万物简史 第359期:孤独的行星(24)

 　　Any visitors to Earth from afar would almost certainly, at the very least, be bemused to find us living in an atmosphere composed of nitrogen, 任何光临地球的远方客人几乎肯定都会觉得好笑，发现我们生活在一种由氮和氧组成的大气里。

　　a gas sulkily disinclined to react with anything, 前者懒得不肯与任何东西发生化学反应；

　　and oxygen, which is so partial to combustion¹ that we must place fire stations throughout our cities to protect ourselves from its livelier effects. 后者动不动就烧起来，我们不得不在城市的每个角落设置消防站，以免性情活泼的它对我们造成影响。

　　But even if our visitors were oxygen-breathing bipeds with shopping malls and a fondness for action movies, 即使我们的客人是呼吸氧气的两足动物，家乡设有大卖场，喜欢看情节片，

　　it is unlikely that they would find Earth ideal. 他们也很可能觉得地球不是个很理想的环境。

　　We couldn't even give them lunch because all our foods contain traces of manganese, selenium, zinc², 我们甚至无法招待他们吃午饭，因为我们的食物里都含有微量锰、硒、锌

　　and other elemental particles at least some of which would be poisonous to them. 和别的元素粒子，起码其中有一些对他们来说是有毒性的。

　　To them Earth might not seem a wondrously³ congenial place at all. 在他们看来，地球也许根本不是个很合意的地方。

　　The physicist⁴ Richard Feynman used to make a joke about a posteriori conclusions, as they are called. 物理学家里查得·费曼经常取笑事后下结论——从已知的事实往前推测可能的原因。

　　"You know, the most amazing thing happened to me tonight," he would say. “你要知道，今天晚上我遇到了一件最令人惊讶的事，”他会说，

　　"I saw a car with the license⁵ plate ARW 357. Can you imagine? “我看到一辆汽车的牌照是ARW357。你想像得到吗？

　　Of all the millions of license plates in the state, what was the chance that I would see that particular one tonight? Amazing!" 在我国几百万个牌照当中，今天晚上我怎么会偏偏看到那个牌照？真是不可思议！”

　　His point, of course, was that it is easy to make any banal⁶ situation seem extraordinary if you treat it as fateful. 当然，他的意思是，你很容易使任何平淡的事情显得很不寻常，如果你把它看得很严重的话。

　　So it is possible that the events and conditions that led to the rise of life on Earth are not quite as extraordinary as we like to think. 因此，导致地球上出现生命的事件和条件很可能不像你乐意认为的那样很不寻常。

　　Still, they were extraordinary enough, and one thing is certain: they will have to do until we find some better. 不过，它们还是很不寻常的。有一点是肯定的：在找到更好的理由之前，我们只能说它们是很不寻常的。

1 combustion   

n.燃烧；氧化；骚动

参考例句：

• We might be tempted to think of combustion.我们也许会联想到氧化。
• The smoke formed by their combustion is negligible.由它燃烧所生成的烟是可忽略的。

2 zinc   

n.锌；vt.在...上镀锌

参考例句：

• Brass is formed by the fusion of copper and zinc.黄铜是通过铜和锌的熔合而成的。
• Zinc is used to protect other metals from corrosion.锌被用来保护其他金属不受腐蚀。

3 wondrously   

adv.惊奇地，非常，极其

参考例句：

• She grow wondrously fond of stealing off to corners by herself. 她变得出奇地喜欢独自躲在角落里。 来自辞典例句
• If you but smile, spring zephyrs blow through my spirits, wondrously. 假使你只是仅仅对我微笑，春天的和风就会惊奇的吹过我的心灵间。 来自互联网

4 physicist   

n.物理学家，研究物理学的人

参考例句：

• He is a physicist of the first rank.他是一流的物理学家。
• The successful physicist never puts on airs.这位卓有成就的物理学家从不摆架子。

5 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。

6 banal   

adj.陈腐的，平庸的

参考例句：

• Making banal remarks was one of his bad habits.他的坏习惯之一就是喜欢说些陈词滥调。
• The allegations ranged from the banal to the bizarre.从平淡无奇到离奇百怪的各种说法都有。