万物简史 第169期:爱因斯坦的宇宙(12)

 　　His famous equation, E =mc 2 , did not appear with the paper, but came in a brief supplement that followed a few months later. As you will recall from school days, E in the equation stands for energy, m for mass, and c 2 for the speed of light squared.

　　他著名的等式E=mc^2在这篇论文中没有出现，但出现在几个月以后的一篇短小的补充里。你可以回忆一下学校里学过的东西，等式中的E代表能量，m代表质量，c^2代表光速的平方。

　　爱因斯坦拉小提琴

　　In simplest terms, what the equation says is that mass and energy have an equivalence. They are two forms of the same thing: energy is liberated¹ matter; matter is energy waiting to happen. Since c 2 (the speed of light times itself) is a truly enormous number, what the equation is saying is that there is a huge amount—a really huge amount—of energy bound up in every material thing.

　　用最简单的话来说，这个等式的意思是：质量和能量是等价的。它们是同一东西的两种形式：能量是获释的质量；质量是等待获释的能量。由于c^2（光速的平方）是个大得不得了的数字，这个等式意味着，每个物体里都包含着极其大量——真正极其大量——的能量。

1 liberated   

a.无拘束的，放纵的

参考例句：

• The city was liberated by the advancing army. 军队向前挺进，解放了那座城市。
• The heat brings about a chemical reaction, and oxygen is liberated. 热量引起化学反应，释放出氧气。