万物简史 第5期:引言(5)

 　　"My own starting point, for what it's worth, was an illustrated¹ science book that I had as a classroom text when I was in the fourth or fifth grade.

　　我写本书的最初灵感，不管其价值如何，来自我在念小学四、五年级时有过的一本科普读物。

　　The book was a standard-issue 1950s schoolbook, battered², unloved, grimly hefty-but near the front it had an illustration that just captivated me:

　　那是20世纪50年代学校发的一本教科书--乍一看去，皱皱巴巴，招人生厌，又笨又重--但书的前几页有一幅插图，一下子把我迷住了：

　　a cutaway diagram showing the Earth's interior as it would look if you cut into the planet with a large knife一幅剖面图，显示地球的内部，样子就像你拿起一把大刀，切到行星里面，and carefully withdrew a wedge representing about a quarter of its bulk.

　　然后小心翼翼地取出一块楔形物，代表这庞然大物的大约四分之一。

　　It's hard to believe that there was ever a time when I had not seen such an illustration before,难相信，我以前怎么从没有见过这类插图，

　　but evidently I had not for I clearly remember being transfixed.

　　我记得完全给迷住了。

　　I suspect, in honesty, my initial interest was based on a private image of streams of unsuspecting eastbound motorists in the American plains states很我的确认为，起初，我的兴趣只是基于一种个人的想像，美国平原上plunging over the edge of a sudden 4,000-mile-high cliff running between Central America and the North Pole,各州川流不息的车流毫无提防地向东驶去，突然越过边缘，but gradually my attention did turn in a more scholarly manner to the scientific import of the drawing and the realization³ that the Earth consisted of discrete⁴ layers,坠入中美洲和北极之间一个6000多公里高的悬崖，但我的注意力渐渐地转向这幅插图的科学含义，意识到地球由明确的层次组成，ending in the center with a glowing sphere of iron and nickel, which was as hot as the surface of the Sun, according to the caption,中心是一个铁和镍的发热球体。根据上面的说明，这个球体与太阳表面一样灼热。

　　and I remember thinking with real wonder: "How do they know that?"我记得当时我无限惊讶地想："他们是怎么知道的？

　　I didn't doubt the correctness of the information for an instant-I still tend to trust the pronouncements of scientists in the way I trust those of surgeons,我对这个信息坚信不疑--我至今仍然容易像相信医生、plumbers, and other possessors of arcane⁵ and privileged information防泄漏人员和别的神秘信息的拥有者那样相信科学家的说法---but I couldn't for the life of me conceive how any human mind could work out what spaces thousands of miles below us,但是，我无论如何也无法想像，人的脑子怎么能确定在离我们几千公里下面的地方是个什么样子，是由什么构成的，that no eye had ever seen and no X ray could penetrate⁶, could look like and be made of. To me that was just a miracle.

　　而那可是肉眼根本看不见、X射线也穿不透的呀。在我看来，那简直是个奇迹。,That has been my position with science ever since.",自那以后，这一直是我对待科学的态度。"

 

1 illustrated   

adj. 有插图的，列举的 动词illustrate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• His lecture was illustrated with slides taken during the expedition. 他在讲演中使用了探险时拍摄到的幻灯片。
• The manufacturing Methods: Will be illustrated in the next chapter. 制作方法将在下一章说明。

2 battered   

adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损

参考例句：

• He drove up in a battered old car.他开着一辆又老又破的旧车。
• The world was brutally battered but it survived.这个世界遭受了惨重的创伤,但它还是生存下来了。

3 realization   

n.实现；认识到，深刻了解

参考例句：

• We shall gladly lend every effort in our power toward its realization.我们将乐意为它的实现而竭尽全力。
• He came to the realization that he would never make a good teacher.他逐渐认识到自己永远不会成为好老师。

4 discrete   

adj.个别的，分离的，不连续的

参考例句：

• The picture consists of a lot of discrete spots of colour.这幅画由许多不相连的色点组成。
• Most staple fibers are discrete,individual entities.大多数短纤维是不联系的单独实体。

5 arcane   

adj.神秘的，秘密的

参考例句：

• The technique at one time was arcane in the minds of most chemists.这种技术在大多数化学家心目中一度是神秘的。
• Until a few months ago few people outside the arcane world of contemporary music had heard of Gorecki.直至几个月前，在现代音乐神秘殿堂之外很少有人听说了戈莱斯基。

6 penetrate   

v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解

参考例句：

• Western ideas penetrate slowly through the East.西方观念逐渐传入东方。
• The sunshine could not penetrate where the trees were thickest.阳光不能透入树木最浓密的地方。