【英语时差8,16】长久等待

 A long wait, on this Moment of Science.   You might have heard the old adage¹ that glass is a liquid, 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?

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

Well, sometimes little factoids like this get passed around that may or may not be accurate. So, to set the record straight, glass is indeed a very slow-moving liquid -- yep! -- given the standard definition of a liquid, which is something that takes the shape of its container. If you could wait a really, really long time, you might be able to watch a seemingly-solid piece of glass do this.

But it would take a lot more than a few centuries. 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! Those cathedral windows are probably thicker in some places just because of the crude methods used to form them.

So, yes, technically³ glass is a liquid, but no, you can't ever see it move. Unless you have a few billion years to kill.  

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。