started out the way most things do:

起因和大多數事情一樣：

without me, and not online.

與我無關，而且不是在網路上。

On December 10, 1896, the man on the medal,

在1896年的12月10號，這面獎章上的男人，

Alfred Nobel, died.

阿弗雷德•諾貝爾，與世長辭。

One hundred years later, exactly, actually,

而在一百年後的同一天，

December 10, 1996,

也就是1996年的12月10日，

this charming lady, Wislawa Szymborska,

這位迷人女士，維斯拉瓦·辛波絲卡，

won the Nobel Prize for literature.

獲得了諾貝爾文學獎。

She's a Polish poet.

她是位波蘭詩人，

She's a big deal, obviously,

而且很顯然的她是位大人物，

but back in '96, I thought I had never heard of her,

不過在96年的時候，我以為我從來沒聽過她，

and when I checked out her work,

於是我找了她的作品，

I found this sweet little poem,

並發現這首可愛的小詩：

"Four in the Morning."

《凌晨四點鐘》

"The hour from night to day.

「從夜晚到白晝的時辰，

The hour from side to side.

從此處到彼處的時間，

The hour for those past thirty..."

逝去的三十個小時……」

And it goes on, but as soon as I read this poem,

之後的我就不念了，不過當我讀到這首詩時，

I fell for it hard,

我就對它著迷了。

so hard, I suspected we must have met

著迷的程度嚴重到我覺得我以前一定

somewhere before.

在哪裡遇過它。

Had I shared an elevator ride with this poem?

我是否與這首詩共乘過同一部電梯？

Did I flirt with this poem

我有沒有在咖啡店的某處

in a coffee shop somewhere?

和這首詩調情過？

I could not place it, and it bugged me,

我不知道，而這一直困擾著我，

and then in the coming week or two,

不過在那時的一兩個禮拜後，

I would just be watching an old movie,

我會剛好看到一部老電影，

and this would happen.

裡面會出現這個片段：

(Video) Groucho Marx: Charlie, you should have come to the first party.

Groucho Marx： Charlie，你應該要來第一個派對的，

We didn't get home till around four in the morning.

我們玩到了凌晨四點鐘才回家。

Rives: My roommates would have the TV on,

我的室友會剛好開著電視，

and this would happen.

然後我就會看到這個：

(Music: Seinfeld theme)

(背景音樂：歡樂單身派對主題曲)

(Video) George Costanza: Oh boy, I was up til four in the morning

(影片) George Costanza：喔天啊，我昨天熬到凌晨四點鐘

watching that Omen trilogy.

看完了天魔三部曲。

Rives: I would be listening to music,

我也會剛好在聽音樂的時候

and this would happen.

聽到這個：

(Video) Elton John: ♪ It's four o'clock in the morning, damn it. ♪

(影片) 艾爾頓·強： ♪現在是凌晨四點鐘，該死 ♪

Rives: So you can see what was going on, right?

你們能夠明白發生了什麼事，對吧？

Obviously, the demigods of coincidence

很顯然的，巧合之神

were just messing with me.

一直在捉弄我。

Some people get a number stuck in their head,

這就像有些人會不自覺去注意某些數字，

you may recognize a certain name or a tune,

或是你也有可能會 一直認出某個名字或一段旋律，

some people get nothing, but four in the morning

也有人不會有這種情況，但凌晨四點鐘

was in me now, but mildly,

現在卻一直在影響我，

like a groin injury.

就像鼠蹊部受傷一樣。

I always assumed it would just go away

我一直以為它很快就會

on its own eventually,

自己離開我的思緒，

and I never talked about it with anybody,

而我也沒有和任何人談起過。

but it did not, and I totally did.

不過我錯了，所以我乾脆說出來。

In 2007, I was invited to speak at TED

在2007年，我第二次被TED

for the second time,

邀請來演講。

and since I was still an authority on nothing,

既然我當時並不是任何事情的權威，

I thought, what if I made a multimedia presentation

我在想，若我做了一份多媒體簡報，

on a topic so niche

其主題非常獨特

it is actually inconsequential

到根本不重要

or actually cockamamie.

或是荒謬的話不知道會怎樣。

So my talk had some of my four in the morning examples,

於是我那次演講含概了 許多我找到的凌晨四點鐘例子

but it also had examples

不過其中也有一些

from my fellow TED speakers that year.

是其他TED研究會員提供的。

I found four in the morning in a novel

我在伊莎貝·阿言德的小說中

by Isabel Allende.

發現凌晨四點鐘的蹤影。

I found a really great one

我也在比爾·柯林頓的自傳中

in the autobiography of Bill Clinton.

找到了非常好的例子。

I found a couple in the work of Matt Groening,

除此之外還有幾個馬特·格朗寧的作品。

although Matt Groening told me later

話說回來，馬特·格朗寧在那演講過後

that he could not make my talk

告訴我他沒有聽到我的演講，

because it was a morning session

因為那是在早上的時段，

and I gather that he is not an early riser.

我猜他應該不是個早起的人吧。

However, had Matt been there,

但總之，如果馬特當時有到場，

he would have seen this mock conspiracy theory

他就會看見我因為感到離奇

that was un-freaking-canny for me to assemble.

而創造出的假陰謀論。

It was totally contrived

那個理論完全是捏造出來的，

just for that room, just for that moment.

純粹是為了當時的演講。

That's how we did it in the pre-TED.com days.

這完全是我們在TED.com時代前的 老時光會做的事，

It was fun. That was pretty much it.

很有趣，不過也就這樣了。

When I got home, though, the emails started coming in

不過當我回家之後， 電子郵件開始湧入我的信箱，

from people who had seen the talk live,

它們來自當時在演講現場的人。

beginning with, and this is still my favorite,

我現在還是很喜歡的第一封信寫著：

"Here's another one for your collection:

「這裡有另一個可以加入你收藏的例子：

'It's the friends you can call up at 4 a.m. that matter.'"

『唯有那些在凌晨四點鐘 還願意接你電話的朋友才重要。』」

The sentiment is Marlene Dietrich.

這是瑪琳·黛德麗說的。

The email itself was from another very

而這封電子郵件則是來自另一位

sexy European type,

非常性感的歐洲人：

TED Curator Chris Anderson.

TED策展人克里斯·安德森。

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

Chris found this quote

克里斯在咖啡杯還是什麼的

on a coffee cup or something,

找到了這句引言。

and I'm thinking, this man is the Typhoid Mary

接著我就想，這位「值得傳播的想法」界中的

of ideas worth spreading, and I have infected him.

傷寒瑪莉，居然被我感染了。

I am contagious,

我有傳染力，

which was confirmed less than a week later

而不到一個禮拜後我又更確信這一點。

when a Hallmark employee scanned and sent

Hallmark公司的員工掃描了一張真正的賀卡

an actual greeting card

並寄給我看，

with that same quotation.

上面有一模一樣的引言。

As a bonus, she hooked me up with a second one they make.

她還寄了另一張她們公司做的賀卡來，

It says, "Just knowing I can call you

上面寫道：「一想到如果我需要的話

at four in the morning if I need to

就算是凌晨四點也能打給你，

makes me not really need to,"

就使我心裡感到寬慰。」

which I love, because together these are like,

我超愛這個，因為這兩張卡片就像在說：

"Hallmark: When you care enough

「Hallmark公司：當你在乎那個人深到

to send the very best twice,

你要寄兩次祝福給他，

phrased slightly differently."

稍微改一下說詞就好了。」

I was not surprised at the TEDster

對於TED族和New Yorker雜誌

and New Yorker magazine overlap.

的讀者群重疊我並不是很驚訝。

A bunch of people sent me this when it came out.

有一群人在雜誌刊出這個時候把它寄給我。

"It's 4 a.m.—maybe you'd sleep better if you bought some crap."

「現在是凌晨四點鐘， 也許當你買了一些垃圾之後你會睡的比較好。」

I was surprised at the TEDster/"Rugrats" overlap.

不過我倒是對TED族和 Rugrats粉絲之間的聯繫感到吃驚。

More than one person sent me this.

不只一個人寄給我這個：

(Video) Didi Pickles: It's four o'clock in the morning.

(影片) Didi Pickles：「現在是凌晨四點鐘，

Why on Earth are you making chocolate pudding?

你為什麼非得要在這時做巧克力布丁？」

Stu Pickles: Because I've lost control of my life.

Stu Pickles：「因為我無法掌控我的生活。」

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

Rives: And then there was the lone TEDster

接著有一位TED族成員

who was disgruntled I had overlooked

對於我忽略了以下他認為是經典的片段

what he considers to be a classic.

而感到不滿：

(Video) Roy Neary: Get up, get up! I'm not kidding. Ronnie Neary: Is there an accident?

(影片) Roy Neary： 「起床！起床！這不是在開玩笑。」 Ronnie Neary：「發生意外了嗎？」

Roy: No, it's not an accident. You wanted to get out of the house anyway, right?

Roy：「不，這不是意外啦。 反正你說過你想要離開這間房子的，對吧？」

Ronnie: Not at four o'clock in the morning.

Ronnie：「我又沒說要在凌晨四點鐘。」

Rives: So that's "Close Encounters,"

以上是第三類接觸的片段，

and the main character is all worked up

裡頭的要角之所以如此激動的原因，

because aliens, momentously,

是因為外星人

have chosen to show themselves to earthlings

非得選在凌晨四點鐘

at four in the morning,

在地球人們面前盛大的現身，

which does make that a very solid example.

這又是一個充分的例子。

Those were all really solid examples.

剛剛你看到的全都是很出色的例子。

They did not get me any closer to understanding

它們並沒有讓我更了解

why I thought I recognized this one particular poem.

為什麼我看見那首詩時會覺得似曾相識，

But they followed the pattern. They played along.

但它們都擁有某種關聯性，

Right? Four in the morning as this scapegoat hour

對吧？凌晨四點鐘就是一頭代罪羔羊，

when all these dramatic occurrences

所有戲劇性事件都被宣稱

allegedly occur.

發生在此時。

Maybe this was some kind of cliche

也許這是一種從來沒有被辨認出來的

that had never been taxonomized before.

老掉牙說辭。

Maybe I was on the trail

又或者我可能正在發現通往

of a new meme or something.

一種新模因還是什麼的路上。

Just when things were getting pretty interesting,

就在事情變得有趣之後，

things got really interesting.

它並沒有因此停止。

TED.com launched, later that year,

TED.com在一年之後，

with a bunch of videos from past talks,

發佈了幾個演講的影片，

including mine,

其中包括我的。

and I started receiving "four in the morning" citations

我因此開始收到 各種不同的凌晨四點鐘引證，

from what seemed like every time zone on the planet.

它們似乎來自這星球的每處。

Much of it was content I never would have found

大多數的內容都是靠我一個人

on my own if I was looking for it,

沒辦法找到的，

and I was not.

話說其實我也沒在找。

I don't know anybody with juvenile diabetes.

因為我不認識任何患有青少年糖尿病的人，

I probably would have missed the booklet,

因此我可能不會接觸到這本書：

"Grilled Cheese at Four O'Clock in the Morning."

《凌晨四點鐘的烤起司三明治》

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

I do not subscribe to Crochet Today! magazine,

我也沒有訂閱這本 《Crochet Today! 今日針織》雜誌，

although it looks delightful. (Laughter)

儘管它看起來還蠻宜人的啦。(笑聲)

Take note of those clock ends.

注意一下時鐘指針的位置。

This is a college student's suggestion

這張照片是一位大學生提供的，

for what a "four in the morning" gang sign

它展示了代表「凌晨四點鐘」

should look like.

的幫派手勢。

People sent me magazine ads.

人們寄給我他們在雜貨店拍的

They took photographs in grocery stores.

雜誌廣告。

I got a ton of graphic novels and comics.

我也收到一堆圖像小說和漫畫，

A lot of good quality work, too:

很多都是很棒的作品：

"The Sandman," "Watchmen."

《沙人》、《守護者》，

There's a very cute example here from "Calvin and Hobbes."

還有一些來自《Calvin與Hobbes》的可愛例子。

In fact, the oldest citation anybody sent in

事實上，人們寄來最老的例子

was from a cartoon from the Stone Age.

來自一部「石器時代」的卡通，

Take a look.

來看看吧。

(Video) Wilma Flintstone: Like how early?

(影片) 威瑪·弗林史東：「像是有多早？」

Fred Flintstone: Like at 4 a.m., that's how early.

弗萊德·弗林史東： 「凌晨四點鐘，就是這麼早。」

Rives: And the flip side of the timeline,

Rives：而在時間軸的另一端，

this is from the 31st century.

像是31世紀，

A thousand years from now,

也就是一千年之後，

people are still doing this.

人們還是會這麼說：

(Video): Announcer: The time is 4 a.m.

(影片) 廣播員：「現在是凌晨四點鐘。」

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

Rives: It shows the spectrum.

Rives：完全展現出了例子的範圍。

I received so many songs, TV shows, movies,

我收到無以計數的歌、電視節目、電影，

like from dismal to famous,

從爛片到有名的都有。

I could give you a four-hour playlist.

而光光是把範圍集中在男電影明星，

If I just stick to modern male movie stars,

並且把每個片段的長度

I keep it to the length

都弄得和廣告一樣，

of about a commercial.

我就可以有4小時的例子給你看。

Here's your sampler.

以下就是例子：

(Movie montage of "It's 4 a.m.")

(包含「凌晨四點鐘」台詞的電影片段)

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

Rives: So somewhere along the line,

Rives：所以當我回神的時候，

I realized I have a hobby

我發現我有了一個興趣，

I didn't know I wanted,

我不知道我想不想要，

and it is crowdsourced.

但它得到大眾迴響。

But I was also thinking what you might be thinking,

而我也想到了你們也許正在想到的事，

which is really, couldn't you do this

也就是：難道我們不能夠針對

with any hour of the day?

一天中其他的時刻做一樣的事嗎？

First of all, you are not getting clips like that

首先，你並沒有收到像這樣的

about four in the afternoon.

關於下午四點的片段。

Secondly, I did a little research.

其次，我做了一點小研究。

You know, I was kind of interested.

你知道，我也蠻有興趣的。

If this is confirmation bias,

說不定這是個確認偏誤，

there is so much confirmation, I am biased.

也就是因為這些例子 讓我選擇性注意這個時段。

Literature probably shows it best.

文學大概給了這點最好的證明。

There are a couple three in the mornings in Shakespeare.

莎士比亞的作品中 有幾個凌晨三點的例子。

There's a five in the morning.

有一個凌晨五點也存在。

There are seven four in the mornings,

另外還有七個凌晨四點，

and they're all very dire.

而且那時發生的事都很緊急。

In "Measure for Measure," it's the call time for the executioner.

在《量.度》中，這是劊子手被傳喚的時間。

Tolstoy gives Napoleon insomnia

托爾斯泰在《戰爭與和平》中，

at four in the morning right before battle

讓拿破崙在戰爭前夕的凌晨四點鐘

in "War and Peace."

失眠。

Charlotte Brontë's "Jane Eyre" has got kind of

夏綠蒂·勃朗特所著的《簡愛》中

a pivotal four in the morning,

有一個關鍵的凌晨四點鐘場景。

as does Emily Brontë's "Wuthering Heights."

艾蜜莉·勃朗特的《咆嘯山莊》也是一樣。

"Lolita" has as a creepy four in the morning.

《羅莉塔》一書的凌晨四點鐘場景則很嚇人。

"Huckleberry Finn" has one in dialect.

《頑童歷險記》有一個方言版的凌晨四點鐘。

Someone sent in H.G. Wells' "The Invisible Man."

有人寄給我赫伯特·喬治·威爾斯著的《隱形人》

Someone else sent in Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man."

另外也有拉爾夫·艾里森的《隱形人》

"The Great Gatsby" spends the last

《大亨小傳》的主角在他人生中的

four in the morning of his life

最後一個凌晨四點鐘，

waiting for a lover who never shows,

等著從未現身的愛人。

and the most famous wake-up in literature, perhaps,

文學中最著名的「起床」大概是

"The Metamorphosis."

《變形記》中的第一段，

First paragraph, the main character wakes up

主角醒來之後

transformed into a giant cockroach,

變成了一隻巨大的蟑螂。

but we already know, cockroach notwithstanding,

但撇開蟑螂不說，其實我們早就知道

something is up with this guy.

主角有哪裡不對勁了。

Why? His alarm is set for four o'clock in the morning.

為什麼？因為這傢伙 設了一個凌晨四點鐘的鬧鐘。

What kind of person would do that?

誰會做這種事啊？

This kind of person would do that.

這種人就會：

(Music)

(音樂)

(4 a.m. alarm clock montage)

(凌晨四點鐘片段)

(Video) Newcaster: Top of the hour. Time for the morning news.

(影片) 新聞主播：「又到了新的小時， 現在是新聞時間。

But of course, there is no news yet.

不過當然，現在沒有新聞，

Everyone's still asleep in their comfy, comfy beds.

因為每個人都現在都還在 他們舒服的被窩中睡覺。」

Rives: Exactly.

Rives：完全正確。

So that's Lucy from the Peanuts,

剛剛看到的是《花生》中的露西、

"Mommie Dearest", Rocky, first day of training,

在《親愛的媽咪》中第一天訓練的洛基、

Nelson Mandela, first day in office,

納爾遜·曼德拉在辦公室的第一天、

and Bart Simpson, which combined with a cockroach

還有霸子·辛普森，只要讓他跟蟑螂在一起，

would give you one hell of a dinner party

你的晚餐派對就毀了。

and gives me yet another category,

這些例子都能夠在我的

people waking up, in my big old database.

資料庫中成立新的條目：起床的人們。

Just imagine that your friends and your family

想像一下，如果你的朋友或家人聽說

have heard that you collect, say, stuffed polar bears,

你在收集北極熊玩偶，

and they send them to you.

所以不斷寄給你的話，

Even if you don't really, at a certain point,

就算一開始並沒有這回事， 不過在某個時間點之後，

you totally collect stuffed polar bears,

你就真的在收集北極熊玩偶了。

and your collection is probably pretty kick-ass.

而且你的收藏大概會蠻驚人的。

And when I got to that point, I embraced it.

當我面臨那個時間點時，我欣然接受了。

I got my curator on. I started fact checking,

我弄了一個資料庫， 而且開始對這些例子做認證、

downloading, illegally screen-grabbing.

下載、非法地擷取畫面，

I started archiving.

並開始歸檔工作。

My hobby had become a habit,

我的興趣變成了習慣，

and my habit gave me possibly the world's

而這個習慣帶給我一個大概是

most eclectic Netflix queue.

最兼容並蓄的待看影片列表。

At one point, it went, "Guys and Dolls: The Musical,"

有時候我會看到Guys and Dolls音樂劇，