This peculiar and often frustrating experience is an effect of relative motion. At the train station we cannot tell whether it was our train that changed its speed from 0 mph to 20 mph or whether it was the other train that changed its speed from 0 mph to 20 mph. Only after the other train pulled out of the station could we see that it, and not our train, was moving.
这种奇特的而又经常使人沮丧的经历就是相对运动所产生的效应。在火车站上我们辨别不出窨是我们所乘坐的那一列火车把车速从每小时0英里改变成每小时20英里。只有当另一列火车驶出火车站之后,这我们才能明白原来是它在开动,而不是我们所乘坐的这列火车在开动。
Now let us again raise the question that was raised at the beginning of this article: can we be absolutely certain that the other train did indeed increase its speed, and in this case pull out of the station?
现在让我们再次提出本文开头所提出过的那个问题:我们能否绝对肯定确实是另一列火车加快了车速,在此情此景驶出了火车站呢?
If your answer is yes, then you are wrong again. All we can be certain of is that the relative speed between the two trains changed.
如果你回答说是的,那么你就又错了。我们所能够完全肯定的一点只是这两列火车之间的相对速度变了。
These examples illustrate an important principle in the special theory of relativity. If A appears to be moving at a steady speed relative to B, we cannot know for sure if it is A that is really moving. Perhaps A is standing still, and B is moving. Or perhaps both are moving. According to relativity, there is no experiment that can be devised to solve the problem. As there is no way of deciding which of the two objects is moving, we can choose either one as the moving object. The reason is that their motion is relative, and relativity, as we have seen, means that we have a choice.
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