英国学生科学读本 第8期:一块腻子

 　　Lesson 8 A LUMP OF PUTTY

　　第八课 一块腻子（油灰）

　　Did you ever see a man put in a pane¹ of glass? He first cuts away the hard stuff which holds the old glass in its place. This hard stuff is called putty. Then with some fresh putty he fixes in the new pane.

　　小朋友, 你见过工人叔叔是怎么换窗玻璃的吗? 他先把旧玻璃周围硬硬的东西切下来, 这种硬东西叫做腻子, 也叫油灰。然后再在窗框上抹上一些新的腻子, 把新玻璃装上去。

　　What is putty? Let us try to make some for ourselves, and then we shall know all about it. We shall take a lump of chalk, and crush it to powder. Next, we shall stir it up in a basin of water, and then leave it to settle at the bottom.

　　腻子是什么呀? 咱们可以自己试着做一做, 这样就都明白了！我们先拿一块白垩石头, 磨成粉, 然后洒在一盆水里, 让石粉慢慢沉到盆底。

　　If we pour away the water, and dry the chalk in the oven, we shall soon get a fine white powder, which is sold in the shops as whitening or whiting.

　　把水倒出去, 用炉子烤干石粉, 就会得到一种很细的白粉, 商店里也卖这种白垩粉。

　　Now we need some boiled linseed oil. Let us put the whiting in a basin, and pour in the oil, a little at a time, stirring and rubbing it well with a flat stick. In a few minutes we shall get a lump of soft putty.

　　准备一些煮过的亚麻油。咱们把白垩粉放到另一个盆里, 把亚麻油一点儿一点儿倒进去, 用一根扁平的棍子拌一拌, 压一压, 过几分钟, 一块腻子就做好了！

　　Now you know what putty is made of. It is nothing but whiting mixed with linseed oil.

　　现在, 你知道腻子是什么做的啦, 就是白垩粉跟亚麻油混在一块儿！

　　But why is this putty so useful? Notice, first, how you can mould or press it into any shape you please. The putty takes any shape we like to give it, and so we use it to fill up little holes and cracks.

　　但是, 腻子怎么会这么有用呢? 第一, 你可以把腻子塑成或者压成各种各样的形状。想让它什么样子, 它就会是什么样子。这样就可以用它来填满小洞, 或者小缝。

　　See, too, how the putty sticks to your fingers. In the same way it sticks to the wood and to the glass of the window, and holds them both together.

　　第二, 腻子可以黏在你的手指头上, 也能黏在木头、窗玻璃上, 把木头和窗玻璃黏到一块儿。

　　As soon as the putty is made, it begins to dry and to turn hard. But it dries very slowly, and keeps soft as long as we are likely to need it.

　　腻子一做好了, 就会变干变硬。但是干燥的速度很慢, 只要我们需要, 它还会是软软的。

　　If you pour some water into a little hollow made in a piece of chalk, the water soon runs out, for the chalk is full of tiny holes or pores. But the water cannot run through a little cup made of putty. The oil that is mixed with the chalk fills up its pores.

　　要是在一块白垩石头上挖出一个洞, 把水倒进去, 水很快就会漏光, 因为白垩石头里, 满是小小的洞, 也叫细孔。但是一块杯子形状的腻子, 就不会让水漏出去, 因为腻子跟白垩混在一起, 把白垩的细孔填满了。

　　So you see, however hard the rain beats upon the window, it cannot wash the panes² of glass away. The water cannot get through the putty which holds the panes in their places.

　　你看, 不管屋子外面下雨下得多大, 打在窗玻璃上有多厉害, 都冲不走窗玻璃。窗玻璃让腻子黏住了, 雨水透不过腻子。

　　With a lump of nice soft putty a clever child can make models of many things, because the putty is so soft that it takes any shape into which it may be pressed with the fingers. SUMMARY Putty is made of whiting (crushed chalk soaked in water) mixed with boiled linseed oil. It is used for keeping panes of glass in their places. It is also used for filling up little holes and cracks in wood-work. It does not let water pass through it. Models of many things may be made with a lump of putty.

　　聪明的小朋友, 可以把腻子塑成很多东西的样子, 因为腻子特别软, 手指头把它捏成什么样, 它就能变成什么样。

1 pane   

n.窗格玻璃，长方块

参考例句：

• He broke this pane of glass.他打破了这块窗玻璃。
• Their breath bloomed the frosty pane.他们呼出的水气，在冰冷的窗玻璃上形成一层雾。

2 panes   

窗玻璃( pane的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sun caught the panes and flashed back at him. 阳光照到窗玻璃上，又反射到他身上。
• The window-panes are dim with steam. 玻璃窗上蒙上了一层蒸汽。