As a China expert, Stephen is not only a Chinese translator, but also a lover of Chinese literature.
Every time he comes to China, he will be like digging for gold, going into major bookstores and actively looking for the golden house in the book. He likes to study history and is almost familiar with the five thousand years of China. Therefore, his Chinese is simply better than that of the locals.
proficient.
And he also made friends with many Chinese language experts.
They come from various countries and have established a Chinese language society to exchange Chinese culture with each other.
This time, he was hired as a translator for the U.S. Embassy and accompanied the Minister of Commerce and a group of American business leaders on a business inspection visit to China. After completing the translation task, Stephen left the team and visited the home of his old friend Zhang Hanting.
.
Zhang Hanting is the editor-in-chief of China's "Science Fiction Magazine" and one of the judges for the Galaxy Award essay competition. His latest task is to accept manuscripts from all over the country. After learning about Stephen's arrival, he was also very happy and swept the couch at home to welcome him.
The two have known each other for ten years and became friends in New York. Zhang Hanting was one of Stephen's Chinese language guides. Although they were separated by nationalities, their friendship was irreversible.
Stephen brought his own American specialty, a kind of coffee beans sold only in New York, and Zhang Hanting also brought out the treasured Wuyi Mountain Dahongpao for Stephen to taste.
Although the latter is familiar with China, he still can't understand the bitter oolong tea. After taking a sip, he frowned, and Zhang Hanting laughed: "Stephen, this tea is really a waste for you to drink!"
Stephen smiled bitterly and said, "I feel like I'm drinking Chinese medicine."
Zhang Hanting shook his head: "You have to taste it slowly. This tea is bitter at first and then sweet. After drinking it, a mellow aroma will linger in your mouth... Forget it, I'll make you some coffee!"
Stephen thanked him quickly, and then he looked at the piles of envelopes placed in Zhang Hanting's living room. While thoughtful, he also felt a little puzzled: "Doesn't China have e-mails? Why are there still people submitting manuscripts in handwriting?"
"This is a tradition that cannot be changed for a while, and in remote areas, not every household has a computer."
Zhang Hanting smiled: "But there are also many manuscripts in the e-mail box, but they are not reviewed by me."
Stephen shook his head: "Hanting, the momentum of your Galaxy Award this time is not as good as before. I think we should increase investment and increase the amount of the prize pool. One hundred thousand is too little."
"The rewards brought by the essay competition are just a thought. The most important thing is the halo effect brought by winning the prize. The added value is the highest."
As Zhang Hanting spoke, he took out a handwritten manuscript and handed it to Stephen: "Don't you always say that Chinese science fiction is too soft? Take a look at this article, it is definitely hard enough, but the current manuscript only has 20,000 words, and the theme concept is'
"A star system with three irregularly orbiting stars," the background is in a special period, and it describes the story of the contact between some characters and alien forces. I think it is very interesting."
"Oh? Then I have to take a look."
Stephen was somewhat interested. He took the manuscript, took out a pair of convex lenses from the briefcase he carried with him, and began to read it carefully while waiting for coffee.
[The wave is in full swing, and astronomer Ye Wenjie has experienced disasters during it, and was taken to the military's top-secret project "Red Bank Project".
Ye Wenjie used the sun as an antenna to send the first cry of earth civilization to the universe, making breakthrough progress in the search for extraterrestrial civilization.
Under the dominance of three irregularly moving suns, the "Trisolaran civilization" four light years away has experienced more than a hundred times of destruction and rebirth, and is being forced to escape from its home star. At this time, they received a message from the earth.
Information……】
It has a total of 20,000 words, but there are some words between the lines that Stephen, a China expert, cannot understand.
Twenty minutes later, he rubbed the corners of his eyes, took the coffee from Zhang Hanting, and said hesitantly: "I feel very normal..."
"But I don't think it's simple. Even when I think about it carefully, I feel it's very majestic. By the way, the author added some creative ideas for the subsequent work in the manuscript. He proposed the concept of a 'dark forest' law.
I feel very special.”
Stephen was stunned: "What do you mean?"
Zhang Hanting thought for a while, turned around and picked up a piece of letter paper on the desk, found a few lines of words in it, and read:
“The universe is a dark forest, and every civilization is a hunter with a gun, sneaking through the forest like a ghost, gently pushing aside the branches blocking the road, trying not to make a sound with his footsteps, and even breathing must be careful: he
He must be careful, because there are hunters like him everywhere in the forest. If he finds other life, the only thing he can do is to shoot and eliminate them. In this forest, other people are hell and eternity.
Any life that exposes its existence will be quickly wiped out. This is the picture of cosmic civilization and an explanation for the Fermi Paradox."
Stephen opened his mouth: "Han Ting, can you explain it in a simpler way?"
"This has been explained very clearly. Ye Wenjie sent the coordinates of the Earth to extraterrestrial planets, exposing the Earth. According to the laws of the dark forest, the Earth will either be occupied by aliens or destroyed by them..."
Zhang Hanting continued to read the letter, "It says here that chain of suspicion and technological explosion are the core concepts of the Dark Forest Law. Based on this concept, the author inferred to us the terrible fact that the universe is actually a huge dark forest.
."
Stephen wiped his sweat: "I don't understand more and more, but it feels very powerful."
"In my opinion, the concept of technological explosion is well understood. Biological evolution is a spiral process, and the overall speed is approximately uniform, but technological development is not like this. Human beings have lived a similar life for the past thousands of years.
Life has suddenly undergone a qualitative leap in the past two centuries.
From primitive chemical energy to steam engines, to internal combustion engines and the industrial revolution, humans have mastered nuclear energy in a short period of time.
This development process is very illustrative. In just a hundred years, a civilization has made a qualitative leap.
A hundred years is actually a very short time on a cosmic scale, and civilizations may surpass each other at any time.
As for the chain of suspicion, the issues involved are much more complicated.
In my opinion, the reason why this dark forest law is established is precisely because different civilizations cannot trust each other. This distrust, when presented in an extreme form, is the ruthless destruction of lower civilizations by higher civilizations."
Stephen's eyes lit up.
He thought for a moment, lowered his head and took a sip of coffee, and exclaimed: "You can actually justify it! Then it is indeed hard science fiction, and it is very advanced and awesome. I am really looking forward to it now. Please allow me to make a copy of this manuscript.
Go back, by the way, I haven’t asked you yet, which science fiction master is this author?”
Zhang Hanting looked at the pen name signed on the letter and said: "Zheng Qian."