万物简史 第277期:砰!(12)

 　　This involved bombarding samples with neutrons¹ in a small nuclear reactor² and carefully counting the gamma rays that were emitted; 这项技术包括在一个小型核反应堆里用中子轰击样品，仔细计算释放出来的γ射线。

　　it was extremely finicky work. 那是一项要求极高的工作。

　　Previously³ Asaro had used the technique to analyze⁴ pieces of pottery⁵, but Alvarez reasoned  阿萨罗以前用这种技术分析过几块陶瓷。阿尔瓦雷斯认为，

　　that if they measured the amount of one of the exotic elements in his son's soil samples and compared that with its annual rate of deposition⁶, 要是他们能测定他儿子的土样中的一种外来元素的含量，再把那个含量与那种元素每年的沉积率进行比较，

　　they would know how long it had taken the samples to form. 他们就可以知道那个样品是花了多长时间形成的。

　　On an October afternoon in 1977, Luis and Walter Alvarez dropped in on Asaro and asked him if he would run the necessary tests for them. 1977年10月的一天下午，路易斯·阿尔瓦雷斯和沃尔特·阿尔瓦雷斯前去拜访阿萨罗，问他能不能为他们做几项必不可少的试验。

　　It was really quite a presumptuous⁷ request. 这个请求确实有点唐突。

　　They were asking Asaro to devote months to making the most painstaking⁸ measurements of geological samples 他们是在让阿萨罗花几个月的时间来对地质样品做最悉心的测定，

　　merely to confirm what seemed entirely⁹ self-evident to begin with—that the thin layer of clay had been formed as quickly as its thinness suggested. 仅仅为了证实一件从一开头似乎就不言而喻的事──从其薄薄的程度看出，这层黏土是短时间内形成的。

　　Certainly no one expected his survey to yield any dramatic breakthroughs. 当然，谁也没有指望这次研究会取得任何突破性的成果。

　　Well, they were very charming, very persuasive¹⁰, Asaro recalled in an interview in 2002. “哎呀，他们很讨人喜欢，很有说服力。”阿萨罗在2002年的一次采访中回忆说，

　　"And it seemed an interesting challenge, so I agreed to try. “这似乎是个很有意思的挑战，因此我答应试一试。

　　Unfortunately, I had a lot of other work on, so it was eight months before I could get to it." 不幸的是，我手头有好多别的事，因此过了8个月才着手这项工作。”

　　He consulted his notes from the period. 他查了查这段时间的笔记，

　　"On June 21, 1978, at 1:45 p.m., we put a sample in the detector¹¹. “1978年6月21日下午1时45分，我们把一份样品放进检测器。

　　It ran for 224 minutes and we could see we were getting interesting results, so we stopped it and had a look." 机器转了224分钟，我们看得出正取得很有意思的结果，于是就关上机器看一眼。”

1 neutrons   

n.中子( neutron的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The neutrons and protons form the core of the atom. 中子和质子构成了原子核。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• When an atom of U235 is split,several neutrons are set free. 一个铀235原子分裂时，释放出几个中子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 reactor   

n.反应器；反应堆

参考例句：

• The atomic reactor generates enormous amounts of thermal energy.原子反应堆发出大量的热能。
• 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。

3 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

4 analyze   

vt.分析，解析 (=analyse)

参考例句：

• We should analyze the cause and effect of this event.我们应该分析这场事变的因果。
• The teacher tried to analyze the cause of our failure.老师设法分析我们失败的原因。

5 pottery   

n.陶器，陶器场

参考例句：

• My sister likes to learn art pottery in her spare time.我妹妹喜欢在空余时间学习陶艺。
• The pottery was left to bake in the hot sun.陶器放在外面让炎热的太阳烘晒焙干。

6 deposition   

n.免职，罢官；作证；沉淀；沉淀物

参考例句：

• It was this issue which led to the deposition of the king.正是这件事导致了国王被废黜。
• This leads to calcium deposition in the blood-vessels.这导致钙在血管中沉积。

7 presumptuous   

adj.胆大妄为的，放肆的，冒昧的，冒失的

参考例句：

• It would be presumptuous for anybody to offer such a view.任何人提出这种观点都是太放肆了。
• It was presumptuous of him to take charge.他自拿主张，太放肆了。

8 painstaking   

adj.苦干的；艰苦的，费力的，刻苦的

参考例句：

• She is not very clever but she is painstaking.她并不很聪明，但肯下苦功夫。
• Through years of our painstaking efforts,we have at last achieved what we have today.大家经过多少年的努力，才取得今天的成绩。

9 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

10 persuasive   

adj.有说服力的，能说得使人相信的

参考例句：

• His arguments in favour of a new school are very persuasive.他赞成办一座新学校的理由很有说服力。
• The evidence was not really persuasive enough.证据并不是太有说服力。

11 detector   

n.发觉者，探测器

参考例句：

• The detector is housed in a streamlined cylindrical container.探测器安装在流线型圆柱形容器内。
• Please walk through the metal detector.请走过金属检测器。