英语听力文摘 English Digest 667 火柴

 　　Matches

　　Striking¹ matches, on this Moment of Science.

　　Have you ever had a problem getting a match to light? If so, you might be using the wrong type of match. There are actually two different types of matches: safety matches and strike-anywhere matches.

　　Safety

　　Safety matches are the kind that light only when struck on the striking surface on the side of a matchbox. A striking surface consists of sand, powdered glass, and a chemical called red phosphorus. The tip of a safety match is made of glass powder, sulfur², and an oxidizing agent–a chemical necessary to keep a flame burning.

　　When a safety match scrapes³ against a striking surface, the glass powder on the striking surface and match head rub⁴ together, creating enough heat to turn a bit of the red phosphorus on the striking surface into white phosphorus. The white phosphorus ignites⁵ in air, passing ignition across to the match head.

　　Chemical Reaction

　　This starts a chemical reaction that uses the oxidizing agent on the match to produce oxygen gas. Combined with the heat, the oxygen gas causes the sulfur to catch fire, which then spreads to the wood of the match. A strike anywhere match works⁶ almost the same way, except the red phosphorus is included in the match head. So, a strike anywhere match can be lit by striking the match against any hard surface.

1 striking   

adj.显著的，惹人注目的，容貌出众的

参考例句：

• There is a striking difference between Jane and Mary.简和玛丽之间有显著的差异。
• What is immediately striking is how resourceful the children are.最令人注目的是孩子们的机智聪明。

2 sulfur   

n.硫，硫磺（=sulphur）

参考例句：

• Sulfur emissions from steel mills become acid rain.炼钢厂排放出的硫形成了酸雨。
• Burning may produce sulfur oxides.燃烧可能会产生硫氧化物。

3 scrapes   

n.擦痕( scrape的名词复数 )；困境v.刮( scrape的第三人称单数 )；艰难取得；挖洞；把头发拢在后面

参考例句：

• How did you get a few scrapes on your knee? 你膝盖上的几处擦伤是怎么弄的？ 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She gets into these silly scrapes because she doesn't think before she acts. 她在行动之前总不思考，所以才会陷入这种荒唐的窘境。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 rub   

n.摩擦，困难，障碍，难点，磨损处；vt.擦，搓，摩擦，惹怒；vi.摩擦，擦破

参考例句：

• Don't let the wire rub up against the pipe.别让电线碰到管子上。
• He used to rub up against many famous movie stars.他过去经常偶然碰到许多有名的影星。

5 ignites   

点燃，引发( ignite的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Gas ignites very easily. 汽油易燃。
• The rock and roll ignites the excitement of the audience. 摇滚乐激起了观众的热情。

6 works   

n.作品，著作；工厂，活动部件，机件

参考例句：

• We expect writers to produce more and better works.我们期望作家们写出更多更好的作品。
• The novel is regarded as one of the classic works.这篇小说被公认为是最优秀的作品之一。