TED演讲:梵高《星月夜》背后隐藏的数学理论(3)

 　　This motivated scientists from Mexico, Spain and England to study the luminance in Van Gogh's paintings in detail. 促使墨西哥、西班牙和英国的科学家开始研究梵高画作裡的颜色亮度。

　　They discovered that there is a distinct pattern of turbulent fluid structures 他们发现梵高画中有紊流结构，

　　close to Kolmogorov's equation hidden in many of Van Gogh's paintings. 类似柯尔莫哥洛夫的模型。

　　The researchers digitized the paintings, and measured how brightness varies between any two pixels. 研究者将这些画作数位化，并测量两点像素间的亮度。

　　From the curves measured for pixel separations, 根据像素间的曲率，

　　they concluded that paintings from Van Gogh's period of psychotic agitation¹ behave remarkably² similar to fluid turbulence³. 他们认为梵高精神病期间的作品精准画出紊流的型态。

　　His self-portrait with a pipe, from a calmer period in Van Gogh's life, showed no sign of this correspondence. 而平稳期间叼着烟斗的自画像则不符合紊流的结构。

　　And neither did other artists' work that seemed equally turbulent at first glance, like Munch's "The Scream." 其他画家所作类似紊流的画如孟克的《吶喊》，也不符合。

　　While it's too easy to say Van Gogh's turbulent genius enabled him to depict⁴ turbulence,  虽然我们可以说是梵高的天赋让他描绘出紊流的结构，

　　it's also far too difficult to accurately⁵ express the rousing beauty of the fact that in a period of intense suffering,  人们很难在承受痛苦时精准表达如此困难的概念，

　　Van Gogh was somehow able to perceive and represent one of the most supremely⁶ difficult concepts nature has ever brought before mankind,  梵高竟然能够理解并呈现世界上最深奥复杂的概念，甚至早于人类出现的概念，

　　and to unite his unique mind's eye with the deepest mysteries of movement, fluid and light. 他用独特的慧眼看透移动、水流和光影的奥秘。

1 agitation   

n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动

参考例句：

• Small shopkeepers carried on a long agitation against the big department stores.小店主们长期以来一直在煽动人们反对大型百货商店。
• These materials require constant agitation to keep them in suspension.这些药剂要经常搅动以保持悬浮状态。

2 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。

3 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。

4 depict   

vt.描画，描绘；描写，描述

参考例句：

• I don't care to see plays or films that depict murders or violence.我不喜欢看描写谋杀或暴力的戏剧或电影。
• Children's books often depict farmyard animals as gentle,lovable creatures.儿童图书常常把农场的动物描写得温和而可爱。

5 accurately   

adv.准确地，精确地

参考例句：

• It is hard to hit the ball accurately.准确地击中球很难。
• Now scientists can forecast the weather accurately.现在科学家们能准确地预报天气。

6 supremely   

adv.无上地，崇高地

参考例句：

• They managed it all supremely well. 这件事他们干得极其出色。
• I consider a supremely beautiful gesture. 我觉得这是非常优雅的姿态。