【英语时差8,16】一天中最冷的时候

 Don: Anyone with the gumption¹ to be up before dawn will tell you that when those first rays of light come over the horizon after a clear night, it gets warmer, and...

Yael: Don?

D: Uh, Yael. I'm trying to do a radio program here..

Y: Yes, but when the sun first rises it doesn't get warmer right away.

D: I-it doesn't.

Y: No, it actually feels colder. In fact, barring any storm fronts, the coldest time of day is sometime just after dawn.

D: It is?

Y: See, the sun is kind of like a microwave and the ground is kind of like a frozen² TV dinner.

D: Okay. I like dinner. Go on.

Y: The earth absorbs some heat from the atmosphere during the night. Sort of like putting your dinner out to thaw³, but during the day, the sun acts like a microwave and quickly heats up the ground. Once the sun sets, the ground cools off by radiating⁴ heat out to the atmosphere and some escapes into space. Just as when the microwave stops, your dinner starts to cool down.

D: That makes sense.

Y: At dawn, the first rays of sunshine are weak. It takes time for the incoming radiation from the sun to counteract⁵ the rate that the ground is losing heat. Contrary to what you might think, that means the temperatures are coldest after dawn. It doesn't get warmer until the sun is stronger and the ground starts to absorb heat again.

D: So it's like if I put my frozen dinner in the microwave for, say, 20 seconds, it's still frozen. It takes the microwave time to warm up your dinner enough to unfreeze it.

Y: Exactly.

D: I think I'm hungry. Let's go eat.

1 gumption   

n.才干

参考例句：

• With his gumption he will make a success of himself.凭他的才干，他将大有作为。
• Surely anyone with marketing gumption should be able to sell good books at any time of year.无疑，有经营头脑的人在一年的任何时节都应该能够卖掉好书。

2 frozen   

adj.冻结的，冰冻的

参考例句：

• He was frozen to death on a snowing night.在一个风雪的晚上，他被冻死了。
• The weather is cold and the ground is frozen.天寒地冻。

3 thaw   

v.（使）融化，（使）变得友善；n.融化，缓和

参考例句：

• The snow is beginning to thaw.雪已开始融化。
• The spring thaw caused heavy flooding.春天解冻引起了洪水泛滥。

4 radiating   

发射出（光、热等）( radiate的现在分词 )； （使品质或情感）显出，流露； 射出，向四周伸出； 散热

参考例句：

• Aunt Zhang, her face radiating happiness, stood at the door waiting for her daughter-in-law who was coming from town. 张大娘春风满面地站在大门口，等待从城里来的儿媳妇。
• The rice-size pellets will remain there permanently, radiating his tumor from inside. 那些米粒大小的弹丸将永久留在前列腺内，对肿瘤进行放射治疗。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 癌症与艾滋病

5 counteract   

vt.对…起反作用，对抗，抵消

参考例句：

• The doctor gave him some medicine to counteract the effect of the poison.医生给他些药解毒。
• Our work calls for mutual support.We shouldn't counteract each other's efforts.工作要互相支持，不要互相拆台。