Stephen: “I’m a cosmologist[kɑzˋmɑlədʒɪst].”  我是宇宙學家
  Jane: “What’s that?”  那是什麼？
  Stephen: “I study the marriage of space and time.”  我研究空間與時間的關聯
  Jane: “The perfect couple!”  他們是天生一對啊！

相信很多人都聽過 史蒂芬·霍金 (Stephen Hawking) 吧？
霍金是英國著名的物理學家，目前73歲，他在科學界有許多重大的貢獻，寫過最有名的一本書叫《時間簡史：從大爆炸到黑洞》，是本廣受大眾歡迎的科普著作。

霍金自21歲起就被診斷罹患了「肌萎縮性脊髓側索硬化症」，他與漸凍症奮鬥了超過50年，雖然早已全身癱瘓、無法說話，卻仍然孜孜不倦地致力於研究，並利用語音合成器到各地演講、發表理論，啟發人心，精神十分可敬。

而《愛的萬物論》英文片名為 “The Theory of Everything”，可算一部不落俗套的清新小品，電影劇情著重於史蒂芬·霍金與他的第一任妻子Jane間的故事，但整部的主題也不只限於愛情，仔細品味後，還會發現很多動人的情感，有人性的溫暖，更有生命的堅強。
先來看看電影裡的 Stephen 和 Jane 一段可愛的互動吧！

邊看電影邊學英文！這邊我們先來看一個片語：

wind back the clock

wind /waɪnd/ 這邊當動詞(三態是wind, wound, wound)，是「 轉」的意思，wind back是往回轉，所以這裡是把時鐘向前調、回到過去的意思，也可以說 turn back time /reverse (the flow of) time。

另外來看看其他兩個也是將 wind 當動詞來使用的片語：

wind up
結束、最後(成為)…

I suggest that we wind up this meeting as soon as possible, there’s still a lot to be done later.
我建議我們趕快結束這個會議，等下還有很多其他事要做。
She spent way too much money on shopping and eventually wound up in heavy credit card debt.
她花太多錢購物了，最後積欠了一大筆的卡債。

wind down
接近尾聲、減弱、放鬆

The banquet was winding down as most guests begin to leave.
賓客們一一離開，宴會也接近尾聲了。
Two hours before our normal bed-time we should begin to wind down, both mentally and physically.
上床前的兩小時我們就該開始讓身體、心靈都逐漸放鬆。

而當Stephen得知自己有漸凍症之後，沮喪地把自己關在房間，更不想面對Jane，但Jane對他的情感之深，堅持不願離去。這幕也非常令人動容～～～

完了這感人的片段，難道這兩人的愛就至死不渝、從此之後互相扶持、幸福快樂嗎？不不不，真實的故事並非如此，電影也沒有那麼平淡，後面的劇情還有不少轉折，但小編在此就不雷你們了！

上面的片段也有一句蠻口語的句子，值得學起來：

That’s just how it is.

「也只能這樣了」。這裡Jane的想表達的是他想陪Stephen到生命的最後一天，不管那天什麼時候到來，就走一步算一步吧。這句和 That’s just the way it goes. (事情就是這樣) 或是 This is fate. (命運如此) 的意思相近，都帶點無法改變事情的無奈。

不過小編在這裏要放上這部電影裡自己最喜歡的一段話，非常正向積極！大家共勉之啊～～～

There should be no boundaries to human endeavor.
However bad life may seem, where there is life, there is hope.
人類的努力不該被設限，不論生活看起來有多糟，只要還活著，就有希望。

相信大家看到這裡應該對這部電影很有興趣吧？最後我們就來欣賞整部的預告片吧：

【TED】聽聽ALS冰桶的挑戰發起人怎麼說！Nancy Frates: Why my family started the ALSIce Bucket Challenge. The rest is history

Source：IMDB, Youtube, The Rotten Tomatoes, Ranker

Photo Source: Flicker, CC Licensed

作者：Jessie Liu

Looking for alien life

Stephen Hawking is a physicist. He talks about his plan. He wants to look for life in space. There are billions of habitable planets in our galaxy. There are a hundred billion galaxies.

He wants to send many small spacecraft into space. The spacecraft will travel to a star system. The system is Alpha Centauri. It is 25 trillion miles away. The spacecraft will travel there in 20 years. They will travel at 20% of the speed of light.

The spacecraft will take pictures there. They will send the pictures back. The pictures will come back in four years.

Difficult words: physicist (an expert in physics), habitable (good for life), spacecraft (a machine which goes to space).

You can read the original story and watch the video in the Level 3 section.

Physicist Stephen Hawking announced plans to look for alien life. We know that there are billions of habitable planets in our galaxy alone, and there are at least a hundred billion galaxies in space.

Hawking hopes to send out thousands of small spacecraft into our nearest star system. The system is Alpha Centauri and it is 25 trillion miles away. The spacecraft will be able to travel at 20% of the speed of light. That is more than a thousand times faster than current spacecraft, but it will still take 20 years for the spacecraft to get to the star system.

After the long journey, the spacecraft will take pictures. It will take 4 years for the pictures to get back to Earth.

The project could take years to develop and there are many chances it may not work.

Difficult words: announce (to officially say something), habitable (fit to live on), develop (to make).

You can read the original story and watch the video in the Level 3 section.

"In your estimation, what's the probability of finding intelligent alien life in the next 20 years and why?"

"The probability is low. Probably."

With his trademark sense of humour, physicist Stephen Hawking announced plans to search for alien life.

"But the discoveries of the Kepler mission suggest that there are billions of habitable planets in our galaxy alone. And there are at least a hundred billion galaxies in the visible universe. So it seems likely that there are others out there."

They hope to deploy thousands of tiny light-propelled spacecraft into our nearest neighbouring star system, called Alpha Centauri, which is 25 trillion miles away.

Scientists hope the vehicles, which are called Nanocraft, will be able to travel at 20% of the speed of light, which is more than a thousand times faster than current spacecraft. They'll be around the size of a postage stamp with a small sail but, despite their small size, they’ll be able to carry cameras and communications equipment. That means they could send back pictures which will help to determine if the star system contains an Earth-like planets capable of sustaining life.

But before they do that, the crafts would have to go through a difficult journey – first, surviving a launch from a larger spacecraft, then 20 years of travel through interstellar space where there are plenty of obstacles like dust collisions to dodge. It would then take 4 years for the pictures to transmit back to Earth. The project’s called Breakthrough Starshot and could take years to develop ,and there's every chance it may not work. The 100-million-dollar initiative is being financed by billionaire Internet investor Yuri Milner. Last year he and Hawking announced a ten-year-long project called Breakthrough Listen. This involves monitoring radio signals for signs of intelligent life across the universe.

"Today, we commit to this next great leap into the cosmos because we are human and our nature is to fly."

Difficult words: estimation (a judgement, what you think will happen), trademark (habitual), announce (to officially say something), habitable (fit to live on), tiny (very small), sustain (to have), interstellar (through space), dodge (to avoid, to try not to hit), transmit (to send).

Source: www.ondemandnews.com