万物简史 第37期:埃文斯牧师的宇宙(1)

 　　3 THE REVEREND EVANS'S UNIVERSE

　　3.埃文斯牧师的宇宙

　　When the skies are clear and the Moon is not too bright, the Reverend Robert Evans, a quiet and cheerful man, lugs¹ a bulky telescope onto the back deck² of his home in the Blue Mountains of Australia, about fifty miles west of Sydney, and does an extraordinary thing. He looks deep into the past and finds dying³ stars.

　　罗伯特·埃文斯牧师是个说话不多、性格开朗的人，家住澳大利亚的蓝山山脉，在悉尼以西大约80公里的地方。当天空晴朗，月亮不太明亮的时候，他带着一台又笨又大的望远镜来到自家的后阳台，干一件非同寻常的事。他观察遥远的过去，寻找临终的恒星。

　　Looking into the past is of course the easy part. Glance at the night sky and what you see is history and lots of it—the stars not as they are now but as they were when their light left them. For all we know, the North Star, our faithful⁴ companion, might actually have burned out last January or in 1854 or at any time since the early fourteenth century and news of it just hasn't reached us yet. The best we can say—can ever say—is that it was still burning on this date 680 years ago. Stars die all the time. What Bob Evans does better than anyone else who has ever tried is spot these moments of celestial⁵ farewell.

　　观察过去当然是其中容易的部分。朝夜空瞥上一眼，你就看到了历史，大量历史--你看到的恒星不是它们现在的状态，而是它们的光射出时的状态。据我们所知，我们忠实的伙伴北极星，实际上也许在去年1月，或1854年，或14世纪初以后的任何时候就已经熄灭，因为这信息到现在还无法传到这里。我们至多只能说--永远只能说--它在680年以前的今天还在发光。恒星在不断死亡。罗伯特·埃文斯干得比别人更出色的地方是，他发现了天体举行告别仪式的时刻。

　　By day, Evans is a kindly⁶ and now semiretired minister in the Uniting Church in Australia, who does a bit of freelance work and researches the history of nineteenth-century religious movements. But by night he is, in his unassuming way, a titan of the skies. He hunts supernovae.

　　白天，埃文斯是澳大利亚统一教会一位和蔼可亲、快要退休的牧师，干点临时工作，研究19世纪的宗教运动史。到了夜间，他悄悄地成为一位天空之神，寻找超新星。

 

1 lugs   

钎柄

参考例句：

• "They put on a lot of lugs here, don't they?" “这里的人的架子可不小，是不是？ 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• In this department, hydro-set plates are assembled and joined together at the plate lugs. 在这个工段，组装脱水固化的极板并通过极板耳连在一起。 来自辞典例句

2 deck   

n.甲板；公共汽车一层的车厢；纸牌；vt.装饰

参考例句：

• Let's have a walk round the deck.我们去甲板上散步吧。
• The sea wind swept over the deck.海风席卷过甲板。

3 dying   

adj.垂死的，临终的

参考例句：

• He was put in charge of the group by the dying leader.他被临终的领导人任命为集团负责人。
• She was shown into a small room,where there was a dying man.她被领进了一间小屋子，那里有一个垂死的人。

4 faithful   

adj.守信的，忠实的，如实的，可靠的

参考例句：

• They promised to be faithful to their ideal for ever.他们保证永远忠于自己的理想。
• We must be honest and faithful to the people.我们对人民必须忠诚老实。

5 celestial   

adj.天体的；天上的

参考例句：

• The rosy light yet beamed like a celestial dawn.玫瑰色的红光依然象天上的朝霞一样绚丽。
• Gravity governs the motions of celestial bodies.万有引力控制着天体的运动。

6 kindly   

adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地

参考例句：

• Her neighbours spoke of her as kindly and hospitable.她的邻居都说她和蔼可亲、热情好客。
• A shadow passed over the kindly face of the old woman.一道阴影掠过老太太慈祥的面孔。