时差N小时 长久等待

A long wait, on this Moment of Science.

本期《科学一刻》将和您聊聊长久等待。

You might have heard the old adage¹ that glass is a liquid,

你可能听老话讲玻璃是一种液体,

and if you go over to Europe and look at the stained glass windows in the cathedrals, you'll find them thicker on the bottom than the top because they are gradually spilling out. Is this true?

如果你看过欧洲教堂的彩色玻璃窗,你会发现底部的玻璃要比顶部厚,因为它们正在逐渐变形。这是真的吗?

Before we answer that one, let's take a second to think about what a cool image that is.

在回答这个问题之前,让我们首先花几秒钟时间思考一个很酷的情景。

Maybe if you lived for centuries instead of years, you could sit around and watch glass pour the way we watch molasses ooze² out of a jar.

也许如果你生活了几个世纪,而不是几年,那样的话你就可以坐在那里,看玻璃就像我们看糖蜜从罐子里洒出来一样。

Well, sometimes little factoids like this get passed around that may or may not be accurate.

嗯,有时这样的小趣闻会传达亦真亦假的信息。

So, to set the record straight, glass is indeed a very slow-moving liquid-yep!

所以，正确来讲,玻璃的确是一种流动非常缓慢的液体—是的!

given the standard definition of a liquid, which is something that takes the shape of its container.

再考虑到液体是能盛下容器的形状的标准定义。

If you could wait a really, really long time, you might be able to watch a seemingly-solid piece of glass do this.

如果你可以等上非常非常长的时间,你可以看到片状固体的玻璃。

But it would take a lot more than a few centuries.

但需要超过几个世纪的时间。

In fact, a recent study by Edgar Zanotto in the American Journal of Physics showed that the amount of time you'd have to wait to see glass change its shape with the naked eye would be longer than the age of the universe!

事实上,埃德加·赞诺托最近发表在《美国物理学杂志》的一项研究表示你用肉眼等待玻璃改变其形状的时间会超过宇宙的年龄!

Those cathedral windows are probably thicker in some places just because of the crude methods used to form them.

那些在某些地方教堂的窗户可能会很厚，只是因为早先是用原油制成。

So, yes, technically³ glass is a liquid, but no, you can't ever see it move.

所以,是的,技术上讲玻璃是一种液体,但你却看不到它流动。

Unless you have a few billion years.

除非你愿意花上几十亿年时间。

1 adage   

n.格言，古训

参考例句：

• But the old adage that men grow into office has not proved true in my experience.但是，根据我的经验，人们所谓的工作岗位造就人材这句古话并不正确。
• Her experience lends credence to the adage " We live and learn!"她的经验印证了一句格言: 活到老，学到老！

2 ooze   

n.软泥，渗出物；vi.渗出，泄漏；vt.慢慢渗出，流露

参考例句：

• Soon layer of oceanic ooze began to accumulate above the old hard layer.不久后海洋软泥层开始在老的硬地层上堆积。
• Drip or ooze systems are common for pot watering.滴灌和渗灌系统一般也用于盆栽灌水。

3 technically   

adv.专门地，技术上地

参考例句：

• Technically it is the most advanced equipment ever.从技术上说，这是最先进的设备。
• The tomato is technically a fruit,although it is eaten as a vegetable.严格地说，西红柿是一种水果，尽管它是当作蔬菜吃的。