Howard:Sheldon, if you were a robot, and I knew and you didn’t... ...would you want me to tell you?
Sheldon :That depends. When I learn that I’m a robot... will I be able to handle it?
Howard:Maybe-- although the history of science fiction is not on your side(1).
Sheldon :Okay, let me ask you this-- when I learn that I’m a robot, would I be bound by(2) Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics(3)?
Raj:You might be bound by them right now.
Howard:That’s true.Have you ever harmed a human being or through inaction(4) allowed a human being to come to harm?
Sheldon :Of course not.
Howard:Have you ever harmed yourself or allowed yourself to be harmed except in cases where a human being would have been endangered?
Sheldon : Well, no.
Howard:I smell robot.
1. be on one’s side
【釋】支持某人(的觀點)(改編自海詞,下同)
【例】I was not on his side in the discussion.
在討論中,我不支持他的觀點。
2.be bound by
【釋】受...約束(海詞,下同)
【例】But if we are bound by the past , we will never move forward .
但我們若甘于被過去束縛,就永遠無法前進。
3.Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics
【釋】阿西莫夫的機器人三定律
4.inaction
【釋】不活動,無為,怠惰。(海詞)這里譯為袖手旁觀
【例】The police were accused of inaction in the face of a possible attack.(牛津高階)
警察被指控在面對一個可能的攻擊時袖手旁觀。