PBS高端访谈:精准与不完美之间的关系

JUDY WOODRUFF: Apple, the world's most valuable company, reports its earnings¹ tomorrow from the last fiscal² quarter. The computer maker's cutting-edge designs have defined a generation, but its fortunes ultimately come down to the idea and the application of precision. Tonight, author Simon Winchester shares his Humble³ Opinion on the importance of looking at the small picture.

SIMON WINCHESTER, Author, "The Perfectionists": Every week, two or three times, kind people, strangers from all over the world, send me ideas for books they think I should write. And each time, I have had to write and say sorry. But, five years back, a man named Colin Povey, a glassblower who lives in Florida, wondered if I might be interested in writing about something hidden in plain sight in modern society, and that was precision. Precision is everywhere, he said. The modern world couldn't function without it, and yet no one really knows what it is, where it began, where it might lead us. I was instantly captivated.

My father had been a precision engineer. He made tiny electric motors for the Royal Navy. And I loved it when used to take me round his factory to see the most minute components⁴ being made. Making these tiny things, all just the same, all made to the same degree of exactness, that was what precision was, mechanical perfection time after time. And precision did indeed seem to be everywhere. It is a vital part of mass production of cars, for instance. It's in the innards of jet engines, in microsurgery, in the exploration of the stars. However, I came across a troubling contradiction. Like anyone, I was awestruck by some of today's ultra-precise creations. There are four billion, with a B, transistors⁵ in an iPhone, for instance. And speaking of transistors, there are more of them in the world now than all the leaves in all the world's trees.

Yet, at the same time, I started to wonder how truly beneficial precision really is. Hasn't it perhaps made us lose sight of the beauty of nature, of the imperfect, of the imprecise? And with robotics and artificial intelligence coming down the road, all based on super-precision, isn't there a danger that we are fetishizing it, let it dominate us, come to worship titanium more than, let's say, wood or bamboo or glass? Well, and not entirely⁶ by chance, I like to think, Mr. Povey came to the rescue. He sent me what he called a trinket. And here it is: a Klein bottle, a three-dimensional version of a Mobius strip, in that it has only one continuous surface. It is a fantastically difficult thing for even the most skilled of glassblowers to make. And here's the important thing. It is not precise at all.

It is the work of a man who may be fascinated by the idea of precision, but who remains⁷, at heart, a craftsman⁸. And so I will keep and treasure this for all the rest of my days. Long after precise iPhone has become obsolete⁹, this will be here, a triumph of the human spirit, and quite lovely to behold¹⁰.

朱蒂·伍德拉夫：全球最具价值的公司苹果公司明天将公布其上一财季的盈利报告。这个计算机制造商的尖端设计定义了一代，但它的命运最终归结为对于精准的想法和应用。今晚，作者西蒙·温彻斯特分享了他对于看小的重要性。

西蒙·温彻斯特，作者，《完美主义者》：每周，有两三次，善良的人，来自世界各地的陌生人，向我提出一些想法，这些想法关于他们认为我应该写什么样的书。每次，我都要回信说抱歉。但是，五年前，一位名叫柯林·波维，住在佛罗里达州的玻璃吹制工，想知道我是否有兴趣写一些隐藏在现代社会中的事物，就是精确。精确无处不在，他说。没有精准，现代世界就无法发挥作用，但没有人真正知道它是什么，它从哪里开始，又会将我们引向何处。我立刻被迷住了。

我父亲是一名精密工程师。那时他为皇家海军制造小型电动机。这点让我喜欢，因为他常常带我到他的工厂里，去看那些在制作中的最微小的部件。制作这些微小的东西，毫无偏差，都达到了相同的精确度，这就是精准，一次又一次的机械完美。精准似乎确实无处不在。例如，精准是汽车大规模生产中重要的组成部分。它位于喷气发动机的内部，运用在显微手术和宇宙探测中。但是，我遇到了一个令人不安的矛盾。像任何人一样，我对今天的一些超精确的创作感到震惊。例如，iPhone中有40亿个晶体管，十亿级的。谈到晶体管，现在全世界的晶体管比树还多。

然而，与此同时，我开始怀疑真正有益的精确度。难道它不会让我们忽略了大自然的美，不完美的美和不精准的美吗？随着机器人技术和人工智能的出现，所有这些都基于超精确，我们迷恋于它，让它主宰我们，更多地来崇拜钛，而非木头、竹子或玻璃，难道没有风险吗？好吧，并非完全偶然，我想，波维先生回答了这个问题。他把我称之为饰品的东西寄给了我。这就是：一个Klein瓶子，一个莫比乌斯环的三维版本，因为它只有一个连续的表面。即使对于最熟练的玻璃吹制者来说，这也是一件非常困难的事情。而这是重要的事情。这根本不准确。

这是一个可能会对精确的想法着迷的男人的工作，但他的内心仍然是工匠。因此，我会在余下的日子里保持并珍惜这一点。精准的iPhone已经过时良久，这将是人类精神的胜利，并且非常值得领悟。

1 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

2 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。

3 humble   

adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低

参考例句：

• In my humble opinion,he will win the election.依我拙见，他将在选举中获胜。
• Defeat and failure make people humble.挫折与失败会使人谦卑。

4 components   

（机器、设备等的）构成要素，零件，成分； 成分( component的名词复数 )； [物理化学]组分； [数学]分量； （混合物的）组成部分

参考例句：

• the components of a machine 机器部件
• Our chemistry teacher often reduces a compound to its components in lab. 在实验室中化学老师常把化合物分解为各种成分。

5 transistors   

晶体管( transistor的名词复数 )； 晶体管收音机，半导体收音机

参考例句：

• In semiconductor receivers transistors take the place of vacuum tubes. 在半导体收音机中晶体管代替了真空管。
• We often turn to this handbook for information on transistors. 我们常从这本手册查阅有关晶体管的资料。

6 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

7 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

8 craftsman   

n.技工，精于一门工艺的匠人

参考例句：

• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。
• The craftsman is working up the mass of clay into a toy figure.艺人把一团泥捏成玩具形状。

9 obsolete   

adj.已废弃的，过时的

参考例句：

• These goods are obsolete and will not fetch much on the market.这些货品过时了，在市场上卖不了高价。
• They tried to hammer obsolete ideas into the young people's heads.他们竭力把陈旧思想灌输给青年。

10 behold   

v.看，注视，看到

参考例句：

• The industry of these little ants is wonderful to behold.这些小蚂蚁辛勤劳动的样子看上去真令人惊叹。
• The sunrise at the seaside was quite a sight to behold.海滨日出真是个奇景。