英语听力文摘 English Digest 531、为何天空不是统一的蓝色？

 　　The Blurry¹ World Underwater

 

　　When you open your eyes underwater, things look blurry, but with goggles², everything looks perfectly³ clear. Why can’t we landlubbers focus underwater without goggles?

 

　　First, we need to explore how our eyes focus when we’re high and dry. Our ability to focus depends on the refraction, or bending, of light rays as they pass between substances of different densities⁴. One way to see refraction is to put a spoon in a glass of water. It looks like the spoon bends at the water’s surface, but it’s really the light rays bending as they pass between the air and the denser⁶ water. A lens works in a similar way, but unlike the flat surface of water, which bends all the rays the same way, a lens is curved, bending rays at different angles so they come to a focus.

 

　　The front of the eye has two lenses, the cornea on the outside and another lens inside, to focus images on the retina, at the back of the eye. Most of the refraction takes place when light passes from the air into the cornea, which is much more dense⁵, but water and the cornea have similar densities. So, when we open our eyes underwater, incoming light rays are hardly bent⁷, or focused, at all. The inside lens bends the rays a little, but it can’t make up for the lost corneal refraction, so the light that reaches the retina isn’t focused and the underwater world looks blurry.

 

　　Goggles clear things up by inserting a pocket of air in front of the cornea, restoring that crucial interface⁸ between substances of different densities to refract the light.

1 blurry   

adj.模糊的；污脏的，污斑的

参考例句：

• My blurry vision makes it hard to drive. 我的视力有点模糊，使得开起车来相当吃力。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The lines are pretty blurry at this point. 界线在这个时候是很模糊的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 goggles   

n.护目镜

参考例句：

• Skiers wear goggles to protect their eyes from the sun.滑雪者都戴上护目镜使眼睛不受阳光伤害。
• My swimming goggles keep steaming up so I can't see.我的护目镜一直有水雾，所以我看不见。

3 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

4 densities   

密集( density的名词复数 )； 稠密； 密度（固体、液体或气体单位体积的质量）； 密度（磁盘存贮数据的可用空间）

参考例句：

• The range of densities of interest is about 3.5. 有用的密度范围为3．5左右。
• Densities presumably can be probed by radar. 利用雷达也许还能探测出气体的密度。

5 dense   

a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的

参考例句：

• The general ambushed his troops in the dense woods. 将军把部队埋伏在浓密的树林里。
• The path was completely covered by the dense foliage. 小路被树叶厚厚地盖了一层。

6 denser   

adj. 不易看透的, 密集的, 浓厚的, 愚钝的

参考例句：

• The denser population necessitates closer consolidation both for internal and external action. 住得日益稠密的居民，对内和对外都不得不更紧密地团结起来。 来自英汉非文学 - 家庭、私有制和国家的起源
• As Tito entered the neighbourhood of San Martino, he found the throng rather denser. 蒂托走近圣马丁教堂附近一带时，发现人群相当密集。

7 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

8 interface   

n.接合部位，分界面；v.(使)互相联系

参考例句：

• My computer has a network interface,which allows me to get to other computers.我的计算机有网络接口可以与其它计算机连在一起。
• This program has perspicuous interface and extensive application. 该程序界面明了，适用范围广。