英国学生科学读本 第73期:玻璃窗(2)

 　　Glass is made chiefly of fine white sand or silica melted in a furnace. To make the sand melt easily, we must mix with it some soda¹, some chalk or lime, and a small quantity of broken glass.

　　玻璃主要由细致的白沙或硅石在熔炉中炼成。为了确保能够轻松地将沙子融化掉, 我们必须要加入一些苏打、白垩或石灰以及少量玻璃渣。

　　Have you ever seen a glass-house, or a building in which glass is made? It is generally built of bricks, in the shape of a large cone². The mixture of sand and soda is put into large melting-pots, and these are placed in the furnace or fierce fire which burns in the centre of the glass-house.

　　你有没有见过玻璃工厂, 也就是生产制作玻璃的地方? 这样的工厂一般由砖块搭建而成, 呈巨大的圆锥形。沙子与苏打的混合物被放入到一个庞大的熔炉中, 然后通过工厂中央炙热的炉火进行加热。

　　Soon the mixture melts and forms a white-hot liquid. To make plate-glass , this liquid is poured upon an iron table, and then rolled out just like dough³ with iron rollers. The hot sheet of glass is then placed in a room, where it cools very slowly indeed. This is called annealing: If the glass were cooled quickly, it would be too brittle⁴ to use.

　　很快, 混合物便被融化并形成白色的沸腾液体。如果要制造平板玻璃, 这些液体将被倒在一个铁板之上, 然后使用铁制滚子像和面那样反复卷压。随后, 人们将滚烫的玻璃片放在一间厂房中, 让它们慢慢冷却。这个步骤叫做退火。如果玻璃冷却过快, 就会非常脆弱而根本无法使用。

　　Cheaper and thinner kinds of window-glass are made by blowing. The glass-blower dips a long iron tube or blow-pipe into the melted glass, taking up a little of it on the end of the tube. He then blows this out like a huge soap-bubble, and as it begins to cool he rolls the glass - bubble on a smooth table until it becomes a cylinder⁵. This cylinder is afterwards cut open with a diamond, and is spread out into a flat sheet after it has again been softened⁶ by heat.

　　更薄、更便宜的窗户玻璃通过吹制而成。吹玻璃工人将长长的铁管或吹管放入融化的玻璃之中, 用管子的末端沾上一点。然后, 他就开始用力吹, 很快, 融化的玻璃就会像巨大的肥皂泡一样膨胀起来。等它开始冷却的时候, 工人将这个玻璃泡放在平滑的桌子上反复滚动, 最后形成一个圆筒。随后, 工人用金刚石把这个玻璃圆筒切开。接着, 经过再一次加热后, 玻璃就会变软, 最后变成一块平整的玻璃片。

1 soda   

n.苏打水；汽水

参考例句：

• She doesn't enjoy drinking chocolate soda.她不喜欢喝巧克力汽水。
• I will freshen your drink with more soda and ice cubes.我给你的饮料重加一些苏打水和冰块。

2 cone   

n.圆锥体，圆锥形东西，球果

参考例句：

• Saw-dust piled up in a great cone.锯屑堆积如山。
• The police have sectioned off part of the road with traffic cone.警察用锥形路标把部分路面分隔开来。

3 dough   

n.生面团；钱，现款

参考例句：

• She formed the dough into squares.她把生面团捏成四方块。
• The baker is kneading dough.那位面包师在揉面。

4 brittle   

adj.易碎的；脆弱的；冷淡的；(声音)尖利的

参考例句：

• The pond was covered in a brittle layer of ice.池塘覆盖了一层易碎的冰。
• She gave a brittle laugh.她冷淡地笑了笑。

5 cylinder   

n.圆筒，柱(面)，汽缸

参考例句：

• What's the volume of this cylinder?这个圆筒的体积有多少？
• The cylinder is getting too much gas and not enough air.汽缸里汽油太多而空气不足。

6 softened   

（使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰

参考例句：

• His smile softened slightly. 他的微笑稍柔和了些。
• The ice cream softened and began to melt. 冰淇淋开始变软并开始融化。