万物简史 第167期:爱因斯坦的宇宙(10)

 　　Einstein was born in Ulm, in southern Germany, in 1879, but grew up in Munich. Little in his early life suggested the greatness to come. Famously he didn’t learn to speak until he was three. In the 1890s, his father’s electrical business failing, the family moved to Milan, but Albert, by now a teenager, went to Switzerland to continue his education—though he failed his college entrance exams on the first try. In 1896 he gave up his German citizenship¹ to avoid military conscription and entered the Zurich Polytechnic² Institute on a four-year course designed to churn out high school science teachers. He was a bright but not outstanding student.

　　爱因斯坦1879年生于德国南部的乌尔姆，但在慕尼黑长大。他的早年生活几乎难以说明他将来会成为大人物。大家都知道，他到三岁才学会说话。19世纪90年代，他父亲的电器生意破产，举家迁往米兰，但这时候已经十来岁的阿尔伯特去了瑞士继续他的学业——虽然他一开始就没有通过大学入学考试。1896年，他放弃了德国籍，以免被征入伍，进入了苏黎世联邦工业大学，攻读旨在培养中学教师的四年制课程。他是一名聪明而又不突出的学生。

　　爱因斯坦

　　In 1900 he graduated and within a few months was beginning to contribute papers to Annalen der Physik. His very first paper, on the physics of fluids in drinking straws (of all things), appeared in the same issue as Planck’s quantum theory. From 1902 to 1904 he produced a series of papers on statistical³ mechanics⁴ only to discover that the quietly productive⁵ J. Willard Gibbs in Connecticut had done that work as well, in his Elementary Principles of Statistical Mechanics of 1901.

　　1900年，他从学校毕业，没过几个月就开始把论文投给《物理学年鉴》。他的第一篇论文论述（在那么多可写的东西中偏偏论述）吸管里流体的物理学，与普朗克的量子理论发表在同一期上。从1902年到1904年，他写出了一系列关于统计力学的论文，结果发现，多产的J.威拉德·吉布斯1901年在康涅狄格州已经悄悄地发表了同样的作品：《统计力学的基本原理》。

1 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。

2 polytechnic   

adj.各种工艺的，综合技术的；n.工艺(专科)学校；理工(专科)学校

参考例句：

• She was trained as a teacher at Manchester Polytechnic.她在曼彻斯特工艺专科学校就读，准备毕业后做老师。
• When he was 17,Einstein entered the Polytechnic Zurich,Switzerland,where he studied mathematics and physics.17岁时，爱因斯坦进入了瑞士苏黎士的专科学院，学习数学和物理学。

3 statistical   

adj.统计的，统计学的

参考例句：

• He showed the price fluctuations in a statistical table.他用统计表显示价格的波动。
• They're making detailed statistical analysis.他们正在做具体的统计分析。

4 mechanics   

n.力学，机械学；结构

参考例句：

• The mechanics of fixing a car are very long.修理一部汽车的过程很长。
• The mechanics of the machine are very old.这台机器的机件非常老。

5 productive   

adj.能生产的，有生产价值的，多产的

参考例句：

• We had a productive meeting that solved some problems.我们开了一个富有成效的会议，解决了一些问题。
• Science and technology are part of the productive forces.科学技术是生产力。