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There's no refuge from change in the cosmos, but we're not really good at processing time passing.
宇宙中万事万物都在变化，但我们并不擅长应对时间的流逝。
It's very mysterious. It's very confusing.
这很神奇，也很迷惑。
Throughout time, we earthlings have all sort of come to the same points in the year, and the same points in life to mark.
在时间的长河中，人类似乎都会在一年同一个时间点，一生中同样的时间点去纪念。
Disparate cultures, who had no way of communicating, found the same moments to create ceremonies and traditions around.
完全无法交流的、迥然不同的文化群体在同样的时间点创造了仪式和传统。
Birth, coming of age, death- and also the solstices and equinoxes.
出生，成年，死亡--还有二至点和二分点。
So many of our rituals and traditions are about processing change and coming to terms with who we are on this little, particular planet.
我们的很多仪式和传统都是为了应对变化，以及承认我们在这颗独特的小星球上的身份。
My dad, Carl Sagan, was an astronomer and together with my mom, Ann Druyan, they really communicated wonder and awe about the natural world as revealed through science.
我的父亲卡尔·萨根和母亲安·德鲁扬都是天文学家，他们通过科学揭示了对自然世界的好奇和敬畏。
And they found ways to carry on traditions to connect to our place in the Universe without compromising what they really believed about the world and what we're all doing here.
他们找到了一些方法，将我们与宇宙中的位置联系在一起，并且没有违背他们对世界的真实信仰以及他们所做的事。
So many of our celebrations around the world are tied to four points in the year, which are a function of how we move around our star, and the axial tilt that the planet has.
世界各地的许多庆祝活动都与一年中的四个时间点有关，这四个时间点是我们围绕恒星运动的方式的函数，以及行星的轴向倾斜。
So, our planet rotates on its axis, but we do it at a little angle- it's about 23 degrees and change.
我们的地球绕着它的轴旋转，但它有一个很小的角度--大约23度。
And because of that, we have seasons.
正是如此，才分出了四季。
Without it, we would still have weather, but we would not have seasons.
如果没有这个角度，天气依然会变化，但却不会有四季了。
And the length of days wouldn't change.
而且白日的长度也不会有变化。
Here in the Northern Hemisphere, our summer solstice is around June 20th, and at that same time, it's the winter solstice in the Southern Hemisphere.
在北半球，夏至大约是6月20日，与此同时，是南半球的冬至。
Six months later, we switch.
六个月之后，南北半球对调过来。
The points in between those extremes are the autumn and spring equinoxes.
在南北回归线上的端点之间的点是秋分和春分。
Holidays like, for example, Easter, Passover, Nowruz, are all tied to the spring equinox.
复活节、逾越节、诺鲁孜节等节日都与春分有关。
So many holidays around this time of year are connected.
每年这个时候的很多假期都是相互关联的。
Rebirth, resurrection, and this theme of overcoming darkness.
节日主题都与重生、复活，以及战胜黑暗有关。
There's this underlying story that says, "Wow, that was close. That looked really bad.
在这些表象之下，表达的是“哇，太危险了，看起来很糟。
We almost didn't make it, but now it looks like it's gonna be okay."
我们差点就没挺过来，但现在看来没事了。”
And we see that in so many different places around this time of year, so many different traditions, because that's spring itself.
每年的这个时候，我们在很多地方都能看到，有很多不同的传统，因为这就是春天。
There's so much symbolism in traditions and ceremonies.
传统和仪式有很多象征意义。
They're almost like these performance art pieces.
它们就像是行为艺术作品。
And I don't mean that in a negative way- it's beautiful!
我这么说不带有任何贬义色彩--这很美！
It's this way we can communicate these larger ideas that everyone understands.
只有用这种方式我们才能说清楚让每个人都能理解的宏大观点。
I'm a secular, but I do love community, and I love getting together to carry on traditions.
我是一个普通信徒，但我喜欢群体，我喜欢聚在一起继承传统。
Those of us who are secular or agnostic or atheist or some combination of those things, we still need ways to mark time.
我们这些世俗的、不可知论者的、无神论者的或两者兼而有之的人，仍然需要一些方法来标记时间。
In the wintertime, when it's really cold and dark, we have all these traditions in so many cultures to make ourselves feel joy and create light for ourselves; just around this idea that when the sun sets early, we need more light.
冬天，天气又冷又黑的时候，很多文化中都有一些传统，能让我们感到快乐，给自己创造光明；太阳早落的时候，我们需要更多光。
There's something about that that's very profound.
这一点意义深刻。
So, talking about the winter solstice, because of the axial tilt, the days are gonna start getting longer little by little.
说到冬至，由于轴向倾斜，白天会逐渐变长。
It'll be summer before we know it, and no matter whether we believe in it or not, no matter what anyone does, it's definitely happening and the light is returning. It's coming back for sure.
不知不觉夏天就要到了，不管我们信不信，不管别人做什么，它肯定正在到来，光明正在回归。它一定会回来的。
And that's something to celebrate.
这是值得庆祝的事。
