纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 062希伯来星盘（3）

 

"Little Lewis, I have perceived well thy ability to learn sciences touching¹ numbers and proportions, and I have also considered thy earnest prayer specially² to learn the treatise³ of the astrolabe. Here is an astrolabe of our horizon, and a little treatise to teach a certain number of conclusions appertaining to the same instrument.

"Trust well that all the conclusions that can be found, or else possibly might be found, in so noble an instrument as an astrolabe, are not perfectly⁴ understood by any mortal man in this region, and I have seen that there be some instructions that will not in all things deliver their intended results; and some of them be too hard for thy tender age of ten year to understand."

I have to say that I find it as difficult to grapple with an astrolabe as little Lewis at the age of ten. It is so fiendishly clever and complicated in its structure, and it contains so much information, that it would take me the whole of this programme to describe it fully⁵. So what follows is very summary indeed.

小刘易斯，我已经十分了解你学习数字与比例方面科学知识的能力，我也知道你有多渴望掌握星盘知识。送你一块我们所处地区使用的星盘，并附上一则总结使?用要点的说明。

你要相信，关于星盘这样高贵的仪器，目前所总结出的知识以及未来可能会得出的结论在我们这个地区没有人能够完全掌握。我也看过一些使用说明，但按上面的步骤操作完全得不到预期的结果。其中有一些对十岁的你来说也未免太费解.…

1 touching   

adj.动人的，使人感伤的

参考例句：

• It was a touching sight.这是一幅动人的景象。
• His letter was touching.他的信很感人。

2 specially   

adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地

参考例句：

• They are specially packaged so that they stack easily.它们经过特别包装以便于堆放。
• The machine was designed specially for demolishing old buildings.这种机器是专为拆毁旧楼房而设计的。

3 treatise   

n.专著；(专题)论文

参考例句：

• The doctor wrote a treatise on alcoholism.那位医生写了一篇关于酗酒问题的论文。
• This is not a treatise on statistical theory.这不是一篇有关统计理论的论文。

4 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

5 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。