But, if there's an address already, what's the point of the postcode, exactly?

但是，如果已經有了地址，郵政編碼又有什麼意義呢？

Isn't this just, like, the address again?

這不就是那個地址嗎？

Kind of, yes, but also no, because there's two answers to why this, if also that.

有點像，是的，但也不是，因為有兩個答案可以解釋為什麼是這樣，如果也是那樣的話。

For the first, while every country has their own postcode particulars, to start simple, we're going to start with the states, who stick with just simple digits.

首先，每個國家都有自己的郵政編碼，為了簡單起見，我們先從各州開始，因為各州的郵政編碼只有簡單的數字。

But, does it a bit different by being the only one on Earth to call their code a zip code, along with the Philippines?

但是，作為地球上唯一一個與菲律賓一樣將自己的代碼稱為郵政編碼的國家，它是否有些與眾不同呢？

But, anyway, the usual way to describe how this five-digit code works is by starting with the first digit to divide America into ten zones.

但無論如何，描述這個五位數代碼如何工作的通常方法是從第一個數字開始，將美國分為十個區。

Beginning with New England as zero, and, oh, New Jersey, too?

從新英格蘭開始為零，哦，還有紐澤西？

Really, America?

真的嗎，美國？

There's a non-contiguous exception before we've even counted to one?

我們還沒數到一，就出現了一個不連續的例外情況？

So, New England-ish, I guess?

那麼，我猜是新英格蘭風格吧？

Oh, but also Puerto Rico?

哦，還有波多黎各？

And the Virgin Islands, only 7% of the Earth's circumference away?

而維爾京群島距離地球的周長只有 7%？

Well, that's quite the group to group together.

好吧，這組人還真不少。

We'll call it Greater Atlantia, I guess.

我們就叫它 "大亞特蘭蒂斯 "吧。

Moving on to number one, this contains the Keystone Empire, plus Delaware.

接下來是一號地區，包括基斯通帝國和特拉華州。

Two spans the North-South, three covers the Deep South, four stretches the Old Northwest, five reaches the Highland, six centers the Heartland, seven connects the Crossroads, eight rises the Mounted West, and nine claims everything else.

二是橫跨南北，三是覆蓋深南，四是延伸老西北，五是到達高地，六是中心地帶，七是連接十字路口，八是崛起西部騎兵，九是其他一切。

The West Coast, of course, and Alaska and Hawaii, as usual.

當然還有西海岸，以及阿拉斯加和夏威夷。

But also, don't forget American Samoa, Guam, and the CMNI, which make Greater Pacifica to Nearer Atlantia.

但也不要忘記美屬薩摩亞、關島和 CMNI，它們使大太平洋地區與近亞特蘭蒂斯地區相連。

So these are the ten regions told by the first digit of the zip code.

這就是根據郵政編碼的第一位數字劃分出的十個地區。

Digit two divides again, as in the Highlands, five.

第 2 位數字再次除以高地，即 5。

Five-nine for Montana, five-eight for Dakota, and seven for South.

蒙大拿州 5-9，達科塔州 5-8，南達科他州 7。

Though, with Minnesota, missed much more populous, digit two splits the state in twain.

雖然明尼蘇達州的人口要多得多，但數字 2 將該州一分為二。

In Iowa, even more.

在愛荷華州，甚至更多。

Five-oh, five-one, five-two.

五零，五一，五二

Now, you can make a map of America's zip digits one and two that looks like this.

現在，你可以把美國的 1 位和 2 位郵政編碼繪製成這樣一張地圖。

But it's not quite right, for the actual area the codes cover looks more like this, with lots of holes.

但這並不完全正確，因為代碼覆蓋的實際區域看起來更像這樣，有很多洞。

And, yes, that's a lot of overlap with the federal land map for the same reason.

是的，出於同樣的原因，這與聯邦土地地圖有很多重疊。

No one lives here.

沒有人住在這裡。

Parks, forests, deserts, no deliveries, no codes needed.

公園、森林、沙漠，無需送貨，無需密碼。

Yes, yes, you got there.

是的，是的，你說對了。

This means zip codes are doing something very different from, say, GPS codes, which can point to any place on Earth exactly.

這意味著郵政編碼的作用與 GPS 代碼截然不同，後者可以精確地指向地球上的任何地方。

Which is the clue that there's something strange about this map and the real way zip codes work.

這就說明，這張地圖和郵政編碼的真實工作方式有些奇怪。

But let's play pretend again and color the map back in.

不過，讓我們再裝裝樣子，給地圖塗上顏色吧。

Still, closer inspections shows, with the double digits, the map is all melty and pointy, with cross-border exceptions everywhere.

不過，仔細觀察就會發現，在兩位數的情況下，地圖上到處都是融化的、尖尖的，到處都有跨境的例外情況。

So what's happening here?

這裡發生了什麼？

Well, digit three reveals an even stranger map, with wild blobs of land that don't make any sense at all, because we've been trying to do this all wrong.

好吧，第三位數顯示的地圖更加奇怪，到處都是荒蕪的土地，根本沒有任何意義，因為我們一直想做的都是錯的。

These three digits don't mark out land.

這三個數字並沒有標出土地。

These digits mark out infrastructure.

這些數字標誌著基礎設施。

The zip code first three digits point to a specific big building, a sectional facility center, a belted behemoth bundling up all the mail it ingests for who?

郵政編碼的前三位數字指向一座特定的大建築，一個分區設施中心，一個捆綁著所有郵件的龐然大物，它為誰而收？

Not you, but to ship to all the post offices within its area of influence.

不是你，而是運往其影響範圍內的所有郵局。

So that's why this map is all melty, because the map isn't really real.

這就是為什麼這幅地圖會融化，因為這幅地圖並不真實。

Rather, there are sorting centers scattered strategically, each numbered, and each sorts the mail for the post offices it can reach efficiently.

相反，分揀中心分佈在各個戰略要地，每個分揀中心都有編號，每個分揀中心都為其能夠有效到達的郵局分揀郵件。

So, if you live on the edge of your state, but near another state's sorting center, your zip code follows the sorting code, not the state line.

是以，如果您住在本州的邊緣，但靠近另一個州的分揀中心，您的郵政編碼將跟隨分揀代碼，而不是州界。

So, much simplified, here's what happens when you mail a letter.

是以，簡單地說，寄信時會發生以下情況。

Digit the first sends it to a zone sorting center, which, when it arrives, is then sorted by digits the second and third to be sent to the sectional sorter, which, when it arrives there, is then again sorted by digits the fourth and the fifth to the local post office.

第一位數字將郵件送往分區分揀中心，到達後再由第二和第三位數字分揀，然後送往分區分揀機，到達後再由第四和第五位數字分揀，然後送往當地郵局。

And this is where Americans are vaguely aware they're supposed to include four more digits at the end of a zip code, but no one does, because America tried to bolt on the plus-four code long after her citizens had already learned that the first five alone would get the job done, and so didn't bother, with only the most postal perfectionists plus-fouring their packages.

美國人隱約意識到，郵政編碼末尾應該再加上四位數字，但沒人這麼做，因為美國人早就知道，只用前五位數字就能完成郵寄工作，所以就懶得再加了，只有最完美主義的郵政人員才會在包裹上加上 "加四"。

But, as a reward, they do get sorted and sent faster, because the final code is for the final sort at the final post office, onto final truck for the final delivery.

不過，作為獎勵，這些郵件的分揀和寄送速度確實更快了，因為最後的編碼是為了在最後的郵局進行最後的分揀，然後裝上最後的卡車進行最後的投遞。

And so, the greater geographical oddities of the zip code are less odd, because the zones aren't zones, they're the first step in sorting.

是以，郵政編碼的地理奇特性就不那麼奇特了，因為分區不是分區，而是分類的第一步。

A giant fork in the road.

一個巨大的岔路口

Greater Atlantia this way, everything else that way.

大亞特蘭蒂斯在這邊，其他地方都在那邊。

Then down the road, islands to the left, New England to the right.

然後沿路而下，左邊是島嶼，右邊是新英格蘭。

So the first answer to why this, if also this, is because the address is where to go, but the post code is how to get there.

所以，為什麼會這樣，如果也是這樣，第一個答案就是，因為地址是去哪裡，而郵政編碼是如何到達那裡。

The journey, not the destination.

旅程，而不是目的地。

And most countries' codes are built the same basic way.

大多數國家的法規都是以同樣的基本方式制定的。

Simple, human-readable directions left to right, more characters reveal more directions to get the letter closer to where it's going, and the address only needed after it's sorted into the truck and the destination within sight.

從左到右的方向簡單易讀，更多的字元顯示更多的方向，讓信件更接近目的地，而地址只需要在信件被分類裝入卡車，目的地就在眼前時才需要。

UK probably has the best version of this, adding letters to make sorting centers more memorable.

英國可能是這方面做得最好的國家，他們在分揀中心加入了字母，讓人更難忘。

Manchester gets all the M's, Oxford the O's, yo, York, lovely London, as capital, gets all the compass points.

曼徹斯特有所有的 "M"，牛津有 "O"，約克有 "Yo"，可愛的倫敦作為首都，有所有的羅盤點。

But the rest, simplified, is the same story.

但其餘的，簡化了的，都是同樣的故事。

The next digit sorts to a post office, and the last to a delivery route.

下一個數字表示郵局，最後一個數字表示投遞路線。

And because the UK code uses letters, and is longer than America's, UK codes can sort close enough to almost replace the address entirely.

由於英國的代碼使用字母，而且比美國的代碼長，是以英國代碼的排序幾乎可以完全取代地址。

In most cases, you could get away with just the code and the house number and still expect delivery.

在大多數情況下，您只需提供代碼和門牌號，就能指望送貨上門。

I mean, I don't live that dangerously, but I'm also the kind of person who writes plus four on my American Mail.

我的意思是，我的生活沒那麼危險，但我也是那種會在美國郵件上寫正四號的人。

But looking at this, it's kind of silly me, right?

但看看這個，我有點傻，對吧？

If an old post code can get this close on its own to replacing the address, if someone started over now, could it be done better?

如果一箇舊的郵政編碼都能如此接近於取代地址，如果現在有人重新開始，能做得更好嗎？

And that's exactly what Ireland thought.

愛爾蘭也正是這麼想的。

Hey guys, you know we've got GPS codes now, right?

夥計們，你們知道我們現在有 GPS 密碼了吧？

People don't want to write a long code like that.

人們不想寫那麼長的代碼。

Yeah, yeah.

是啊，是啊。

But also, this system was written for human sorters centuries ago.

不過，這個系統也是幾個世紀前為人類分揀員編寫的。

We've got giant sortatrons now.

我們現在有了巨型分揀機。

Who cares?

誰在乎呢？

We don't really need that.

我們真的不需要那個。

Wait, what are you doing?

等等，你在幹什麼？

I think I'm going to start over.

我想我要重新開始。

How?

怎麼做？

I'm going to go random.

我要隨機應變。

Which you did, dividing up the country intentionally, unmemorably.

你們就是這樣做的，蓄意分裂國家，令人難以忘懷。

Cork, your codes start with T12.

科克，你的代碼以 T12 開頭。

Limerick, V94.

利默里克，V94。

Waterford, X35.

沃特福德，X35。

That's horrifying, but I guess America's first digit is basically meaningless as well.

這太可怕了，但我想美國的第一位數字基本上也毫無意義。

But Ireland didn't stop there and went random all the way down, running like mad past every single point in the whole country where mail might be delivered to slap four more characters at complete random on the door.

但愛爾蘭並沒有就此罷休，而是一路狂奔，瘋狂地跑遍了全國每一個可能送信的地方，在門上又隨意地貼上了四個字元。

And it matters not at all, because Ireland created the codes for the giant sortatrons, who can read them and compare them to the big list of all codes in the country, where the last four, surprise, are a GPS code in disguise.

這一點也不重要，因為愛爾蘭為巨型分揀機創建了代碼，而巨型分揀機可以讀取這些代碼，並將它們與全國所有代碼的大列表進行比較，其中最後四個代碼竟然是偽裝的 GPS 代碼。

Which pinpoints the exact place the letter's supposed to land.

這就精確定位了字母的落點。

And since the sortatrons also know where all the mail trucks go, it's easy-peasy for the sorters to sort, while still being not too hard for the little humans to remember the little bitty codes to write on their pieces of paper to pass their notes back and forth.

由於分揀員也知道所有郵車的去向，所以分揀員分揀起來非常容易，同時也不難讓小人兒記住寫在紙片上的小代碼，以便來回傳遞紙條。

And the random postcodes has one more bonus.

隨機郵編還有一個好處。

In other countries, when towns grow or ghost, buildings divide or combine, countries that try to keep their codes in order-ish have to move the codes around to maintain that order-ish.

在其他國家，當城鎮發展或消亡，建築分化或合併時，試圖保持其規範有序的國家不得不將規範移動以維持這種有序。

And the poor humans with houses that haven't changed having to remember now that their new code is just a little different.

而那些房子沒變的可憐人，現在不得不記住他們的新代碼只是有點不同。

But not in Ireland, for there's no order to maintain at all.

但在愛爾蘭不是這樣，因為根本沒有秩序可言。

If your mailbox never moves, your code never changes.

如果你的郵箱從未移動過，你的代碼也不會改變。

That's the method to the madness.

這就是瘋狂的方法。

So, when Ireland asks herself why this, if also this, she found a new answer.

是以，當愛爾蘭問自己為什麼會這樣時，她找到了新的答案。

Make a postcode so precise it becomes the perfect address.

讓郵政編碼如此精確，成為完美的地址。

So while everywhere else you have to write both the destination and the journey, in Ireland you can write both, probably still should write both, but you don't have to because just the postcode alone will do.

是以，在其他地方，你必須同時寫上目的地和行程，而在愛爾蘭，你可以同時寫上目的地和行程，也許還是應該同時寫上目的地和行程，但你不必這樣做，因為只寫郵編就可以了。

This all looks quite complicated.

這一切看起來相當複雜。

Did you guys consider ever using just one postcode for your country?

你們有沒有考慮過只用一個郵政編碼來代表自己的國家？