万物简史 第382期:浩瀚的海洋(1)

 　　18 The Bounding Main 第十八章 浩瀚的海洋

　　Imagine trying to live in a world dominated by dihydrogen oxide¹, 请你想像一下，你能不能生活在一个由一氧化二氢主宰的世界里。

　　a compound that has no taste or smell and is so variable in its properties that it is generally benign² but at other times swiftly lethal³. 那是一种无色无味的化合物，性质极为多变，一般情况下比较温和，但有时候一下子可以致命。

　　Depending on its state, it can scald you or freeze you. 它可以灼伤你，也可以冻坏你，这取决于它处于什么状态。

　　In the presence of certain organic molecules⁴ it can form carbonic acids so nasty that they can strip the leaves from trees and eat the faces off statuary. 要是存在某种有机分子，它可以形成碳酸。碳酸简直可恶之极，会使树叶掉个精光，会侵蚀雕像的表面。

　　In bulk, when agitated⁵, it can strike with a fury that no human edifice⁶ could withstand. 要是数量很大，而且受到剌激，它就会发起猛烈的袭击，人类的任何建筑物都不是它的对手。

　　Even for those who have learned to live with it, it is an often murderous substance. 即使对于那些已经学会与它一起过日子的人来说，它也往往充满危险。

　　We call it water. 我们把这东西称之为水。

　　Water is everywhere. 哪里都有水。

　　A potato is 80 percent water, a cow 74 percent, a bacterium⁷ 75 percent. 一个马铃薯80%是水，一头牛74%是水，一个细菌75%是水。

　　A tomato, at 95 percent, is little but water. 一个西红柿95%是水，几乎全是水。

　　Even humans are 65 percent water, making us more liquid than solid by a margin⁸ of almost two to one. 连人也65%是水，因此我们身上的液体和固体之比差不多是2:1。

　　Water is strange stuff. 水是一种古怪的东西。

　　It is formless and transparent⁹, and yet we long to be beside it. 它没有形状，晶莹透明，然而，我们渴望待在它的身边。

　　It has no taste and yet we love the taste of it. 它没有味道，我们却爱尝尝它的味道。

　　We will travel great distances and pay small fortunes to see it in sunshine. 我们千里迢迢，花上好多的钱，就是为了去看一眼它在阳光下闪耀的情景。

　　And even though we know it is dangerous and drowns tens of thousands of people every year, we can't wait to frolic in it. 尽管我们知道它很危险，每年要淹死成千上万个人，我们还是迫不及待地要去水里泡一泡。

　　Because water is so ubiquitous we tend to overlook what an extraordinary substance it is. 由于水是无处不在的，因此我们往往不在意它是一种极不寻常的物质。

1 oxide   

n.氧化物

参考例句：

• Oxide is usually seen in our daily life.在我们的日常生活中氧化物很常见。
• How can you get rid of this oxide coating?你们该怎样除去这些氧化皮？

2 benign   

adj.善良的，慈祥的；良性的，无危险的

参考例句：

• The benign weather brought North America a bumper crop.温和的气候给北美带来大丰收。
• Martha is a benign old lady.玛莎是个仁慈的老妇人。

3 lethal   

adj.致死的；毁灭性的

参考例句：

• A hammer can be a lethal weapon.铁锤可以是致命的武器。
• She took a lethal amount of poison and died.她服了致命剂量的毒药死了。

4 molecules   

分子( molecule的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The structure of molecules can be seen under an electron microscope. 分子的结构可在电子显微镜下观察到。
• Inside the reactor the large molecules are cracked into smaller molecules. 在反应堆里，大分子裂变为小分子。

5 agitated   

adj.被鼓动的，不安的

参考例句：

• His answers were all mixed up,so agitated was he.他是那样心神不定，回答全乱了。
• She was agitated because her train was an hour late.她乘坐的火车晚点一个小时，她十分焦虑。

6 edifice   

n.宏伟的建筑物(如宫殿，教室)

参考例句：

• The American consulate was a magnificent edifice in the centre of Bordeaux.美国领事馆是位于波尔多市中心的一座宏伟的大厦。
• There is a huge Victorian edifice in the area.该地区有一幢维多利亚式的庞大建筑物。

7 bacterium   

n.(pl.)bacteria 细菌

参考例句：

• The bacterium possibly goes in the human body by the mouth.细菌可能通过口进入人体。
• A bacterium is identified as the cause for his duodenal ulcer.一种细菌被断定为造成他十二指肠溃疡的根源。

8 margin   

n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘

参考例句：

• We allowed a margin of 20 minutes in catching the train.我们有20分钟的余地赶火车。
• The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。

9 transparent   

adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的

参考例句：

• The water is so transparent that we can see the fishes swimming.水清澈透明，可以看到鱼儿游来游去。
• The window glass is transparent.窗玻璃是透明的。