【英语采访】埃隆•马斯克的泪崩时刻（文稿+解析）

60 Minutes 专访马斯克对话稿英文版


Scott Pelley: Is what we are experiencing, at this moment in time, the turning point（转折点） in man&`&s reach for space? Going from governments to private companies like yours?


Elon Musk: I think we&`&re at the dawn of a new era and it&`&s-- I think it&`&s going to be very exciting. What we&`&re hoping to do with Space X is to push the envelope （挑战极限）and provide a reason for people to be excited and inspired to be human.

Musk is 40 years old, a naturalized merican citizen（入籍美国公民）, and reportedly worth nearly $2 billion. He isn't your typical corporate CEO. As a teenager, he wrote computer games in his native South Africa before immigrating to the U.S. - and to Silicon Valley（硅谷） where he was one of the most successful Internet entrepreneurs（企业家） - the cofounder of PayPal.

Despite a chorus of skeptics（众人的不看好）, Musk built a car company called Tesla that turns out 5,000 high-end, all electric cars a year. Another Musk company sells solar power systems. But his lifelong passion is space. And when eBay bought PayPal in 2002, Musk started looking for ways to launch his new fortune into orbit (轨道).

Elon Musk: The odds（几率） of me coming into the rocket business, not knowing anything about rockets, not having ever built anything, I mean, I would have to be insane if I thought the odds are in my favor（有胜算）.

Scott Pelley: Why even begin?

Elon Musk: When something is important enough you do it even if the odds are not in your favor.

Scott Pelley: How much of your personal fortune have you poured into this?

Elon Musk: $100 million.

Scott Pelley: And $100 million into something that you did not believe would work at the beginning?

Elon Musk: Yes.

Musk truly believes - that low-cost space exploration is essential（必要的） to the survival of mankind.

Musk has college degrees（学位）in business and physics, but SpaceX is his first venture（创业） in aerospace（航空）. He bills（宣布） himself as chief designer and chief technology officer.

Scott Pelley: How did you get the expertise（专业知识） to be the chief technology officer of a rocket ship company?

Elon Musk: Well, I do have a physics background. That's helpful as a foundation（基础）. And then I read a lot of books and talked to a lot of, a lot of smart people.

Scott Pelley: You're self-taught（自学）?

Elon Musk: Yeah. Well, I-- self-taught, yes, meaning I didn't, I don't have an aerospace degree.

Scott Pelley: So, how did you go about acquiring（获得） the knowledge?

Elon Musk: I read a lot of books, talked to a lot of people, and have a great team.

His "team" is a mixture: there are newcomers -- mostly 30-something engineers, some of them straight out of college（刚大学毕业） -- and then there are the skilled technicians and aero space veterans（退役员）.

Musk has college degrees（学位）in business and physics, but SpaceX is his first venture（创业） in aerospace（航空）. He bills（宣布） himself as chief designer and chief technology officer.

Scott Pelley: How did you get the expertise（专业知识） to be the chief technology officer of a rocket ship company?

Elon Musk: Well, I do have a physics background. That's helpful as a foundation（基础）. And then I read a lot of books and talked to a lot of, a lot of smart people.

Scott Pelley: You're self-taught（自学）?

Elon Musk: Yeah. Well, I-- self-taught, yes, meaning I didn't, I don't have an aerospace degree.

Scott Pelley: So, how did you go about acquiring（获得） the knowledge?

Elon Musk: I read a lot of books, talked to a lot of people, and have a great team.

His "team" is a mixture: there are newcomers -- mostly 30-something engineers, some of them straight out of college（刚大学毕业） -- and then there are the skilled technicians and aero space veterans（退役员）.

Scott Pelley: Do you believe that your rocket will be the next American rocket to take an astronaut into space?

Elon Musk: I believe that is the most likely outcome（结果）, yes.

That sort of confidence has not exactly endeared（使被看好） him to the space establishment or to his competitors.

Scott Pelley: There are people who've been in the rocketry business for decades who say about you that you don't know what you don't know.

Elon Musk: Well, if-- I suppose that's true of anyone. How can anyone know what they don't know?

Scott Pelley: But when critics say, "You can't do this," your answer to them is?

Elon Musk: We've done it.

Scott Pelley: You know, there are American heroes who don't like this idea?

Elon Musk: I--

Scott Pelley: Neil Armstrong（首位登月宇航员）--

Elon Musk: Yeah--

Scott Pelley: --Gene Cernan（NASA前宇航员） have both testified against（指证反对） commercial space flight（太空旅行商业化） and the way that you're developing it, and I wonder what you think of that.

Elon Musk: I was very sad to see that because those guys are-- yeah. You know, those guys are heroes of mine, so it's really tough. You know, I wish they would come and visit, and see the hard work that we're doing here. And I think that would change their mind.

Scott Pelley: They inspired you to do this, didn't they?

Elon Musk: Yes.

Scott Pelley: And to see them casting stones in your direction?

Elon Musk: Difficult.

Scott Pelley: Did you expect them to cheer you on（声援，鼓励）?

Elon Musk: Certainly hoping they would.

Scott Pelley: What are you trying to prove to them?

Elon Musk: What I'm trying to do is to make a significant difference in space flight, and help make space flight accessible （可行的）to almost anyone. And I would hope for as much support in that direction as we, as we can receive.

Elon Musk: I'm probably not the guy that most people would bet on（押赌注）. Usually--

Scott Pelley: Who wins?

Elon Musk: It's like a little kid fighting a bunch of sumo wrestlers（相扑运动员）. Usually, the sumo wrestlers win. We're a little scrappy（斗志旺盛的） company. Every now and again, the little scrappy company wins. And I think this'll be one of those times.