万物简史 第354期:孤独的行星(19)

 　　As you might expect, oxygen is our most abundant element, accounting¹ for just under 50 percent of the Earth's crust, 你也许会想到，氧是最丰富的元素，占地壳的将近50%。

　　but after that the relative abundances are often surprising. 但是，其后的排列往往出乎人们的意料，

　　Who would guess, for instance, that silicon² is the second most common element on Earth or that titanium is tenth? 比如，谁想得到，在最常见的元素当中，硅在地球上占第2位或钛占第10位？

　　Abundance has little to do with their familiarity or utility to us. 元素的丰度，与我们对它们的熟悉程度，或他们对我们的有用程度毫无关系。

　　Many of the more obscure elements are actually more common than the better-known ones. 许多不大知名的元素实际上比比较知名的元素还要丰富。

　　There is more cerium on Earth than copper³, more neodymium and lanthanum than cobalt or nitrogen. 地球上的铈比铜还多，钕和镧比钴或氮还多。

　　Tin barely makes it into the top fifty, eclipsed by such relative obscurities as praseodymium, samarium, gadolinium, and dysprosium. 锡勉强进入前50名，落后于不大知名的镤、钐、钆和镝。

　　Abundance also has little to do with ease of detection. 丰度还与发现的难易程度毫无关系。

　　Aluminum⁴ is the fourth most common element on Earth, accounting for nearly a tenth of everything that's underneath⁵ your feet, 铝是地球是第四常见元素，站到你脚底下的一切的将近十分之一，

　　but its existence wasn't even suspected until it was discovered in the nineteenth century by Humphry Davy, 但直到19世纪汉弗莱·戴维才发现了它，才知道它的存在。

　　and for a long time after that it was treated as rare and precious. 在此后的很长时间里，它被作为稀有的贵重金属。

　　Congress nearly put a shiny lining⁶ of aluminum foil atop the Washington Monument to show what a classy and prosperous nation we had become, 为了显示美国是个有钱有派头的国家，国会差一点在华盛顿纪念碑的顶端装点一层闪闪发亮的铝箔。

　　and the French imperial family in the same period discarded the state silver dinner service and replaced it with an aluminum one. 同一时期，法兰西王族在国宴上不再使用银质餐具，改用铝质餐具。

　　The fashion was cutting edge even if the knives weren't. 这种时尚很解决问题，尽管刀叉却不见得。

1 accounting   

n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表

参考例句：

• A job fell vacant in the accounting department.财会部出现了一个空缺。
• There's an accounting error in this entry.这笔账目里有差错。

2 silicon   

n.硅(旧名矽)

参考例句：

• This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
• A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。

3 copper   

n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的

参考例句：

• The students are asked to prove the purity of copper.要求学生们检验铜的纯度。
• Copper is a good medium for the conduction of heat and electricity.铜是热和电的良导体。

4 aluminum   

n.(aluminium)铝

参考例句：

• The aluminum sheets cannot be too much thicker than 0.04 inches.铝板厚度不能超过0.04英寸。
• During the launch phase,it would ride in a protective aluminum shell.在发射阶段，它盛在一只保护的铝壳里。

5 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

6 lining   

n.衬里，衬料

参考例句：

• The lining of my coat is torn.我的外套衬里破了。
• Moss makes an attractive lining to wire baskets.用苔藓垫在铁丝篮里很漂亮。