh-cn	“哇，这么精确？
en-us	"Wow, so precise!

zh-cn	没关系，反正我本来就是值夜班。
en-us	No problem, since I'm working the night shift, anyway.

zh-cn	您吃饭了吗？
en-us	Have you had dinner yet?

zh-cn	那好，我带您去参观一下吧。”
en-us	Good, then I'll take you on a tour."

zh-cn	这一夜没有月亮，他们沿着长长的天线阵列漫步。 沙瑞山指着天线说：
en-us	The night was moonless. They walked along the row of antenna dishes, and Sha pointed to them.

zh-cn	“壮观吧？
en-us	"Breathtaking, aren't they?

zh-cn	可惜都是聋子的耳朵。”
en-us	It's too bad that they are all like the ears of a deaf man."

zh-cn	“为什么？”
en-us	"Why?"

zh-cn	“自它们建成以来，在观测频段上就干扰不断，先是上世纪八十年代末的寻呼台，到现在是疯狂发展的移动通信。
en-us	"Ever since construction was completed, interference has been unceasing in the observational bands. First, there were the paging stations during the eighties. Now, it's the scramble to develop mobile communications networks and cell towers.

zh-cn	这些米波综合孔径射电望远镜能做的那些项目，像米波巡天、射电变源、超新星遗迹研究等等，大部分都不能正常开展。
en-us	These telescopes are capable of many scientific tasks—surveying the sky, detecting variable radio sources, observing the remains of supernovae—but we can't perform most of them.

zh-cn	多次找过无委会（国家无线电管理委员会），没有用，我们能玩得过中国移动、联通、网通？
en-us	We've complained to the State Regulatory Radio Commission many times, never with any results. How can we get more attention than China Mobile, China Unicom, China Netcom?

zh-cn	没有钱，宇宙奥秘算个球！
en-us	Without money, the secrets of the universe are worth shit.

zh-cn	好在我的项目靠卫星数据，与这些‘旅游景观’无关了。”
en-us	At least my project only depends on satellite data and has nothing to do with these 'tourist attractions.'"

zh-cn	“近年来很多基础研究的商业运行还是很成功的，比如高能物理。
en-us	"In recent years, commercial operation of basic research has been fairly successful, like in high-energy physics.

zh-cn	把观测基地建到离城市远些的地方应该好些吧？”
en-us	Maybe it would be better if the observatories were built in places farther away from cities?"

zh-cn	“那还是钱的问题。
en-us	"It all comes down to money.

zh-cn	就目前而言，只能是在技术上屏蔽干扰。
en-us	Right now, our only choice is to find technical means to shield against interference.

zh-cn	唉，叶老师要在就好了，她在这方面造诣很深。”
en-us	Well, it would be much better if Professor Ye were here. She accomplished a lot in this field."

zh-cn	于是话题转到叶文洁身上。
en-us	So the topic of conversation turned to Ye Wenjie.

zh-cn	从她的学生那里，汪淼得知了她那历经风霜的一生：
en-us	And from her student, Wang finally learned about her life.

zh-cn	他听沙瑞山讲她如何目睹父亲在“文革”中的惨死，讲她后来在建设兵团被诬陷，后来杳无音讯； 九十年代初才又回到了这座城市，在父亲曾工作过的大学中讲授天体物理学直到退休。
en-us	He listened as Sha told of how she witnessed the death of her father during the Cultural Revolution, how she was falsely accused at the Production and Construction Corps, how she then seemed to disappear until her return to Beijing at the beginning of the nineties, when she began teaching astrophysics at Tsinghua, where her father had also taught, until her retirement.

zh-cn	“最近才知道，她那二十多年，是在红岸基地度过的。” “红岸？！”
en-us	"It was only recently revealed that she had spent more than twenty years at Red Coast Base."

zh-cn	汪淼吃惊地停住了脚步，“难道那些传说……”
en-us	Wang was stunned. "You mean, those rumors—"

zh-cn	“大部分是真的。
en-us	"Most turned out to be true.

zh-cn	红岸自译解系统的一名研制者移民到欧洲，去年写了一本书，你所说的传说大多来自于那本书，据我了解是真的。
en-us	One of the researchers who developed the deciphering system for the Red Coast Project emigrated to Europe and wrote a book last year. Most of the rumors you hear came out of that book.

zh-cn	红岸工程的参与者大都还健在。”
en-us	Many who participated in Red Coast are still alive."

zh-cn	“这可真是…… 传奇啊！”
en-us	"That is ... a fantastical legend."

zh-cn	“尤其是发生在那个年代，更是传奇中的传奇。” ……
en-us	"Especially for it to happen during those years—absolutely incredible."

zh-cn	他们又谈了一会儿，沙瑞山问起进行这次奇怪观测的目的，汪淼避而不答，他也就没有再问。
en-us	They continued to speak for a while. Sha asked the purpose behind Wang's strange request. Wang avoided giving a straight answer, and Sha didn't press.

zh-cn	显然，一个专家的尊严，不允许他对这种违反专业常识的观测表现出过多的兴趣。
en-us	The dignity of a specialist did not allow Sha to express too much interest in a request that clearly went against his professional knowledge.

zh-cn	然后他们到一间为游客开的通宵酒吧中去坐了两个多小时，沙瑞山一杯接着一杯地灌啤酒，变得更加健谈，而汪淼却早已心神不定，脑子里不断地浮现出那条绿色直线。
en-us	Then they went to an all-night bar for tourists and sat for two hours. As Sha finished one beer after another, his tongue loosened even more. But Wang became anxious, and his mind kept returning to that green line on the terminal in Sha's office.

zh-cn	直到差十分钟凌晨一点时，沙瑞山才接受了汪淼的多次提议，起身返回实验室。
en-us	It was only at ten to one in the morning that Sha finally gave in to Wang's repeated pleas to go back to the lab.

zh-cn	这时，照向射电天线阵列的聚光灯已经熄灭，天线在夜空下变成了简明的黑色二维图案，仿佛是一排抽象的符号，以同一个仰角齐齐地仰望着宇宙，似乎在等待着什么。
en-us	The spotlights that had lit up the row of radio antennas had been turned off, and the antennas now formed a simple two-dimensional picture against the night sky like a series of abstract symbols. All of them gazed up at the sky at the same angle, as though waiting expectantly for something.

zh-cn	这景象令汪淼不寒而栗，他想起了《三体》中的那些巨摆。
en-us	The scene made Wang shudder despite the warmth of the spring evening. He was reminded of the giant pendulums in Three Body.

zh-cn	回到实验室时正好是凌晨一点，当他们将目光投向终端屏幕时，波动刚刚出现，直线变成了曲线，出现了间隔不一的尖尖的波峰，颜色也变红了，如同一条冬眠后的蛇开始充血蠕动了。
en-us	They arrived back at the lab at one. As they looked at the terminal, the fluctuation was just getting started. The flat line turned into a wave, the distance between one peak and the next inconstant. The line's color became red, like a snake awakening after hibernation, wriggling as its skin refilled with blood.

zh-cn	“肯定是COBE卫星的故障！”
en-us	"It must be a malfunction in COBE!"

zh-cn	沙瑞山惊恐地盯着曲线讲。
en-us	Sha stared at the waveform, terrified.

zh-cn	“不是故障。”
en-us	"It's not a malfunction."

zh-cn	汪淼平静地说，在这样的事情面前，他已经初步学会了控制自己。
en-us	Wang's tone was exceedingly calm. He had learned to control himself when faced with such sights.

zh-cn	“我们马上就能知道！”
en-us	"We'll know soon enough," Sha said.

zh-cn	沙瑞山说着，在另外两台终端上快速操作起来。 很快，他调出了另外两颗卫星WMAP和Planck的宇宙背景辐射实时数据，并将其变化显示为曲线——
en-us	He went to the other two terminals and typed rapidly to bring up the data gathered by the other two satellites, WMAP and Planck.

zh-cn	三条曲线在同步波动，一模一样。
en-us	Now three waveforms moved in sync across the three terminals, exactly alike.

zh-cn	沙瑞山又搬出一台笔记本电脑，手忙脚乱地启动系统，插上宽带网线，然后打电话—— 汪淼听出他在联系乌鲁木齐射电观测基地——然后等待着。
en-us	Sha took out a notebook computer and rushed to turn it on. He plugged in a network cable and picked up the phone. Wang could tell from the one-sided conversation that he was trying to get in touch with the Ürümqi radio astronomy observatory.

zh-cn	他没有对汪淼解释什么，两眼死盯着屏幕上的浏览器，汪淼能听到他急促的呼吸声：
en-us	He didn't explain to Wang what he was doing, his eyes locked onto the browser window on the notebook. Wang could hear his rapid breathing.

zh-cn	几分钟后，浏览器上出现了一个坐标窗口，一条红色曲线在窗口上出现，与另外三条进行着精确同步的波动。
en-us	A few minutes later, a red waveform appeared in the browser window, moving in step with the other three.

zh-cn	这样，三颗卫星和一套地面观测设备同时证实了一件事：宇宙在闪烁！
en-us	The three satellites and the ground-based observatory confirmed one fact: The universe was flickering.

zh-cn	“能将前面的曲线打印出来吗？” 汪淼问。
en-us	"Can you print out the waveform?" Wang asked.

zh-cn	沙瑞山抹了一把头上的冷汗，点点头，移动鼠标启动了打印程序。
en-us	Sha wiped away the cold sweat on his forehead and nodded. He moved his mouse and clicked "Print."

zh-cn	汪淼迫不及待地抓过激光打印机吐出的第一张纸，用一枝铅笔划过曲线，将波峰问的距离与他刚拿出来的那张莫尔斯电码表对照起来。
en-us	Wang grabbed the first page as soon as it came out of the laser printer, and, with a pencil, began to match the distance between the peaks with the Morse code chart he took out of his pocket.

zh-cn	短长长长长、短长长长长、短短短短短、长长长短短、长长短短长长、短短长长长、短短短短长、长长短短长长、短短短长长、长长短短短，这是1108：21：37。 短长长长长、短长长长长、短短短短短、长长长短短、长长短短长长、短短长长长、短短短短长、长长短短长长、短短短长长、长短短短短，这是1108：21：36。 短长长长长、短长长长长、短短短短短、长长长短短、长长短短长长、短短长长长、短短短短长、长长短短长长、短短短长长、短短短短短，这是1108：21：35。 ……
en-us	short-long-long-long-long, short-long-long-long-long, long-long-long-long-long, long-long-long-short-short, long-long-long-short-short-short, short-short-long-long-long, short-long-long-long-long, long-long-long-short-short-short, short-short-short-long-long, long-long-short-short-short. That's 1108:21:37, Wang thought. short-long-long-long-long, short-long-long-long-long, long-long-long-long-long, long-long-long-short-short, long-long-long-short-short-short, short-short-long-long-long, short-long-long-long-long, long-long-long-short-short-short, short-short-short-long-long, long-short-short-short-short—that's 1108:21:36.

zh-cn	倒计时在宇宙尺度上继续，已经过去了92小时，还剩1108小时？
en-us	The countdown continued at the scale of the universe. Ninety-two hours had already elapsed, and only 1,108 hours remained.

zh-cn	沙瑞山焦躁地来回踱步，不时在汪淼身后停下来看看他正在写出的那一串数字。
en-us	Sha paced back and forth anxiously, pausing from time to time to look at the sequence of numbers Wang was writing down.

zh-cn	“你真的不能把实情告诉我吗？！” 他耐不住大声问。
en-us	"Can't you tell me what's going on?" he shouted.

zh-cn	“沙博士，相信我，一时说不清的。”
en-us	"I can't possibly explain this to you, Dr. Sha. Trust me."

zh-cn	汪淼推开那一堆印着波动曲线的纸，盯着那行倒计时数字，“也许，三颗卫星和一个地面观测点都出现了故障。”
en-us	Wang pushed away the pile of papers filled with waveforms. As he stared at the sequence of numbers, he said, "Maybe the three satellites and the observatory are all malfunctioning."

zh-cn	“你知道这不可能！”
en-us	"You know that's impossible!"

zh-cn	“如果有人故意破坏呢？”
en-us	"What if it's sabotage?"

zh-cn	“也不可能！
en-us	"Also impossible!

zh-cn	同时改变三颗卫星和一个地面观测站的数据？
en-us	To simultaneously alter the data from three satellites and an observatory on Earth?

zh-cn	那这破坏也有些超自然了。”
en-us	You're talking about a supernatural saboteur."

zh-cn	汪淼点点头，比起宇宙闪烁来，他宁愿接受这个超自然。
en-us	Wang nodded. Compared to the idea of the universe flickering, he would prefer a supernatural saboteur.

zh-cn	但沙瑞山立刻抽走了他怀中这唯一的一根救命稻草。
en-us	But Sha then deprived him of this last glimmer of hope.

zh-cn	“要想最终证实这一切，其实很简单。
en-us	"It's easy to confirm this.

zh-cn	宇宙背景辐射这样幅度的波动，已经大到我们能用肉眼觉察的程度。”
en-us	If the cosmic microwave background is fluctuating this much, we should be able to see it with our own eyes."

zh-cn	“你胡说什么？
en-us	"What are you talking about?

zh-cn	现在是你在违反常识了：背景辐射的波长是7cm，比可见光大了七八个数量级，怎么能看到？”
en-us	The wavelength of the cosmic microwave background is seven centimeters. That's five orders of magnitude longer than the wavelength of visible light. How can we possibly see it?"

zh-cn	“用3K眼镜。”
en-us	"Using 3K glasses."

zh-cn	“3K眼镜？”
en-us	"Three-K glasses?"

zh-cn	“是我们为首都天文馆做的一个科普小玩意儿。
en-us	"It's a sort of science toy we made for the Capital Planetarium.

zh-cn	现在的技术，已经能将彭齐阿斯和威尔逊在四十多年前用于发现3K背景辐射的二十英尺的喇叭形天线做成眼镜大小，并且在这个眼镜中设置一个转换系统，将接收到的背景辐射的波长压缩七个数量级，将7cm波转换成红光。
en-us	With our current level of technology, we could take the six-meter horn antenna used by Penzias and Wilson almost half a century ago to discover the cosmic microwave background and miniaturize it to the size of a pair of glasses. Then we added a converter in the glasses to compress the detected radiation by five orders of magnitude so that seven-centimeter waves are turned into visible red light.

zh-cn	这样，观众在夜里戴上这种眼镜，就能亲眼看到宇宙的3K背景辐射，现在，也能看到宇宙闪烁。”
en-us	This way, visitors can put on the glasses at night and observe the cosmic microwave background on their own. And now, we can use it to see the universe flicker."

zh-cn	“这东西现在在哪儿？”
en-us	"Where can I find these glasses?"

zh-cn	“在天文馆，有二十副呢。”
en-us	"At the Capital Planetarium. We made more than twenty pairs."

zh-cn	“我必须在五点以前拿到它。”
en-us	"I must get my hands on a pair before five."

zh-cn	沙瑞山拿起电话拨了个号码，对方很长时间才接起电话，沙瑞山费尽口舌才说服那个被半夜叫醒的人一小时后在天文馆等汪淼。
en-us	Sha picked up the phone. The other side picked up only after a long while. Sha had to expend a lot of energy to convince the person awakened in the middle of the night to go to the planetarium and wait for Wang's arrival in an hour.

zh-cn	临别时沙瑞山说：“我就不同您去了，刚才看到的已经足够，我不需要这样的证明。
en-us	As Wang left, Sha said, "I won't go with you. What I've seen is enough, and I don't need any more confirmation.

zh-cn	我还是希望您能在适当的时候把实情告诉我，如果这种现象引出什么研究成果的话，我不会忘记您的。”
en-us	But I hope that you will explain the truth to me when you feel the time is right. If this phenomenon should lead to some research result, I won't forget you."

zh-cn	“闪烁在凌晨五点就会停止，以后别去深究它吧，相信我，不会有什么成果的。” 汪淼扶着车门说。
en-us	Wang opened the car door and said, "The flickering will stop at five in the morning. I'd suggest you not pursue it after this. Believe me, you won't get anywhere."

zh-cn	沙瑞山对着汪淼注视良久，点点头：“明白了，现在科学界出了一些事……”
en-us	Sha stared at Wang for a long time and then nodded. "I understand. Strange things have been happening to scientists lately...."

zh-cn	“是的。”
en-us	"Yes."

zh-cn	汪淼说着，钻进车里，他不想把这个话题继续下去了。
en-us	Wang ducked into the car. He didn't want to discuss the subject any further.

zh-cn	“轮到我们了吗？”
en-us	"Is it our turn?"

zh-cn	“至少轮到我了。”
en-us	"It's my turn, at least."

zh-cn	汪淼说着发动了车子。
en-us	Wang started the engine.

zh-cn	汪淼一小时后到达市内，他在新天文馆前下了车。
en-us	An hour later, Wang arrived at the new planetarium and got out of the car.

zh-cn	城市午夜的灯光透过这栋巨大玻璃建筑的透明幕墙，将内部的结构隐隐约约显现出来。
en-us	The bright lights of the city penetrated the translucent walls of the immense glass building and dimly revealed its internal structure.

zh-cn	汪淼现在体会到，如果新天文馆的建筑师想表达对宇宙的感觉，那他成功了——
en-us	Wang thought that if the architect had intended to express a feeling about the universe, the design was a success:

zh-cn	越透明的东西越神秘，宇宙本身就是透明的，只要目力能及，你想看多远就看多远，但越看越神秘。
en-us	The more transparent something was, the more mysterious it seemed. The universe itself was transparent; as long as you were sufficiently sharp-eyed, you could see as far as you liked. But the farther you looked, the more mysterious it became.

zh-cn	那名睡眼惺忪的天文馆工作人员已经在门口等汪淼了，他把一个手提箱递给汪淼，“这里面有五副3K眼镜，都是充好电的，左边的按钮是开关，右边是光度调节。
en-us	The sleepy-eyed planetarium staffer was waiting by the door for Wang. He handed him a small suitcase and said, "There are five pairs of 3K glasses in here, all fully charged. The left button switches it on. The right dial is for adjusting brightness.

zh-cn	上面还有十几副，你想怎么看就怎么看吧，我先去睡会儿，就在靠门口那个房间。
en-us	I have a dozen more pairs upstairs. You can look as much as you like, but I'm going to take a nap now in the room over there.

zh-cn	这个沙博士，真是个神经病。”
en-us	This Dr. Sha must be mental."

zh-cn	说完转身走进昏暗的馆内。
en-us	He went into the dim interior of the planetarium.

zh-cn	汪淼将箱子放到车座上打开，拿出一副3K眼镜，这东西很像他刚用过的V装具中的头盔显示器。
en-us	Wang opened the suitcase on the backseat of his car and took out a pair of 3K glasses. It resembled the display inside the panoramic viewing helmet of the V-suit.

zh-cn	他拿起一副走到车外戴上，透过镜片看到的城市夜景没有变化，只是暗了些，这时他才想起要将开关打开，立刻，城市化作一团团朦胧的光晕，大部分亮度固定，还有一些闪烁或移动着。
en-us	He put the glasses on and looked around. The city looked the same as before, only dimmer. Then he remembered that he had to switch them on. The city turned into many hazy glowing halos. Most were fixed, but a few flickered or moved.

zh-cn	他知道，这都是被转化为可见光的厘米微波，每团光晕的中心就是一个发射源，由于波长的原因，不可能看清形状。
en-us	He realized that these were sources of radiation in the centimeter range, all now converted to visible light. At the heart of each halo was a radiation source. Because the original wavelengths were so long, it was impossible to see their shapes clearly.

zh-cn	他抬起头，看到了一个发着暗红色微光的天空，就这样，他看到了宇宙背景辐射，这红光来自于一百多亿年前，是大爆炸的延续，是创世纪的余温。
en-us	He lifted his head and saw a sky glowing with a faint red light. Just like that, he was seeing the cosmic microwave background. The red light had come from more than ten billion years ago. It was the remnants of the big bang, the still-warm embers of Creation.

zh-cn	看不到星星，本来，由于可见光波段已被推至不可见，星星应该是一个个黑点，但厘米波的衍射淹没了一切形状和细节。
en-us	He could not see any stars. Normally, since visible light would be compressed to invisible by the glasses, each star should appear as a black dot. But the diffraction of centimeter-wave radiation overwhelmed all other shapes and details.

zh-cn	当汪淼的眼睛适应了这一切后，他看到了天空的红光背景在微微闪动，整个太空成一个整体在同步闪烁，仿佛整个宇宙只是一盏风中的孤灯。
en-us	Once his eyes had grown used to the sight, Wang could see that the faint red background was indeed pulsing. The entire sky flickered, as if the universe was but a quivering lamp in the wind.

zh-cn	站在这闪烁的苍穹下，汗淼突然感到宇宙是这么小，小得仅将他一人禁锢于其中。
en-us	Standing under the flashing dome of the night sky, Wang suddenly felt the universe shrink until it was so small that only he was imprisoned in it.

zh-cn	宇宙是一个狭小的心脏或子宫，这弥漫的红光是充满于其中的半透明的血夜，他悬浮于血液中，红光的闪烁周期是不规则的，像是这心脏或子宫不规则地脉动，他从中感受到了一个以人类的智慧永远无法理解的怪异、变态的巨大存在。
en-us	The universe was a cramped heart, and the red light that suffused everything was the translucent blood that filled the organ. Suspended in the blood, he saw that the flickering of the red light was not periodic—the pulsing was irregular. He felt a strange, perverse, immense presence that could never be understood by human intellect.

zh-cn	汪淼摘下3K眼镜，虚弱地靠着车轮坐在地上。
en-us	Wang took off the 3K glasses and sat down weakly on the ground, leaning against the wheel of his car.

zh-cn	在他的眼中，午夜的城市重新恢复了可见光波段所描绘的现实图景，但他的目光游移，在捕捉另外一些东西：
en-us	The city at night gradually recovered the reality of visible light. But his eyes roamed, trying to capture other sights.

zh-cn	对面动物园大门旁的一排霓虹灯中有一根灯管坏了，不规则地闪烁着；
en-us	By the entrance of the zoo across the street, there was a row of neon lights. One of the lights was about to burn out and flickered irregularly.

zh-cn	近处的一棵小树上的树叶在夜风中摇动，反射着街灯的光，不规则地闪烁着；
en-us	Nearby, a small tree's leaves trembled in the night breeze, twinkling without pattern as they reflected streetlight.

zh-cn	远处北京展览馆俄式尖顶上的五角星也在反射着下面不同街道上车灯的光，不规则地闪烁着……
en-us	In the distance, the red star atop the Beijing Exhibition Center's Russian-style spire reflected the light from the cars passing below, also twinkling randomly....

zh-cn	汪淼按莫尔斯电码努力破译着这些闪烁。
en-us	Wang tried to interpret the flickers as Morse code.

zh-cn	他甚至觉得，旁边几幅彩旗在微风中飘出的皱褶、路旁一洼积水表面的涟漪，都向他传递着莫尔斯电码……
en-us	He even felt that the wrinkles in the flags flapping next to him and the ripples in the puddle on the side of the road might be sending him messages.

zh-cn	他努力地破译着，感受着幽灵倒计时的流逝。
en-us	He struggled to understand all the messages, and felt the passing of the countdown, second by second.

zh-cn	不知过了多久，那个天文馆的工作人员出来了，问汪淼看完了没有。
en-us	He didn't know how long he stayed there. The planetarium staffer finally emerged and asked him whether he was done.

zh-cn	当看到他时，他的样子使那人双眼中的睡意一下子消失了。
en-us	But when he saw Wang's face, sleep disappeared from the staffer's eyes and was replaced by fear.

zh-cn	收拾好了3K眼镜的箱子，那人又盯着汪淼看了几秒钟，提着箱子快步走了回去。
en-us	He packed up the 3K glasses, stared at Wang for a few seconds, and quickly left with the suitcase.

zh-cn	汪淼拿出手机，拨通了申玉菲的电话，她很快就接了，也许她也度过一个不眠之夜。
en-us	Wang took out his mobile and dialed Shen Yufei's number. She picked up right away. Perhaps she was also suffering from insomnia.

zh-cn	“倒计时的尽头是什么？” 汪淼无力地问。
en-us	"What happens at the end of the countdown?" Wang asked.

zh-cn	“不知道。”
en-us	"I don't know."

zh-cn	说了这简短的三个字后，电话挂断了。
en-us	She hung up.

zh-cn	是什么？
en-us	What can it be?

zh-cn	也许是自己的死亡，像杨冬那样；
en-us	Maybe my own death, like Yang Dong's.

zh-cn	也许是一场像前几年印度洋海啸那样的大灾难，谁也不会将其与自己的纳米研究项目相联系（由此联想到，以前的每一次大灾难，包括两次世界大战，是否都是一次次幽灵倒计时的尽头？
en-us	Or maybe it will be a disaster like the great tsunami that swept through the Indian Ocean more than a decade ago. No one will connect it to my nanotech research. Could it be that every previous great disaster, including the two World Wars, was also the result of reaching the end of ghostly countdowns?

zh-cn	都有一个谁都想不到的像自己这样的人要负的最终责任）；
en-us	Could it be that every time there was someone like me, who no one thought of, who bore the ultimate responsibility?

zh-cn	也许是全世界的彻底毁灭，在这个变态的宇宙中，那倒对谁都是一种解脱……
en-us	Or maybe it signals the end of the whole world. In this perverse world, that would be a relief.

zh-cn	有一点可以肯定，不管幽灵倒计时的尽头是什么，在这剩下的千余个小时中，对尽头的猜测将像恶魔那样残酷地折磨他，最后在精神上彻底摧毁他。
en-us	One thing was certain. No matter what was at the end of the countdown, in the remaining one thousand or so hours, the possibilities would torture him cruelly, like demons, until he suffered a complete mental breakdown.

zh-cn	汪淼钻进车子，离开了天文馆，在城市里漫无目的地开着。
en-us	Wang ducked back into the car and left the planetarium.

zh-cn	黎明前，路上很空，但他不敢开快，仿佛车开得快，倒计时走得也快。
en-us	Just before dawn, the roads were relatively empty. But he didn't dare to drive too fast, feeling that the faster the car moved, the faster the countdown would go.

zh-cn	当东方出现一线晨光时，他将车停在路边，下车走了起来，同样漫无目标的。
en-us	When a glimmer of light appeared in the eastern sky, he parked and walked around aimlessly.

zh-cn	他的意识中一片空白，只有倒计时在那暗红的背景辐射上显现着，跳动着，他自己仿佛变成了一个单纯的计时器，一口不知道为谁而呜的丧钟。
en-us	His mind was empty of thoughts: Only the countdown pulsed against the dim red background of cosmic radiation. He seemed to have turned into nothing but a simple timer, a bell that tolled for he knew not whom.

zh-cn	天亮了起来，他走累了，在一条长椅上坐下来。
en-us	The sky brightened. He was tired, so he sat down on a bench.

zh-cn	当他抬头看看自己下意识走到的目的地时，不由打了个寒颤。
en-us	When he lifted his head to see where his subconscious had brought him, he shivered.

zh-cn	他正坐在王府井天主教堂前。
en-us	He sat in front of St. Joseph's Church at Wangfujing.

zh-cn	在黎明惨白的天空下，教堂的罗马式尖顶像三根黑色的巨指，似乎在为他指出冥冥太空中的什么东西。
en-us	In the pale white light of dawn, the church's Romanesque vaults appeared as three giant fingers pointing out something in space for him.

zh-cn	汪淼起身要走，一阵从教堂传出的圣乐留住了他。
en-us	As Wang got up to leave, he was held back by a snippet of hymnal music.

zh-cn	今天不是礼拜日，这可能是唱诗班为复活节进行的排练，唱的是这个节日弥撒中常唱的《圣灵光照》。
en-us	It wasn't Sunday, so it was likely a choir rehearsal. The song was "Come, Gracious Spirit, Heavenly Dove."

zh-cn	在圣乐的庄严深远中，汪淼再次感到宇宙变小了，变成了一座空旷的教堂，穹顶隐没于背景辐射闪烁的红光中，他则是这宏伟教堂地板砖缝中的一只小蚂蚁。
en-us	As he listened to the solemn, sacred music, Wang Miao once again felt that the universe had shrunk until it was the size of an empty church. The domed ceiling was hidden by the flashing red light of the background radiation, and he was an ant crawling through the cracks in the floor.

zh-cn	他感觉到自己那颗颤抖的心灵被一只无形的巨手抚摸着，一时间又回到了脆弱无助的孩童时代，意识深处硬撑着的某种东西像蜡一样变软了，崩溃了。
en-us	He felt a giant, invisible hand caressing his trembling heart, and he was once again a helpless babe. Something deep in his mind that had once held him up softened like wax and collapsed.

zh-cn	他双手捂着脸哭了起来。
en-us	He covered his eyes and began to cry.

zh-cn	
en-us	Wang's cries were interrupted by laughter.

zh-cn	“哈哈哈，又放倒了一个！”
en-us	"Hahaha, another one bites the dust!"

zh-cn	汪淼的哭泣被身后的一阵笑声打断，他扭头一看，大史站在那里，嘴里吐出一口白烟。
en-us	He turned around. Captain Shi Qiang stood there, blowing out a mouthful of white smoke.