ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Daniel Tammet - Linguist, educator
Daniel Tammet is the author of "Born on a Blue Day," about his life with high-functioning autistic savant syndrome. He runs the language-learning site Optimnem, and his new book is "Embracing the Wide Sky: A Tour Across the Horizons of the Mind."

Why you should listen

Daniel Tammet is a writer, linguist and educator. He is the creator of Optimnem, a website that has provided language learning instruction to thousands around the globe. His 2006 memoir Born on a Blue Day describes his life with high-functioning autistic savant syndrome; his new book, Embracing the Wide Sky: A Tour Across the Horizons of the Mind, is a personal and scientific exploration of how the brain works and the differences and similarities between savant and non-savant minds.

Tammet set a European record on March 14, 2004, when he recited the mathematical constant pi (3.141...) to 22,514 decimal places from memory in a time of 5 hours, 9 minutes.

More profile about the speaker
Daniel Tammet | Speaker | TED.com
TED2011

Daniel Tammet: Different ways of knowing

丹尼尔·塔曼特Daniel Tammet: 感知的不同方式

Filmed:
2,246,769 views

丹尼尔·塔曼特对语言、数字和视觉有连带感觉——意思是他对文字、数字、色彩的感觉全部混合纠结在一起,形成一种新的感知和理解世界的方式。他著有自传体小说《出生在一个蓝天下》。塔曼特分享了他在语言方面的艺术和热情,以此我们瞥见他美妙的思维。
- Linguist, educator
Daniel Tammet is the author of "Born on a Blue Day," about his life with high-functioning autistic savant syndrome. He runs the language-learning site Optimnem, and his new book is "Embracing the Wide Sky: A Tour Across the Horizons of the Mind." Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:15
I'm a savant学者,
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我是个学者
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or more precisely恰恰,
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或者更准确地说,
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a high-functioning高功能
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一个高功能
00:21
autistic自闭症 savant学者.
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自闭症学者。
00:23
It's a rare罕见 condition条件.
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这是一种少见的情况。
00:25
And rarer罕见的 still when accompanied伴随着,
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更罕见的是,
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as in my case案件,
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我的这种状况,
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by self-awareness自我意识
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还伴随自我感知意识
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and a mastery征服 of language语言.
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而且还精通语言。
00:35
Very often经常 when I meet遇到 someone有人
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比较常见的是,当我遇到一些人
00:38
and they learn学习 this about me,
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他们知道我的这些情况,
00:40
there's a certain某些 kind of awkwardness重仓股.
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这就会有点尴尬。
00:43
I can see it in their eyes眼睛.
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我能从他们的眼里看出来
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They want to ask me something.
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他们想问我一些事情
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And in the end结束, quite相当 often经常,
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经常是到了最后
00:51
the urge敦促 is stronger than they are
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他们的强烈好奇就绷不住了
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and they blurt脱口而出 it out:
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他们会脱口而问:
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"If I give you my date日期 of birth分娩,
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“如果我告诉你我的生日,
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can you tell me what day of the week I was born天生 on?"
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你能告诉我,我是星期几出生的吗?”
01:00
(Laughter笑声)
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(笑声)
01:03
Or they mention提到 cube立方体 roots
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或者他们会提到立方根
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or ask me to recite背诵 a long number or long text文本.
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又或者让我背一个很长的数字或文字。
01:10
I hope希望 you'll你会 forgive原谅 me
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请你们原谅我
01:12
if I don't perform演出
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今天我不会在这儿展示
01:15
a kind of one-man一个人 savant学者 show显示 for you today今天.
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这类似的“学者表演”
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I'm going to talk instead代替
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今天我不谈这些
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about something
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说点其它的
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far more interesting有趣
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更有趣的话题
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than dates日期 of birth分娩 or cube立方体 roots --
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而不是生日和立方根之类的--
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a little deeper更深
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会有一点深奥
01:31
and a lot closer接近, to my mind心神, than work.
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会比我的天赋更接近我的思想。
01:34
I want to talk to you briefly简要地
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我想简单的和你们谈谈
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about perception知觉.
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关于感知。
01:39
When he was writing写作 the plays播放 and the short stories故事
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契诃夫写那些让他扬名的
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that would make his name名称,
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剧本和小故事时,
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Anton安东 Chekhov契诃夫 kept不停 a notebook笔记本
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他习惯随身带着笔记本,
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in which哪一个 he noted注意 down
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随手记录
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his observations意见
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记录下他的观察
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of the world世界 around him --
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记录下他周围的世界
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little details细节
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那些都是些小细节
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that other people seem似乎 to miss小姐.
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可其他人易忽略那些细节。
01:58
Every一切 time I read Chekhov契诃夫
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每次我读契诃夫的作品
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and his unique独特 vision视力 of human人的 life,
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以及他对人们生活的独特见解
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I'm reminded提醒 of why I too
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我都认识到
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became成为 a writer作家.
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为什么我也能成为一个作家。
02:09
In my books图书,
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在我的书里,
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I explore探索 the nature性质 of perception知觉
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我探索了感知的本质,
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and how different不同 kinds of perceiving感知
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以及不同的感觉
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create创建 different不同 kinds of knowing会心
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如何创造出不同的感知
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and understanding理解.
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和不同的理解。
02:23
Here are three questions问题
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下面有三个问题
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drawn from my work.
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源于我的研究。
02:27
Rather than try to figure数字 them out,
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与其说要解决这些问题,
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I'm going to ask you to consider考虑 for a moment时刻
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我更想邀请你们感受一下
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the intuitions直觉
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那种直觉
02:34
and the gut肠道 instincts本能
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和那种本能
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that are going through通过 your head and your heart
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那些当你看到题目时
02:38
as you look at them.
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在你的头脑和内心里出现的直觉和本能。
02:41
For example, the calculation计算:
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例如这个计算题,
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can you feel where on the number line线
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你能感知到那行数字
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the solution is likely容易 to fall秋季?
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答案可能是多少吗?
02:49
Or look at the foreign国外 word and the sounds声音:
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或者看看这个外语单词和读音
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can you get a sense of the range范围 of meanings含义
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你能猜到大概的意思吗
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that it's pointing指点 you towards?
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那种直觉给出的答案?
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And in terms条款 of the line线 of poetry诗歌,
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这行诗,
03:00
why does the poet诗人 use the word hare野兔
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诗人为什么用hare (兔)这个词
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rather than rabbit兔子?
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而不是用rabbit(兔)?
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I'm asking you to do this
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我请你们思考这些
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because I believe our personal个人 perceptions看法, you see,
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因为我相信我们的个人感知
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are at the heart
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是我们如何获取知识的
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of how we acquire获得 knowledge知识.
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核心
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Aesthetic审美 judgments判断,
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感知判断,
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rather than abstract抽象 reasoning推理,
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而非抽象推理,
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guide指南 and shape形状 the process处理
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指导并塑造了我们了解事物的过程
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by which哪一个 we all come to know
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由此我们都会了解到
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what we know.
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我们所感知的东西。
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I'm an extreme极端 example of this.
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我是一个极端的例子。
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My worlds世界 of words and numbers数字
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在我的文字和数字世界里,
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blur模糊 with color颜色, emotion情感
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色彩,情感
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and personality个性.
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和个性都是混合在一起的。
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As Juan胡安 said,
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就像Juan胡安所说的,
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it's the condition条件 that scientists科学家们 call synesthesia联觉,
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科学家们称这种情况是联觉,
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an unusual异常 cross-talk相声
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一种不常见的通感
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between之间 the senses感官.
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连结各种感觉。
03:51
Here are the numbers数字 one to 12
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这里是数字1到12
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as I see them --
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在我眼里
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every一切 number with its own拥有 shape形状 and character字符.
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每个数字都有着自己的形状和特点。
03:59
One is a flash of white白色 light.
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1是一闪的白光
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Six is a tiny and very sad伤心 black黑色 hole.
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6是微小而悲伤的黑洞
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The sketches素描 are in black黑色 and white白色 here,
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这些速写是黑白的
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but in my mind心神 they have colors颜色.
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但是在我眼里他们是有色彩的。
04:11
Three is green绿色.
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3是绿色的
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Four is blue蓝色.
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4是蓝色的
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Five is yellow黄色.
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5是黄色的
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I paint涂料 as well.
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我把它们画下来
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And here is one of my paintings绘画.
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这是我的一幅画。
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It's a multiplication乘法 of two prime主要 numbers数字.
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这是两个素数的乘法
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Three-dimensional三维 shapes形状
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呈三维形状
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and the space空间 they create创建 in the middle中间
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和中间形成的空间
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creates创建 a new shape形状,
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又组成了一个新的形状,
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the answer回答 to the sum.
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就是他们的总和。
04:39
What about bigger numbers数字?
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更"大"的数字会怎么样呢?
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Well you can't get much bigger than Pi,
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你不能得到一个比圆周率派Pi更“大”的数字了,
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the mathematical数学的 constant不变.
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它是数学常数。
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It's an infinite无穷 number --
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是一个无限的数字--
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literally按照字面 goes on forever永远.
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就是说它永远不会结束。
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In this painting绘画 that I made制作
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在我画的这个图里,
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of the first 20 decimals小数点 of Pi,
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是派Pi的前20位数字,
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I take the colors颜色
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我使用颜色,
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and the emotions情绪 and the textures纹理
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情感和纹理
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and I pull them all together一起
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我把这些组合到一起,
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into a kind of rolling压延 numerical数字的 landscape景观.
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就成了一个起伏的数字风景画。
05:09
But it's not only numbers数字 that I see in colors颜色.
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在我眼里不仅数字是有颜色的,
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Words too, for me,
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对我来说,文字也一样
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have colors颜色 and emotions情绪
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有颜色,情感,
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and textures纹理.
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和纹理。
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And this is an opening开盘 phrase短语
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这是
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from the novel小说 "Lolita洛丽塔."
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出自小说《洛丽塔》的开场白(Lolita, light of my life)。
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And Nabokov纳博科夫 was himself他自己 synesthetic联觉.
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作者纳博科夫本身就是有联觉的
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And you can see here
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你从这里可以看出来,
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how my perception知觉 of the sound声音 L
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我对L这个音的感觉
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helps帮助 the alliteration头韵
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使得字头押韵
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to jump right out.
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能突出感觉。
05:36
Another另一个 example:
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另一个例子
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a little bit more mathematical数学的.
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稍微有一点数学化了。
05:40
And I wonder奇迹 if some of you will notice注意
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我想知道你们中的某些人是否会注意到
05:42
the construction施工 of the sentence句子
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出自
05:44
from "The Great Gatsby盖茨比."
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《了不起的盖茨比》 (又译《大亨小传》)的这个句子结构。
05:48
There is a procession游行 of syllables音节 --
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有这么一行音节--
05:51
wheat小麦, one;
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谷物,一个音节;
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prairies草原, two;
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大草原,二个音节;
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lost丢失 Swede瑞典人 towns城市, three --
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丢失的瑞典人镇,三个音节--
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one, two, three.
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一,二,三。
06:00
And this effect影响 is very pleasant愉快 on the mind心神,
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这种押韵的效果让人感到身心非常愉悦,
06:04
and it helps帮助 the sentence句子
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也让我们感到句子
06:06
to feel right.
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很通畅。
06:09
Let's go back to the questions问题
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让我们回到
06:11
I posed构成 you a moment时刻 ago.
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我之前提出的问题上来
06:14
64 multiplied乘以 by 75.
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64乘以75
06:17
If some of you play chess,
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如果你们中有人下棋,
06:20
you'll你会 know that 64
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你会知道64
06:22
is a square广场 number,
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是一个平方数
06:25
and that's why chessboards棋盘,
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这也是为什么棋盘
06:27
eight by eight,
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边长为8×8
06:29
have 64 squares广场.
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而有了64个方格
06:32
So that gives us a form形成
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这样我们就得到一个表格
06:34
that we can picture图片, that we can perceive感知.
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用来画图和感知。
06:37
What about 75?
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那么如果是75呢?
06:40
Well if 100,
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假如是100
06:42
if we think of 100 as being存在 like a square广场,
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如果我们把100想成一个正方形,
06:45
75 would look like this.
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75就会是这个样子。
06:48
So what we need to do now
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那么我们现在要做的就是
06:50
is put those two pictures图片
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把这两个图组合起
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together一起 in our mind心神 --
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一同放入脑海中-
06:54
something like this.
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就是这个样子。
06:57
64 becomes 6,400.
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64就成了6,400
07:01
And in the right-hand右手 corner,
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在右下角
07:05
you don't have to calculate计算 anything.
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你不需要任何计算
07:07
Four across横过, four up and down --
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4个横跨的,4个上下的--
07:09
it's 16.
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得到16.
07:12
So what the sum is actually其实 asking you to do
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那么你需要做的就是
07:14
is 16,
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加总和16,
07:16
16, 16.
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16, 16。
07:19
That's a lot easier更轻松
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这简单多了
07:21
than the way that the school学校 taught you to do math数学, I'm sure.
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我相信比学校教给你的方法简单。
07:24
It's 16, 16, 16, 48,
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16,16,16, 得到48.
07:26
4,800 --
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那么就是4,800--
07:28
4,800,
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4,800
07:30
the answer回答 to the sum.
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这就是最后答案。
07:33
Easy简单 when you know how.
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当你知道怎么做,问题就容易了。
07:35
(Laughter笑声)
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(笑声)
07:38
The second第二 question was an Icelandic冰岛的 word.
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第二个问题是一个冰岛单词。
07:41
I'm assuming假设 there are not many许多 people here
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我相信在座的没有几个人
07:44
who speak说话 Icelandic冰岛的.
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会说冰岛语的。
07:46
So let me narrow狭窄 the choices选择 down to two.
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那么我把问题缩减成两个。
07:51
HnugginnHnugginn:
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Hnugginn:
07:53
is it a happy快乐 word,
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这单词是指快乐的意思
07:55
or a sad伤心 word?
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还是指悲伤的?
07:57
What do you say?
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你怎么认为?
08:00
Okay.
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好的。
08:02
Some people say it's happy快乐.
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有人说是快乐的,
08:04
Most people, a majority多数 of people,
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但是大多数人
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say sad伤心.
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说是悲伤的。
08:08
And it actually其实 means手段 sad伤心.
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这个词实际意思是悲伤的。
08:12
(Laughter笑声)
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(笑声)
08:15
Why do, statistically统计学,
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为什么统计下来
08:18
a majority多数 of people
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在此,大多数人认为
08:20
say that a word is sad伤心, in this case案件,
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这个词是悲伤的,
08:22
heavy in other cases?
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而在另一个情景里,是痛苦的意思?
08:25
In my theory理论, language语言 evolves演变 in such这样 a way
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根据我的理论,语言的发展经历了这样的过程
08:28
that sounds声音 match比赛,
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匹配声音
08:30
correspond对应 with, the subjective主观,
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对应主题
08:33
with the personal个人,
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同时伴随着
08:35
intuitive直观的 experience经验
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听者个人
08:37
of the listener倾听者.
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的直观经验来发展。
08:40
Let's have a look at the third第三 question.
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让我们看看第三个问题。
08:44
It's a line线 from a poem by John约翰 Keats济慈.
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这是约翰·济慈的诗里的一句。
08:47
Words, like numbers数字,
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文字像数字,
08:50
express表现 fundamental基本的 relationships关系
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能够表达本质关系
08:53
between之间 objects对象
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由外物
08:55
and events事件 and forces军队
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事件和力量
08:57
that constitute构成 our world世界.
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组成我们的世界。
08:59
It stands站立 to reason原因 that we, existing现有 in this world世界,
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显然,我们生存在这个世界上
09:02
should in the course课程 of our lives生活
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应该在我们的有生之年
09:04
absorb吸收 intuitively直观地 those relationships关系.
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直观地汲取这些关系。
09:07
And poets诗人, like other artists艺术家,
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诗人就像其他艺术家一样,
09:10
play with those intuitive直观的 understandings理解.
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演绎着那些直观的理解。
09:13
In the case案件 of hare野兔,
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兔子的那个问题,
09:16
it's an ambiguous暧昧 sound声音 in English英语.
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hare在英语里是一个有点含糊的词
09:18
It can also mean the fibers纤维 that grow增长 from a head.
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这个词也可以是头上的毛发的意思。
09:21
And if we think of that --
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如果我们考虑到这个--
09:23
let me put the picture图片 up --
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让我把这个图拿上来--
09:25
the fibers纤维 represent代表 vulnerability漏洞.
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毛发代表着脆弱
09:29
They yield产量 to the slightest丝毫 movement运动
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他们让步于最轻微的运动
09:32
or motion运动 or emotion情感.
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或手势,或情感。
09:35
So what you have is an atmosphere大气层
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所以你就得到一种
09:39
of vulnerability漏洞 and tension张力.
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脆弱紧张的感觉气氛。
09:41
The hare野兔 itself本身, the animal动物 --
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那个兔子,一个动物-
09:43
not a cat, not a dog, a hare野兔 --
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不是猫,不是狗,而是一只兔子--
09:46
why a hare野兔?
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为什么是一只兔子?
09:48
Because think of the picture图片 --
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因为联想到这副图,
09:50
not the word, the picture图片.
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不是这句话,而是这个图。
09:52
The overlong超长 ears耳朵,
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超长的耳朵
09:54
the overlarge超大 feet,
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超大的脚
09:56
helps帮助 us to picture图片, to feel intuitively直观地,
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帮助我们描绘、去凭直觉感知
09:59
what it means手段 to limp跛行
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跛脚的感觉
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and to tremble颤抖.
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和颤抖的感觉。
10:05
So in these few少数 minutes分钟,
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在这几分钟里,
10:07
I hope希望 I've been able能够 to share分享
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我希望我能够分享
10:09
a little bit of my vision视力 of things
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一些我的视角
10:12
and to show显示 you
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并向你们展现
10:15
that words can have colors颜色 and emotions情绪,
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文字也有颜色,情感
10:18
numbers数字, shapes形状 and personalities个性.
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数字,形状和性格。
10:21
The world世界 is richer更丰富,
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这世界
10:23
vaster更广阔
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比它看起来会更丰富,
10:25
than it too often经常 seems似乎 to be.
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更广阔。
10:28
I hope希望 that I've given特定 you the desire欲望
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希望我给你们带来一种渴望
10:31
to learn学习 to see the world世界 with new eyes眼睛.
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从新视角来看待这个世界。
10:34
Thank you.
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谢谢。
10:36
(Applause掌声)
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(掌声)
Translated by Lawrence Wang
Reviewed by Angelia King

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Daniel Tammet - Linguist, educator
Daniel Tammet is the author of "Born on a Blue Day," about his life with high-functioning autistic savant syndrome. He runs the language-learning site Optimnem, and his new book is "Embracing the Wide Sky: A Tour Across the Horizons of the Mind."

Why you should listen

Daniel Tammet is a writer, linguist and educator. He is the creator of Optimnem, a website that has provided language learning instruction to thousands around the globe. His 2006 memoir Born on a Blue Day describes his life with high-functioning autistic savant syndrome; his new book, Embracing the Wide Sky: A Tour Across the Horizons of the Mind, is a personal and scientific exploration of how the brain works and the differences and similarities between savant and non-savant minds.

Tammet set a European record on March 14, 2004, when he recited the mathematical constant pi (3.141...) to 22,514 decimal places from memory in a time of 5 hours, 9 minutes.

More profile about the speaker
Daniel Tammet | Speaker | TED.com