Loneliness
孤独
After returning to Earth, Apollo 11 command module pilot Mike Collins said he did not feel at all lonely. He wrote about the experience in his book Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut 8217;s Journeys:
返回地球后，阿波罗11号指令长迈克尔•科林斯表示，他一点儿都不觉得孤独。他在描述这一经历的书《带着希望的火种：一位宇航员的旅程》中写道：
Far from feeling lonely or abandoned, I feel very much a part of what is taking place on the lunar surface . . . I don 8217;t mean to deny a feeling of solitude. It is there, reinforced by the fact that radio contact with the Earth abruptly cuts off at the instant I disappear behind the moon.
我丝毫不觉得孤独或者被遗弃。相反，我觉得自己是月球表面上发生的一切的一部分……但我并不是说我没有一种孤寂感，这种感觉确实存在，尤其是当我转到月球的背面，和地球通信的无线电信号突然中断的时候。
I am alone now, truly alone, and absolutely isolated from any known life. I am it. If a count were taken, the score would be three billion plus two over on the other side of the moon, and one plus God knows what on this side.
我现在是一个人，真的是一个人，与任何已知的生命形式隔绝。如果数一下的话，在月球的另一边有地球上的30亿人和两位登月的宇航员，而在这边只有我，加上天知道什么东西。
Al Worden, the Apollo 15 command module pilot, even enjoyed the experience.
阿波罗15号指令长阿尔弗莱德•戈登甚至还十分享受这个过程：
There 8217;s a thing about being alone and there 8217;s a thing about being lonely, and they 8217;re two different things. I was alone but I was not lonely. My background was as a fighter pilot in the air force, then as a test pilot-and that was mostly in fighter airplanes-so I was very used to being by myself. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I didn 8217;t have to talk to Dave and Jim any more . . . On the backside of the Moon, I didn 8217;t even have to talk to Houston and that was the best part of the flight.
一个人是一回事儿，孤独是另一回事儿，二者全然不同。我现在是一个人，但我不觉得孤独。我曾经是一名空军飞行员，后来是一名试飞员——这期间大多数时间我都在战斗机里度过——所以我很适应这种环境。我完全享受它，我不用和戴夫和吉姆通话……在月球的背面，我甚至都不用和休斯敦联系，这真的是这次旅途中最棒的一部分。
Introverts understand; the loneliest human in history was just happy to have a few minutes of peace and quiet.
内向的人都明白：史上最孤独的人类非常乐于享受这几分钟的安宁与寂静。
1 Because of the curve of the Earth, you actually have to go 3619 kilometers across the surface to qualify.
1． 由于地球表面有弧度，因而你需要相隔超过3619千米的地表距离才行。
2 Amundsen 8217;s expedition had left the continent by then.
2． 那时候阿蒙森的团队都已经离开南极大陆了。
WEIRD (AND WORRYING) QUESTIONS FROM THE WHAT IF? INBOX,