Pale Blue Dot 蒼藍小點

Look again at that dot. 再來看一眼這個小點。

That's here. That's home. That's us. 就在這裡。這就是家。這就是我們。

On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. 在這個小點上，每一個你愛的人，每一個你認識的人，每一個你聽說過的人，每一個人，無論他是誰，都曾經生活過。

The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there --on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. 我們所有的快樂和掙扎，數以千萬自傲的宗教信仰、思想體系觀念意識，以及經濟學原理教義，每一個獵人或征服者，每一位勇士或是懦夫，每一個文明的締造者或摧毀者，每一位君王或農夫，每一對陷入愛河的年輕伴侶，每一位為人父母者，所有充滿希望的小孩，發明家或探險者，每一位靈魂導師，每一個腐敗的政客，每一個所謂的『超級巨星』，每一個所謂的『最偉大領袖』，每一位我們人類史上的聖人或是罪人⋯⋯ 我們的一切一切，全部都存在於這樣一粒懸浮在一束陽光中的塵埃上。

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. 地球，只是浩瀚宇宙競技場上一個小小的舞台。

Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. 想想那些帝王將相，噴濺流淌成河的鮮血，他們因著榮耀與勝利，在這樣一顆小小點的某個區間上，成為轉瞬而逝的偉人。

Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. 想想有些永無止境的殘暴，竟然就發生在這個小點上，某個角落裡的一群人、與幾乎分不出任何區別的同樣這一個小點上的另一個角落的另一群人之間。 他們之間的誤解能有多頻繁，他們之間想滅掉對方的願望能有多迫切，他們之間互相的仇恨能有多炙烈。

Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. 我們的故作深沉，我們想像出來的自我重要性，我們以為自己在宇宙裡有什麼特權的錯覺，一直被這顆發著微弱藍光的小點挑戰著。

Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. 我們的這顆星球，是一粒孤孤單單的微塵，被包裹在宇宙浩瀚的黑暗中。在我們有限的認知裡，在這一片浩瀚之中，沒有任何跡象表明會有援助從別處而來，幫助我們救贖自己。

The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. 目前為止，地球是我們唯一所知有生命居住的世界。沒有其他地方——至少是在不遠的未來裡，可供我們這一物種移民。

Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand. 造訪是可以的，但尚不能常駐。不管你喜歡還是不喜歡，目前為止只有地球是我們的立足之地。

It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. 有人說，天文學是一門令人謙卑的、同時也是塑造性情的學問。

There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. 也許沒有什麼能比從遙遠太空拍攝到的我們微小世界的這張照片，更能展示人類的自負有多愚蠢。

To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known. 對我而言，這也是在提醒我們的責任所在：更和善的對待彼此，並維護和珍惜這顆暗藍色的小點——這個我們目前所知唯一的家園。

— Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot, 1994

Copyright © 1994 by Carl Sagan, Copyright © 2006 by Democritus Properties, LLC. All rights reserved including the rights of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

中文翻譯摘自維基百科並稍作潤飾。