時差N小時:有一份工作您無法拒絕 Increasing geometrically

DON:Today's Moment of Science is about lightningbugs.

唐:今天的科學(xué)一刻我們要講的是關(guān)于螢火蟲。

Lightning bugs are cool because if you squish 'emyou can make...oh, forget it!

螢火蟲可是非常酷,因為如果你壓扁它們就可以…哦,還是算了吧!

YAEL:What's the problem?

雅艾爾:出了什么問題?

DON:I'm just tired of working for A Moment ofScience.

唐:我只是厭倦了今天科學(xué)一刻的工作。

Do you know how hard it is to come up with another fascinating tidbit every day?

你知道每天想出另一個引人入勝的話題有多難么?

I'm going to find a new job.

我要另謀高就了。

YAEL:I've got a job for you.

雅艾爾:我已經(jīng)為你找到了一份工作。

DON:Oh yeah? Does it pay better thanthis one?

唐:哦,是嗎?待遇可比這里更好?

YAEL:I'll let you figure that out.

雅艾爾:我會讓你明白的。

The job lasts for one month, and you only get one penny on the first day.

這份工作持續(xù)一個月, 第一天你只能得到1分錢。

DON:Hey! What kind of deal is that?

唐:嘿!這是個什么活計?

YAEL:Hang on! On the second day I'll pay you twice what you made the first day. That's twopennies.

雅艾爾:堅持聽完!第二天我會付給你第一天薪金的2倍。也就是2分錢。

DON:Three cents altogether-now we're getting somewhere.

唐:總共3分錢,現(xiàn)在我們總算有些進展。

YAEL:On the third day I'll again pay you twice what you've made the day before.

雅艾爾:第3天我會再次給你前一天的2倍。

That's four more cents.

也就是4分錢。

Every day I'll double the amount made the day before.

就這樣每天我都給你前一天的2倍。

At the end of one month you're out of a job. What do you say?

月末你的工作結(jié)束。你怎么看?

Do you take the offer?

接受嗎?

DON:No, of course not. Who would work for pennies?

唐:不,當(dāng)然不。誰會為區(qū)區(qū)幾分錢折腰?

YAEL:That's a shame, because you're not realizing how numbers work.

雅艾爾:太遺憾了,因為你沒有意識到這些數(shù)字是如何變化的。

When a number continually doubles itself we say it is "increasing geometrically."

當(dāng)一個數(shù)字本身不斷翻倍我們說它是以幾何數(shù)字增加。

That means the larger the number becomes, the faster it rises with each additional day.

這意味著數(shù)字越大,每一天的額外增長就越快。

How much would you guess you would earn just on the last day of the month?

你猜在月底最后一天你會賺多少錢?

DON:Um...ten bucks?

唐:嗯…十塊錢?

YAEL:Over ten million dollars!

雅艾爾:超過一千萬美元!

DON:Ten million dollars? Starting from a penny!?!

唐:拿到一千萬美元嗎?從一分錢開始?

YAEL:That's geometric increase.

雅艾爾:幾何增長嘛。

DON:Hmmm...do I get health insurance too?

唐:額…我自己上了健康保險沒?