The eventual¹ result was the inflation theory, which holds that a fraction of a moment after the dawn of creation, the universe underwent a sudden dramatic expansion. 最后，他提出了膨胀理论。该理论认为，在爆炸后的刹那间，宇宙突然经历了戏剧性的扩大。

It inflated—in effect ran away with itself, doubling in size every 10-34seconds. 它不停地膨胀--实际上是带着自身逃跑，每10^－34秒它的大小就翻一番。

The whole episode may have lasted no more than 10-30seconds 整个过程也许只持续了不到10^－30秒

that's one million million million million millionths of a second 也就是一百万亿亿亿分之一秒

but it changed the universe from something you could hold in your hand to something at least 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 times bigger. 但是，宇宙从手都拿得住的东西变成了至少10亿亿亿倍大的东西。

Inflation theory explains the ripples² and eddies³ that make our universe possible. 膨胀理论解释了使我们的宇宙成为可能的脉动和旋转。

Without it, there would be no clumps⁴ of matter and thus no stars, just drifting gas and everlasting⁵ darkness. 要是没有这种脉动和旋转的话，就不会有物质团块，因此也就没有星星，而只有飘浮的气体和永恒的黑暗。

According to Guth's theory, at one ten-millionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second, gravity emerged. 根据古思的理论，在一千亿亿亿亿亿分之一秒之内产生了引力。

After another ludicrously brief interval⁶ it was joined by electromagnetism and the strong and weak nuclear forces—the stuff of physics. 又过了极其短暂的时刻，又产生了电磁以及强核力和弱核力--物理学的材料。

These were joined an instant later by swarms⁷ of elementary particles—the stuff of stuff. 之后，又很快出现了大批基本粒子--材料的材料。

From nothing at all, suddenly there were swarms of photons, protons, electrons, neutrons⁸, and much else 从无到有，突然有了大批光子、质子、电子、中子和许多别的东西--根据标准的大爆炸理论，

between 1079and 1089of each, according to the standard Big Bang theory. 每种达10^79-1089个之多。

Such quantities are of course ungraspable. 这么大的数量当然是难以理解的。

It is enough to know that in a single cracking instant we were endowed with a universe that was vast 我们只要知道，刹那间，我们有了一个巨大的宇宙，这就够了--根据该理论，这个宇宙是如此之大，

at least a hundred billion light-years across, 直径至少有1000亿光年，

according to the theory, but possibly any size up to infinite 但有可能是从任何大小直至无穷大

and perfectly⁹ arrayed for the creation of stars, galaxies¹⁰, and other complex systems. 安排得非常完美，为恒星、星系和其他复杂体系的创建准备了条件。