听力文摘：无形的力量

The Invisible Hand

无形的力量

A: What's going on?

A:发生什么事了？

B: Check out the setup, Yaoyao.

B:瑶瑶，看一下都有些什么设备吧！

A: A stove, an empty aluminum¹ soda² can, kitchen tongs³, and a saucepan. Are you experimenting with a new recipe?

A:火炉，铝制的的易拉罐，餐钳和平底锅。你是在做一个新的食谱吗？

B:No, I'm experimenting with air pressure.

B:不是的，我是在做一个关于气压的实验。

A:How?

A:怎么做？

B:First, I will put about a tablespoon of water in the soda can, and a little cold water in the saucepan. Now, I will heat the water in the soda can on the stove until it boils.

B:我先在易拉罐里加入约一汤匙的水，在平底锅里加少许冷水。接着，将易拉罐放在火炉上加热至其沸腾。

A: There steam coming out of the can.

A:这样水蒸汽就从罐子里冒出来了。

B: Good! Now watch, i will pick up the can with a kitchen tongs like this and put it face down in the cold water in the pan. Ready?

B:对了！现在，我要用餐钳像这样将易拉罐夹起来，并将其正面放在有冷水的平底锅里。准备好了吗？

A:Ready!

A:准备好了！

B:Here goes!

B:看看会发生什么吧！

A: Wow, the can collapse⁴ like with being crushed down by an invisible hand.

A:哇噢，易拉罐碎了！就像被一只无形的手给压碎的！

B: When the water in the can boiled, the water vapor⁵ pushed all the air out of the can. And when I flipped⁶ the can and put it in the pan, the cold water cooled the vapor, making it condense.

B:因为在（易拉罐里的）水沸腾时，罐子里的所有空气都被水蒸汽排出。所以当我将罐子翻转过来放在平底锅里时，（锅里的）冷水将水蒸汽冷却、凝结。

A:Which left the can empty inside, allowing the pressure of the air outside the can to crush it.

A：这就使得易拉罐内部变空，从而让外面的气压将其粉碎。

B: Exactly. Normal air pressure is about 15 pounds per square inch. Since the can was about three inches high and two inches wide, the air pressure on it was 15 pounds per six inches, or ninety pounds of air pressure used to crush the can.

B：非常正确！正常的气压大约是每平方英寸15磅。由于易拉罐大约是3英寸高、2英寸宽，它周围的气压就是6平方英寸15磅，即每平方英寸90磅，从而将易拉罐粉碎。

A: Very interesting!

A:太有意思了！

1 aluminum   

n.(aluminium)铝

参考例句：

• The aluminum sheets cannot be too much thicker than 0.04 inches.铝板厚度不能超过0.04英寸。
• During the launch phase,it would ride in a protective aluminum shell.在发射阶段，它盛在一只保护的铝壳里。

2 soda   

n.苏打水；汽水

参考例句：

• She doesn't enjoy drinking chocolate soda.她不喜欢喝巧克力汽水。
• I will freshen your drink with more soda and ice cubes.我给你的饮料重加一些苏打水和冰块。

3 tongs   

n.钳；夹子

参考例句：

• She used tongs to put some more coal on the fire.她用火钳再夹一些煤放进炉子里。
• He picked up the hot metal with a pair of tongs.他用一把钳子夹起这块热金属。

4 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

5 vapor   

n.蒸汽，雾气

参考例句：

• The cold wind condenses vapor into rain.冷风使水蒸气凝结成雨。
• This new machine sometimes transpires a lot of hot vapor.这部机器有时排出大量的热气。

6 flipped   

轻弹( flip的过去式和过去分词 )； 按（开关）； 快速翻转； 急挥

参考例句：

• The plane flipped and crashed. 飞机猛地翻转，撞毁了。
• The carter flipped at the horse with his whip. 赶大车的人扬鞭朝着马轻轻地抽打。