万物简史 第341期:孤独的行星(6)

 　　However, when at length they emerged into the fresh air of a London evening, 然而，当他们最后走进伦敦夜晚的新鲜空气里的时候，

　　the bubbles sprang instantly to fizziness, memorably¹ enlivening the digestive process. 气泡立刻泛起泡沫，恢复了大家的食欲。

　　Apart from avoiding high-pressure environments altogether, only two strategies are reliably successful against the bends. 除了避免高压环境以外，有两种办法可以万无一失地防止减压病。

　　The first is to suffer only a very short exposure to the changes in pressure. 一种是仅仅短时间接触气压变化。

　　That is why the free divers² I mentioned earlier can descend³ to depths of five hundred feet without ill effect. 因此，我上面提到的裸潜者可以钻到150米的深处而又不会有不舒服的感觉。

　　They don't stay under long enough for the nitrogen in their system to dissolve into their tissues. 他们在下面逗留的时间不长，体内的氮还来不及溶解到组织里。

　　The other solution is to ascend⁴ by careful stages. 另一种办法是小心地、逐步地回到水面，

　　This allows the little bubbles of nitrogen to dissipate harmlessly. 这么做就使得小小的氮气泡散逸，不造成伤害。

　　A great deal of what we know about surviving at extremes is owed to the extraordinary father-and-son team of John Scott and J. B. S. Haldane. 很大程度上多亏了一个杰出的父子小组，我们现在很懂得如何在极端的环境里生存下去。他们是约翰·斯科特·霍尔丹和J.B.S.霍尔丹。

　　Even by the demanding standards of British intellectuals, the Haldanes were outstandingly eccentric. 即使按照英国知识界很严格的标准来说，霍尔丹父子也是极其古怪的。

　　The senior Haldane was born in 1860 to an aristocratic Scottish family (his brother was Viscount Haldane) 老霍尔丹1860年生于苏格兰一个贵族家庭（他的哥哥是霍尔丹子爵），

　　but spent most of his career in comparative modesty⁵ as a professor of physiology⁶ at Oxford⁷.  但他的一生的大部分时间在牛津大学担任生理学教授，过得比较检束。

　　He was famously absent-minded. 他精力不集中是有名的。

　　Once after his wife had sent him upstairs to change for a dinner party he failed to return and was discovered asleep in bed in his pajamas⁸. 有一次，他的妻子打发他去楼上换衣服准备出席一个晚宴，怎么也不见他下来，结果发现他穿着睡衣躺在床上睡着了。

　　When roused, Haldane explained that he had found himself disrobing and assumed it was bedtime. 被唤醒以后，霍尔丹解释说，他发现自己在脱衣服，以为到了睡觉时间。

1 memorably   

难忘的

参考例句：

• The book includes some memorably seedy characters and scabrous description. 这本书包含了一些难忘下流的角色及有伤风化的描述。 来自互联网
• Horowitz could play Chopin memorably. 霍洛维茨可以把肖邦的作品演奏得出神入化。 来自互联网

2 divers   

adj.不同的；种种的

参考例句：

• He chose divers of them,who were asked to accompany him.他选择他们当中的几个人，要他们和他作伴。
• Two divers work together while a standby diver remains on the surface.两名潜水员协同工作，同时有一名候补潜水员留在水面上。

3 descend   

vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降

参考例句：

• I hope the grace of God would descend on me.我期望上帝的恩惠。
• We're not going to descend to such methods.我们不会沦落到使用这种手段。

4 ascend   

vi.渐渐上升，升高；vt.攀登，登上

参考例句：

• We watched the airplane ascend higher and higher.我们看着飞机逐渐升高。
• We ascend in the order of time and of development.我们按时间和发展顺序向上溯。

5 modesty   

n.谦逊，虚心，端庄，稳重，羞怯，朴素

参考例句：

• Industry and modesty are the chief factors of his success.勤奋和谦虚是他成功的主要因素。
• As conceit makes one lag behind,so modesty helps one make progress.骄傲使人落后，谦虚使人进步。

6 physiology   

n.生理学，生理机能

参考例句：

• He bought a book about physiology.他买了一本生理学方面的书。
• He was awarded the Nobel Prize for achievements in physiology.他因生理学方面的建树而被授予诺贝尔奖。

7 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

8 pajamas   

n.睡衣裤

参考例句：

• At bedtime,I take off my clothes and put on my pajamas.睡觉时，我脱去衣服，换上睡衣。
• He was wearing striped pajamas.他穿着带条纹的睡衣裤。