万物简史 第223期:把铅撵出去(12)

 　　As always, however, nothing was quite as straightforward¹ as such a breezy description makes it sound. Meteorites² are not abundant and meteoritic³ samples not especially easy to get hold of. Moreover, Brown's measurement technique proved finicky in the extreme and needed much refinement⁴. Above all, there was the problem that Patterson's samples were continuously and unaccountably contaminated with large doses of atmospheric⁵ lead whenever they were exposed to air. It was this that eventually led him to create a sterile⁶ laboratory—the world's first, according to at least one account.

　　然而，通常来说，总是说来容易做来难。陨石数量不多，陨石样品不是很容易能采集到手。而且，布朗的测量方法过分注重细节，需要做很多改进。最大的问题是，彼得森的样品只要接触空气，就莫名其妙地不断地受到大气里铅的严重污染。正是由于这个原因，他最后建立了一个消过毒的实验室──世界上第一个无菌实验室，至少有一份材料里是这么说的。

　　爱护地球

　　It took Patterson seven years of patient work just to assemble suitable samples for final testing. In the spring of 1953 he traveled to the Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois, where he was granted time on a late-model mass spectrograph, a machine capable of detecting and measuring the minute quantities of uranium and lead locked up in ancient crystals. When at last he had his results, Patterson was so excited that he drove straight to his boyhood home in Iowa and had his mother check him into a hospital because he thought he was having a heart attack.

　　彼得森任劳任怨地干了7年，才收集到可用于最后测试的样品。1953年春，他把样品送到伊利诺伊州的阿冈尼国家实验室。他及时获得了一台新型的质谱仪，可以用来发现和测定秘藏在古晶体里的微量铀和铅。彼得森终于得出了结果。他激动万分，直接驱车去艾奥瓦州他度过少年时代的家中，让他的母亲把他送进医院，因为他认为自己在发心脏病。

　　Soon afterward⁷, at a meeting in Wisconsin, Patterson announced a definitive⁸ age for the Earth of 4,550 million years (plus or minus 70 million years)—"a figure that stands unchanged 50 years later," as McGrayne admiringly notes. After two hundred years of trying, the Earth finally had an age.

　　此后不久，在威斯康星州的一次会议上，彼得森宣布地球的确切年龄为45.5亿年（误差7000万年）──麦格雷恩赞赏地说：“这数字保持了50年。”经过200年的努力，地球终于有了个年龄。

1 straightforward   

adj.正直的，坦率的；易懂的，简单的

参考例句：

• A straightforward talk is better than a flowery speech.巧言不如直说。
• I must insist on your giving me a straightforward answer.我一定要你给我一个直截了当的回答。

2 meteorites   

n.陨星( meteorite的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Small meteorites have left impact craters all over the planet's surface. 这个行星的表面布满了小块陨石留下的撞击坑。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• One theory about the existence of extraterrestrial life rests on the presence of carbon compounds in meteorites. 地球外存在生命的理论是基于陨星上存在碳化合物质这一事实的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 meteoritic   

adj.陨石的

参考例句：

• The momentum of the particles was deduced from meteoritic velocities. 粒子的冲量可以从陨石速度推导出来。 来自互联网

4 refinement   

n.文雅；高尚；精美；精制；精炼

参考例句：

• Sally is a woman of great refinement and beauty. 莎莉是个温文尔雅又很漂亮的女士。
• Good manners and correct speech are marks of refinement.彬彬有礼和谈吐得体是文雅的标志。

5 atmospheric   

adj.大气的，空气的；大气层的；大气所引起的

参考例句：

• Sea surface temperatures and atmospheric circulation are strongly coupled.海洋表面温度与大气环流是密切相关的。
• Clouds return radiant energy to the surface primarily via the atmospheric window.云主要通过大气窗区向地表辐射能量。

6 sterile   

adj.不毛的，不孕的，无菌的，枯燥的，贫瘠的

参考例句：

• This top fits over the bottle and keeps the teat sterile.这个盖子严实地盖在奶瓶上，保持奶嘴无菌。
• The farmers turned the sterile land into high fields.农民们把不毛之地变成了高产田。

7 afterward   

adv.后来；以后

参考例句：

• Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏，然后吃饭。
• Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来，这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。

8 definitive   

adj.确切的，权威性的；最后的，决定性的

参考例句：

• This book is the definitive guide to world cuisine.这本书是世界美食的权威指南。
• No one has come up with a definitive answer as to why this should be so.至于为什么该这样，还没有人给出明确的答复。