万物简史 第232期:马斯特-马克的夸克(4)

 　　CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, is like a little city. Straddling the border of France and Switzerland, it employs three thousand people and occupies a site that is measured in square miles. CERN boasts a string of magnets that weigh more than the Eiffel Tower and an underground tunnel over sixteen miles around.

　　欧洲核研究组织简直像个小城市。它地跨法国和瑞士边境，有3000名雇员，占地几平方公里。欧洲核研究组织有一排比埃菲尔铁塔还要重的磁铁，周围有一条大约26公里长的地下坑道。

　　Breaking up atoms, as James Trefil has noted¹, is easy; you do it each time you switch on a fluorescent² light. Breaking up atomic nuclei³, however, requires quite a lot of money and a generous supply of electricity. Getting down to the level of quarks—the particles that make up particles—requires still more: trillions of volts⁴ of electricity and the budget of a small Central American nation. CERN's new Large Hadron Collider, scheduled to begin operations in 2005, will achieve fourteen trillion volts of energy and cost something over $1.5 billion to construct.

　　詹姆斯·特雷菲尔说，击碎原子倒还容易，每次只要把日光灯一开。然而，击碎原子核就需要大量的金钱和大量的电力。把粒子变成夸克──即构成粒子的粒子──就需要更多的电和更多的钱：几万亿瓦电和相当于一个中美洲小国的预算。欧洲核研究组织的一台新的大强子对撞机定于2005年开始运转，它将产生14万亿瓦能量，建设费超过15亿美元。

　　奇异夸克

　　There are practical side effects to all this costly⁵ effort. The World Wide Web is a CERN offshoot. It was invented by a CERN scientist, Tim Berners-Lee, in 1989.

　　这项费用浩大的工程有一些实用的副产品。万维网就是欧洲核研究组织的一个衍生事物。它是欧洲核研究组织的科学家蒂姆-伯纳斯·李于1989年发明的

　　But these numbers are as nothing compared with what could have been achieved by, and spent upon, the vast and now unfortunately never-to-be Superconducting Supercollider, which began being constructed near Waxahachie, Texas, in the 1980s, before experiencing a supercollision of its own with the United States Congress.

　　然而，这两个数字与那台超级超导对撞机本来所能产生的能量和所需的建设费用相比，那简直是小巫见大巫。20世纪80年代，得克萨斯州附近开始建设一台超级超导对撞机，然后本身与美国国会发生了超级对撞，结果很不幸，现在永远建不成了。

1 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

2 fluorescent   

adj.荧光的，发出荧光的

参考例句：

• They observed the deflections of the particles by allowing them to fall on a fluorescent screen.他们让粒子落在荧光屏上以观察他们的偏移。
• This fluorescent lighting certainly gives the food a peculiar color.这萤光灯当然增添了食物特别的色彩。

3 nuclei   

n.核

参考例句：

• To free electrons, something has to make them whirl fast enough to break away from their nuclei. 为了释放电子，必须使电子高速旋转而足以摆脱原子核的束缚。
• Energy is released by the fission of atomic nuclei. 能量是由原子核分裂释放出来的。

4 volts   

n.（电压单位）伏特( volt的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The floating potential, Vf is usually only a few volts below ground. 浮置电势Vf通常只低于接地电位几伏。 来自辞典例句
• If gamma particles are present, potential differences of several thousand volts can be generated. 如果存在γ粒子，可能产生几千伏的电位差。 来自辞典例句

5 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。