英国学生科学读本 第73期:玻璃窗(1)

 　　Lesson 73 A Pane¹ Of Glass

　　第73课 玻璃窗

　　If you had lived in Britain a thousand years ago, you might have seen panes² of glass in the churches, but you would have found very few glass windows in the houses of the people. The windows in those days were generally narrow open slits³ in the wall, though sometimes they were filled up with thin pieces of horn, or with thin skin.

　　穿越时空, 回到一千年前的英国, 就会发现, 只有教堂可能会使用窗格玻璃, 而平常人家几乎很少有人使用玻璃窗户。那时候的窗户实际上就是墙面上的一个狭窄开口而已, 有时候装上牛羊角的薄层或者轻薄的兽皮。

　　What a difference glass windows have made in the brightness⁴ and comfort of our homes! The glass is so transparent⁵ that it lets the light from the sun pass through it, and yet it keeps out both the rain and the wind.

　　玻璃窗改变了我们的家庭生活, 带来了不同凡响的明亮与舒适感受！玻璃的透明度极高, 可以允许阳光轻松穿过, 将风雨阻隔在外。

　　Glass is so hard that you cannot cut it or even scratch it with a common steel knife. The beautiful gem⁶ called the diamond is, however, even harder than glass; and glaziersuse small diamonds set in a handle to cut glass to the size that they want. Little wheels of extremely hard steel are also used for cutting glass, and this they do fairly well, though not nearly so well as diamonds.

　　玻璃的硬度很高, 普通的钢制刀具无法对它进行切割, 甚至都不能在它的表面留下划痕。然而, 那种被称作金刚石的美丽宝石比玻璃更加坚硬；玻璃工人使用一把带有手柄的金刚石切割工具将玻璃切割为需要的大小。人们还使用极为坚硬的钢轮对玻璃进行切割, 这种方法虽然比不上使用金刚石那样理想, 但效果还算不错。

　　If you hold a pane of thin glass under water, you will find that you can cut it with a pair of scissors. But you must cut near the edge of the glass, and take off only a little bit at a time. Like many other hard substances, glass is very brittle—that is, it will snap⁷ easily if we try to bend it, or if we let it fall.

　　如果你将很薄的一片玻璃放在水中, 就可以用剪刀来进行切割。不过你只能从玻璃的边缘入手, 而且一次只能剪下一点点。与其他坚硬的物质一样, 玻璃非常脆弱——也就是说, 如果你想要弯折它, 或者将它从高处丢下, 它就会破裂为碎片。

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。

3 slits   

n.狭长的口子，裂缝( slit的名词复数 )v.切开，撕开( slit的第三人称单数 )；在…上开狭长口子

参考例句：

• He appears to have two slits for eyes. 他眯着两眼。
• "You go to--Halifax,'she said tensely, her green eyes slits of rage. "你给我滚----滚到远远的地方去！" 她恶狠狠地说，那双绿眼睛冒出了怒火。

4 brightness   

n.明亮，亮度，聪颖，光泽度，灯火通明

参考例句：

• The brightness of the paint has worn off a little.油漆的光泽有些磨损了。
• Her eyes squinted against the brightness.亮光刺得她眯起眼睛。

5 transparent   

adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的

参考例句：

• The water is so transparent that we can see the fishes swimming.水清澈透明，可以看到鱼儿游来游去。
• The window glass is transparent.窗玻璃是透明的。

6 gem   

n.宝石，珠宝；受爱戴的人 [同]jewel

参考例句：

• The gem is beyond my pocket.这颗宝石我可买不起。
• The little gem is worth two thousand dollars.这块小宝石价值两千美元。

7 snap   

n.啪地移动，突然断掉；v.猛咬，咬断，谩骂，砰然关上

参考例句：

• He broke off the twig with a snap.他啪地一声把那根树枝折断了。
• These earrings snap on with special fasteners.这副耳环是用特制的按扣扣上去的。