科学美国人60秒 物理现象揭示金字塔的奥秘

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For 4500 years, the Great Pyramid, or Khufu's Pyramid, has kept watch over the Egyptian desert. In that time, it's suffered the indignities¹ of tomb raiders and gunpowder-toting archaeologists, a la Indiana Jones. But the latest investigation² of the pyramid's mysteries is far more sophisticated—and takes a page from particle physics.

4500年以来，大金字塔或者胡夫金字塔一直在俯瞰埃及的沙漠。在这段时间里，它饱受了盗墓者以及带枪考古学家的屈辱。但是，最近的金字塔之谜的调查更加的复杂——并在量子物理中占据了地位。

Scientists used muons, a by-product³ of the cosmic rays constantly raining down on our planet, to image the interior of the pyramid. The particles interact differently with stone than with empty space—and that fact led the scientists to discover a previously⁴ unknown 100-foot-long void, sitting somewhere above the pyramid's Grand Gallery.

科学家利用μ介子给金字塔的内部成像，这是一种宇宙射线射到地球上生成的副产品。这些粒子与空旷空间的作用，不同于与石头的作用——这使得科学家发现了一个以前不为人知的100英尺长的空洞，这个空洞坐落在金字塔大图画廊的某些地方。

“The good news is the void is there, the other good news is that this void is very big. Now what is it? We need the help of other people.” Mehdi Tayoubi, of the Heritage Innovation Preservation⁵ Institute, and an author of a paper detailing the findings in the journal Nature.

“好消息是我们找到了空洞，另一个好的消息就是这个洞很大。现在这个洞到底是什么呢?我们需要其他人的帮助。”Mehdi Tayoubi来自于遗迹创新保护研究所。他的研究结果发表在《自然》杂志上。

"Maybe Egyptologists and specialists in ancient Egyptian architecture will provide us with some hypotheses we can use for simulation and to compare with the data we have to find some sort of architectural explanation for this void."

也许埃及学家和古埃及建筑方面的专家会给提供一些我们可以应用的假设，并与我们所需要的数据进行比较，以便找到某种对这种空洞的建筑解释。”

Until then—the newly discovered space will be just one of many enduring mysteries of this very old wonder of the world.

而直到那时——新发现的太空将只是这个古老世界奇迹的众多谜团之一。

1 indignities   

n.侮辱，轻蔑( indignity的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The soldiers who were captured suffered many indignities at the hands of the enemy. 被俘的士兵在敌人手中受尽侮辱。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• What sort of indignities would he be forced to endure? 他会被迫忍受什么样的侮辱呢？ 来自辞典例句

2 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

3 by-product   

n.副产品，附带产生的结果

参考例句：

• Freedom is the by-product of economic surplus.自由是经济盈余的副产品。
• The raw material for the tyre is a by-product of petrol refining.制造轮胎的原材料是提炼汽油时产生的一种副产品。

4 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

5 preservation   

n.保护，维护，保存，保留，保持

参考例句：

• The police are responsible for the preservation of law and order.警察负责维持法律与秩序。
• The picture is in an excellent state of preservation.这幅画保存得极为完好。