每天一小段英语（63）

命运号角

Of course, the simple, straight lines on the graph are portraying the general concept. The actual lines won’t be straight or predictable. One promising way this might be the case is that the accelerating rate of technological advancement might mean that the blue and yellow lines could improve at a faster rate over time and look like this:

上图的直线只是大体上概念的描绘。实际上不应该是直线，也不可预测。可以预测的是随着科技进步的加速，蓝黄条变化的速度也会加快：






So that’s how the first three Ifs work. And that’s all great—but none of it matters if If 4 doesn’t pan out. Without If 4—i.e. “Will people actually revive me when the time comes?”—you’re still just a helpless, vitrified body, and if the external world doesn’t keep their side of the bargain once you become revivable, you’re out of luck—and you’ll never know it happened.
以上就是对前三条件的分析。它们都是至关重要的，但是如果条件4（届时人们会不会复活会员）不奏效，前三条件都是无用之举。没有条件4，会员们只是无助的玻璃化身体，如果外面的世界不按合同行事，会员永远不会知道自己的不幸。

You’ll be a little like a farm animal. You might have rights in theory, but with no ability to defend your own rights, you’ll rely on other people to fight for those rights on your behalf.
就像农场里的动物，理论上有点权力，而无能力捍卫权力，只能依靠别人的帮助来找回权力。

命运号角

portray
vt. 描绘；扮演

命运号角

pan out
成功；结果（是）；证明