TED演讲:梵高《星月夜》背后隐藏的数学理论(2)

 　　But our brains' primate¹ subdivision will see the contrasting colors without blending. 但视觉皮质中演化的分支会区辨颜色对比而不会将他们混合。

　　With these two interpretations² happening at once, 当两种视觉处理方式同时发生时，

　　the light in many Impressionist works seems to pulse, flicker³ and radiate oddly. 印象派画中的光线变得非常突出。

　　That's how this and other Impressionist works use quickly executed prominent brushstrokes 这就是为什么印象派的作品倾向用大胆的笔触

　　to capture something strikingly real about how light moves. 来捕捉细微的光影流动。

　　60 years later, Russian mathematician⁴ Andrey Kolmogorov furthered our mathematical understanding of turbulence⁵  六十年后，俄罗斯数学家安德雷·柯尔莫哥洛夫开拓了数理上对紊流的理解。

　　when he proposed that energy in a turbulent fluid at length R varies in proportion to the 5/3rds power of R. 他提出在一个长度R的紊水流中能量会与R的5/3次方成正比。

　　Experimental measurements show Kolmogorov was remarkably⁶ close to the way turbulent flow works,  实验数据证实柯尔莫哥洛夫的模型非常接近紊流的流动方式。

　　although a complete description of turbulence remains⁷ one of the unsolved problems in physics. 虽然紊流完整的解释仍是物理学中一项待解的难题。

　　A turbulent flow is self-similar if there is an energy cascade⁸. 有能量梯度的紊流型态都相类似。

　　In other words, big eddies⁹ transfer their energy to smaller eddies, which do likewise at other scales. 换句话说，大涡流传递能量给小涡流，这在其他规模也适用。

　　Examples of this include Jupiter's Great Red Spot, cloud formations and interstellar dust particles. 举例来说，木星上的红斑云、星际尘埃都包含在内。

　　In 2004, using the Hubble Space Telescope, scientists saw the eddies of a distant cloud of dust and gas around a star,  2004年，科学家用哈伯天文望远镜观测到星星周围有漩涡状的星尘和气体，

　　and it reminded them of Van Gogh's "Starry¹⁰ Night." 因此想起了梵高的《星月夜》。

1 primate   

n.灵长类（目）动物，首席主教；adj.首要的

参考例句：

• 14 percent of primate species are highly endangered.14%的灵长类物种处于高度濒危状态。
• The woolly spider monkey is the largest primate in the Americas.绒毛蛛猴是美洲最大的灵长类动物。

2 interpretations   

n.解释( interpretation的名词复数 )；表演；演绎；理解

参考例句：

• This passage is open to a variety of interpretations. 这篇文章可以有各种不同的解释。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The involved and abstruse passage makes several interpretations possible. 这段艰涩的文字可以作出好几种解释。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 flicker   

vi./n.闪烁，摇曳，闪现

参考例句：

• There was a flicker of lights coming from the abandoned house.这所废弃的房屋中有灯光闪烁。
• At first,the flame may be a small flicker,barely shining.开始时，光辉可能是微弱地忽隐忽现，几乎并不灿烂。

4 mathematician   

n.数学家

参考例句：

• The man with his back to the camera is a mathematician.背对着照相机的人是位数学家。
• The mathematician analyzed his figures again.这位数学家再次分析研究了他的这些数字。

5 turbulence   

n.喧嚣，狂暴，骚乱，湍流

参考例句：

• The turbulence caused the plane to turn over.空气的激流导致飞机翻转。
• The world advances amidst turbulence.世界在动荡中前进。

6 remarkably   

ad.不同寻常地，相当地

参考例句：

• I thought she was remarkably restrained in the circumstances. 我认为她在那种情况下非常克制。
• He made a remarkably swift recovery. 他康复得相当快。

7 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

8 cascade   

n.小瀑布，喷流；层叠；vi.成瀑布落下

参考例句：

• She watched the magnificent waterfall cascade down the mountainside.她看着壮观的瀑布从山坡上倾泻而下。
• Her hair fell over her shoulders in a cascade of curls.她的卷发像瀑布一样垂在肩上。

9 eddies   

（水、烟等的）漩涡，涡流( eddy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Viscosity overwhelms the smallest eddies and converts their energy into heat. 粘性制服了最小的旋涡而将其能量转换为热。
• But their work appears to merge in the study of large eddies. 但在大旋涡的研究上，他们的工作看来却殊途同归。

10 starry   

adj.星光照耀的, 闪亮的

参考例句：

• He looked at the starry heavens.他瞧着布满星星的天空。
• I like the starry winter sky.我喜欢这满天星斗的冬夜。