英国学生科学读本 第89期:云和雨(2)

 　　Every day the sun's rays change thousands of tons of liquid water into water-vapour; 每天, 太阳光都能够将数千吨的液态水转化为水蒸气；

　　and this water-vapour mingles¹ with the air, and is carried along by the wind. 随后, 水蒸气与空气混合在一起并随风飘动。

　　While it remains² in the form of vapour, however, we cannot see it, because it is quite colourless and transparent³. 然而, 只要这些水分保持蒸汽状态, 我们就无法看到, 因为它是无色透明的。

　　The air near the surface of the earth is warmer than that which is higher up, 靠近地球表面的空气温度比高空的空气温度要高一些,

　　so when the water-vapour rises very high above the ground, it is cooled. 因此, 当水蒸气漂浮到高空时就会被冷却。

　　We have learned that when water-vapour is cooled it is condensed. 我们知道, 水蒸气遇冷之后就会产生冷凝。

　　So the water-vapour is first changed into those very tiny specks⁴ of liquid water which have been called water-dust, and appears as clouds; 因此, 水蒸气首先变成了非常细小的水粒——也就是我们所说的水雾——并构成了云朵,

　　and then these specks of water join together to form drops of rain. 然后这些水粒汇聚在一起成为了雨滴。

　　You must at one time or another have tasted drops of rain as they blew against your face, and so you know that the rain-water is fresh water. 你一定淋过雨而且尝到过雨水的味道, 因此你知道, 雨水属于淡水。

　　But the water of the sea, from which that rain-water came, is quite salt. 然而, 雨水来自海水, 而海水中却含有很多盐分。

　　How is it that rain-drops of fresh water can come from the salt sea?  那么, 海里的咸水怎么会变成不含盐的雨水呢?

　　In last Lesson you were told that salt water can be made fresh by distilling⁵ it. 通过上一课的学习, 你了解到, 咸水可以通过蒸馏而变成淡水。

　　Now rainwater is really distilled⁶ water. 实际上, 雨水是名符其实的蒸馏水。

　　If you boil salt water in a small saucepan until the water has all passed away as steam, 如果你用炖锅来煮沸咸水, 等到所有的水分都以蒸汽的方式蒸发之后,

　　the salt that was dissolved in it will all be left behind as a white crust on the bottom of the saucepan. 咸水中溶解的盐分就会变成锅底上一层白色的粉末。

　　In exactly the same way the heat of the sun turns the water of the sea into vapour, but not the salt that is dissolved in it. 太阳的热量正是通过这种方法将海水变成蒸汽, 而海水中溶解的盐分则留在了海洋之中。

　　So when this vapour is changed back into water again, it forms pure fresh water. 因此, 当水蒸气再次变成水滴的时候, 淡水应运而生。

1 mingles   

混合，混入( mingle的第三人称单数 )； 混进，与…交往[联系]

参考例句：

• He rarely mingles with persons of his own rank in society. 他几乎不与和他身份相同的人交往。
• The distant rumbling of the guns mingles with our marching song. 枪的深邃长声与我们行进歌混合。

2 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

3 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。

4 specks   

n.眼镜；斑点，微粒，污点( speck的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Minutes later Brown spotted two specks in the ocean. 几分钟后布朗发现海洋中有两个小点。 来自英汉非文学 - 百科语料821
• Do you ever seem to see specks in front of your eyes? 你眼睛前面曾似乎看见过小点吗？ 来自辞典例句

5 distilling   

n.蒸馏（作用）v.蒸馏( distil的过去式和过去分词 )( distilled的过去分词 )；从…提取精华

参考例句：

• Water can be made pure by distilling it. 水经蒸馏可变得纯净。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• More ammonium sulphate solution is being recovered in the process of distilling oil shale. 在提炼油页岩的过程中回收的硫酸铵液比过去多了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 distilled   

adj.由蒸馏得来的v.蒸馏( distil的过去式和过去分词 )；从…提取精华

参考例句：

• The televised interview was distilled from 16 hours of film. 那次电视采访是从16个小时的影片中选出的精华。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Gasoline is distilled from crude oil. 汽油是从原油中提炼出来的。 来自《简明英汉词典》