TED演讲:为什么玻璃是透明的(1)

 　　Take a look out your window, put on your glasses if you wear them. 向窗外张望一下，有必要的话，戴上眼镜。

　　You might want to grab a pair of binoculars¹, too, or a magnifying lens. 也许你还想拿副望远镜或是放大镜。

　　Now, what do you see? 现在，你看到了什么

　　Well, whatever it is, it's not the multiple layers of glass right in front of you. 无论你看到了什么答案，都可能不是那一层层近在咫尺的玻璃。

　　But have you ever wondered how something so solid can be so invisible? 但是你是否想知道，为什么有如此固态的东西却看不见呢？

　　To understand that, we have to understand what glass actually is, and where it comes from. 要明白这点，我们首先要知道玻璃究竟是什么，以及它是怎样形成的。

　　It all begins in the Earth's crust, where the two most common elements are silicon² and oxygen. 所有一切都始于地壳在它其中最基本的两种元素：硅和氧。

　　These react together to form silicon dioxide, 它们相互作用形成二氧化硅，

　　whose molecules³ arrange themselves into a regular crystalline form known as quartz⁴. 二氧化物的分子自动排列形成晶体状物，被称为石英。

　　Quartz is commonly found in sand, where it often makes up most of the grains and is the main ingredient in most type of glass. 石英通常在沙中被发现，沙大多由颗粒组成，而颗粒是多数玻璃的主要原料。

　　Of course, you probably noticed that glass isn't made of multiple tiny bits of quartz, and for good reason 当然，你可能注意到玻璃并不是由许多石英粒组成的，这点显而易见。

　　For one thing, the edges of the rigidly⁵ formed grains and smaller defects 一方面，晶体结构内部严格形成的颗粒边缘或者很小的瑕疵

　　within the crystal structure reflect and disperse⁶ light that hits them 反射及散射照向它们的光。

　　But when the quartz is heated high enough the extra energy makes the molecules vibrate until they break the bonds holding them together 但是当石英加热到足够热时，产生的热量就会让分子产生震动直到它们打破以前的链结，

　　and become a flowing liquid, the same way that ice melts into water. 进而形成流动的液体，就和冰融化成水一样。

　　Unlike water, though, liquid silicon dioxide does not reform into a crystal solid when it cools 但是和水不同的是，液态的二氧化硅冷却之后不会形成固态晶体。

　　Instead, as the molecules lose energy, 相反，当分子失去能量后，

　　they are less and less able to move into an ordered position, and the result is what is called an amorphous⁷ solid. 它们就更不2太可能移动形成一个有秩序的状态，这样的结果就是人们所说的非晶型固体。

　　A solid material with the chaotic⁸ structure of a liquid,  一种具有混乱液体结构的固态物质

　　which allows the molecules to freely fill in any gaps. 使得分子可以自由填补任何缝隙。

　　This makes the surface of glass uniform on a microscopic⁹ level, 这样就让玻璃表面在微观层面上是一致的，

　　allowing light to strike it without being scattered¹⁰ in different directions. 光可以穿透它但不会散射出去。

1 binoculars   

n.双筒望远镜

参考例句：

• He watched the play through his binoculars.他用双筒望远镜看戏。
• If I had binoculars,I could see that comet clearly.如果我有望远镜，我就可以清楚地看见那颗彗星。

2 silicon   

n.硅(旧名矽)

参考例句：

• This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
• A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。

3 molecules   

分子( molecule的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The structure of molecules can be seen under an electron microscope. 分子的结构可在电子显微镜下观察到。
• Inside the reactor the large molecules are cracked into smaller molecules. 在反应堆里，大分子裂变为小分子。

4 quartz   

n.石英

参考例句：

• There is a great deal quartz in those mountains.那些山里蕴藏着大量石英。
• The quartz watch keeps good time.石英表走时准。

5 rigidly   

adv.刻板地，僵化地

参考例句：

• Life today is rigidly compartmentalized into work and leisure. 当今的生活被严格划分为工作和休闲两部分。
• The curriculum is rigidly prescribed from an early age. 自儿童时起即已开始有严格的课程设置。

6 disperse   

vi.使分散；使消失；vt.分散；驱散

参考例句：

• The cattle were swinging their tails to disperse the flies.那些牛甩动着尾巴驱赶苍蝇。
• The children disperse for the holidays.孩子们放假了。

7 amorphous   

adj.无定形的

参考例句：

• There was a weakening of the intermolecular bonds,primarily in the amorphous region of the polymer.分子间键合减弱，尤其在聚合物的无定形区内更为明显。
• It is an amorphous colorless or white powder.它是一种无定形的无色或白色粉末。

8 chaotic   

adj.混沌的，一片混乱的，一团糟的

参考例句：

• Things have been getting chaotic in the office recently.最近办公室的情况越来越乱了。
• The traffic in the city was chaotic.这城市的交通糟透了。

9 microscopic   

adj.微小的，细微的，极小的，显微的

参考例句：

• It's impossible to read his microscopic handwriting.不可能看清他那极小的书写字迹。
• A plant's lungs are the microscopic pores in its leaves.植物的肺就是其叶片上微细的气孔。

10 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。