How Much Is a Trillion

How much is a trillion? Written by John Roussel.

一万亿是多少呀？ 作者：约翰·鲁塞尔

Really big numbers. What's the biggest number you can think of? 100? 1000? 10 ,000? We use special words such as million, billion, and trillion to talk about really big numbers. But what do these words mean? And what do a million, a billion, and a trillion look like?

超大的数字。 你能想到的最大的数字是什么呀？100？1000？ 10000？ 我们会用百万、十亿、万亿这类特殊的词汇来描述那些非常大的数字。 可是这些词是什么意思呢？ 那一百万、十亿、一万亿又分别是什么概念呀？

Hide and seek. Have you ever played the game of hide and seek? In hide and seek, one person counts up to a number while everyone else hides. But some numbers are so big that you couldn't count up to them in your whole lifetime.

捉迷藏。 你有没有玩过捉迷藏游戏呀？ 玩捉迷藏的时候，一个人负责数数字，其他人都躲起来。 不过有些数字实在太大了，你一辈子都数不完哦。

How much is a million? We write 1 million as a 1 followed by six zeros, like this, 1 ,000 ,000. Do you know how much a million is? Some of the world's largest cities have millions of people living in them. If you are lucky, you might win a million dollars in a lottery.

一百万是多少呀？ 我们写一百万的时候，会在1后面加六个0，就像这样：1,000,000。 你知道一百万是什么概念吗？ 世界上有些超大城市里住着好几百万居民哦。 运气好的话，你说不定能中彩票赢一百万美金呢。

I've told you a million times. Maybe you think your parents have told you to clean your room a million times, but have they really? Let's say that every day your parents tell you ten times to clean your room. You would be over 273 years old before they told you for the millionth time.

我都跟你说过一百万次了。 说不定你觉得爸妈已经催过你一百万次收拾房间了， 可他们真的有说过那么多次吗？ 假设你爸妈每天催你十次收拾房间， 那要等你活到273岁的时候，他们才会说到第一百万次哦。

A million pennies. Imagine a jar with 1 ,000 pennies in it. Now imagine 1 ,000 jars, each with 1 ,000 pennies inside. That's a million pennies.

一百万枚便士。 想象一下，有个罐子里面装了1000枚便士。 现在再想象有1000个这样的罐子，每个里面都装了1000枚便士。 那加起来就是一百万枚便士啦。