万物简史 第344期:孤独的行星(9)

 　　It has been suggested, not altogether cynically¹, that this was out of a purely² contrarian instinct, 有人认为。而且不完全是挖苦地认为，这纯粹是出于一种敌对的本能。

　　and that if he had been born in the Soviet³ Union he would have been a passionate⁴ monarchist. 要是他生在苏联，他可能会变成一名狂热的拥护君主制度者。

　　At all events, most of his articles first appeared in the Communist Daily Worker. 无论如何，他的大部分文章最初是刊登在由共产党人主办的《工人日报》上的。

　　Whereas his father's principal interests concerned miners and poisoning, 他父亲主要对矿工和中毒问题感兴趣，

　　the younger Haldane became obsessed⁵ with saving submariners and divers⁶ from the unpleasant consequences of their work. 小霍尔丹则潜心研究潜艇乘员和潜水员的职业病的预防措施。

　　With Admiralty funding he acquired a decompression chamber⁷ that he called the "pressure pot." 在海军部的资助下，他获得了一个他称之为“高压锅”的减压室。

　　This was a metal cylinder⁸ into which three people at a time could be sealed and subjected to tests of various types, all painful and nearly all dangerous. 那是一个金属圆筒，一次可以同时把三个人密封在里面，进行各种痛苦而又危险的测试。

　　Volunteers might be required to sit in ice water while breathing "aberrant⁹ atmosphere" or subjected to rapid changes of pressurization. 志愿者被要求坐在冰火里，同时呼吸“异常气体”或经受快速的压力变化。

　　In one experiment, Haldane simulated a dangerously hasty ascent¹⁰ to see what would happen. 在一次实验中，霍尔丹亲自模仿快速上升的危险动作，看看会有什么事。

　　What happened was that the dental fillings in his teeth exploded. 结果，他补牙的填料炸掉了。

　　"Almost every experiment," Norton writes, "ended with someone having a seizure¹¹, bleeding, or vomiting¹²." “几乎每一次试验，”诺顿写道，“都以有人痉挛、流血或呕吐告终。”

　　The chamber was virtually soundproof, 减压室是隔音的，

　　so the only way for occupants to signal unhappiness or distress¹³ was to tap insistently¹⁴ on the chamber wall or to hold up notes to a small window. 要是里面的人要想表示自己不舒服或很痛苦，他们非得不停的敲击减压室的墙壁，或在小窗口举起字条。

　　On another occasion, while poisoning himself with elevated levels of oxygen, Haldane had a fit so severe that he crushed several vertebrae. 还有一次，霍尔丹吸入不断加大浓度的氧气，结果痉挛得厉害，摔断了几根椎骨。

1 cynically   

adv.爱嘲笑地，冷笑地

参考例句：

• "Holding down the receiver,'said Daisy cynically. “挂上话筒在讲。”黛西冷嘲热讽地说。 来自英汉文学 - 盖茨比
• The Democrats sensibly (if cynically) set about closing the God gap. 民主党在明智（有些讽刺）的减少宗教引起的问题。 来自互联网

2 purely   

adv.纯粹地，完全地

参考例句：

• I helped him purely and simply out of friendship.我帮他纯粹是出于友情。
• This disproves the theory that children are purely imitative.这证明认为儿童只会单纯地模仿的理论是站不住脚的。

3 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

4 passionate   

adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的

参考例句：

• He is said to be the most passionate man.据说他是最有激情的人。
• He is very passionate about the project.他对那个项目非常热心。

5 obsessed   

adj.心神不宁的,鬼迷心窍的,沉迷的

参考例句：

• He's obsessed by computers. 他迷上了电脑。
• The fear of death obsessed him throughout his old life. 他晚年一直受着死亡恐惧的困扰。

6 divers   

adj.不同的；种种的

参考例句：

• He chose divers of them,who were asked to accompany him.他选择他们当中的几个人，要他们和他作伴。
• Two divers work together while a standby diver remains on the surface.两名潜水员协同工作，同时有一名候补潜水员留在水面上。

7 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

8 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。

9 aberrant   

adj.畸变的，异常的，脱离常轨的

参考例句：

• His aberrant behavior at the party shocked everyone.他在晚会上的异常举止令所有人感到震惊！
• I saw that the insects and spiders were displaying the same kind of aberrant behavior.我看到昆虫和蜘蛛正在表现出相同反常的行为。

10 ascent   

n.(声望或地位)提高；上升，升高；登高

参考例句：

• His rapid ascent in the social scale was surprising.他的社会地位提高之迅速令人吃惊。
• Burke pushed the button and the elevator began its slow ascent.伯克按动电钮，电梯开始缓慢上升。

11 seizure   

n.没收；占有；抵押

参考例句：

• The seizure of contraband is made by customs.那些走私品是被海关没收的。
• The courts ordered the seizure of all her property.法院下令查封她所有的财产。

12 vomiting   

吐

参考例句：

• Symptoms include diarrhoea and vomiting. 症状有腹泻和呕吐。
• Especially when I feel seasick, I can't stand watching someone else vomiting." 尤其晕船的时候，看不得人家呕。”

13 distress   

n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛

参考例句：

• Nothing could alleviate his distress.什么都不能减轻他的痛苦。
• Please don't distress yourself.请你不要忧愁了。

14 insistently   

ad.坚持地

参考例句：

• Still Rhett did not look at her. His eyes were bent insistently on Melanie's white face. 瑞德还是看也不看她，他的眼睛死死地盯着媚兰苍白的脸。
• These are the questions which we should think and explore insistently. 怎样实现这一主体性等问题仍要求我们不断思考、探索。