翻译阅读：让你Hold不住的真相

 　　What came first, the chicken or the egg?

　　先有鸡还是先有蛋？

　　The egg. Final answer. As the geneticist Haldane remarked, "The most frequently asked question is: 'Which came first, the chicken or the egg?' The fact that it is still asked proves either that many people have never been taught the theory of evolution or that they don't believe it." With that in mind, the answer becomes obvious. Bird evolved from reptiles², so the first bird must have come out of an egg--laid by a reptile¹.

　　最终答案：先有蛋。遗传学家霍尔丹说，“人们经常会问先有鸡还是先有蛋这个问题，那只能说明人们没有学过进化理论或者说大家根本不相信进化理论。”如果相信进化理论的话，那么这个问题的答案是显而易见的。禽类是由爬虫类进化而来，所以，第一只禽鸟肯定是从爬虫类孵化的蛋里出来的。

　　Can anything live forever?

　　长生不老可能吗？

　　Yes. We are proud to introduce: the immortal³ jellyfish. What makes the jellyfish Turritopsis nutricula so special is that once it reproduces, it doesn't die, but transforms itself back into its juvenile⁴ polyp state. Their adult cells and the whole organism becomes "young" again. Barring any sea-borne dangers, there is no biological reason why it can't live forever.

　　可能。这里要介绍一种可以长生不老的水母。这种可以永生的水母叫做灯塔水母，它可以在性成熟后重新回到幼虫阶段（水螅状态）。灯塔水母的所有成年细胞和其它生理机制都可以返老还童。只要不被天敌吃掉，理论上说，灯塔水母就可以做到长生不老！

　　What are the chances of a coin landing on heads?

　　硬币是头朝上还是字朝上？

　　It isn't fifty-fifty. If the coin is heads up to begin with, it's more likely to land on heads. Students at Standford University recorded thousands of coin tosses with high-speed cameras and discovered the chances are approximately fifty-one to forty-nine.

　　抛硬币的概率并不是50比50. 如果硬币是头朝上往上抛，那么很有可能掉下来时也是头朝上。斯坦福大学的学生们用高速摄像机拍下了数千次抛硬币的过程，发现头朝上和字朝上的概率大约为51比49.

　　How much does a cloud weigh?

　　浮云有多重？

　　A lot. According to the National Center for Atmospheric⁵ Research in Boulder⁶, Colorado, an average cumulus cloud weighs about 100 elephants, while a big storm cloud tips the scales at 200,000 elephants.

　　答案是很重。根据美国科罗拉多州博尔德的国家大气研究中心的研究，一朵普通的积雨云的重量相当于100头大象的重量，而一朵暴风云的重量则可以达到20万头大象的重量！

　　What's so great about the golden ratio?

　　黄金比例有多伟大？

　　Every Dan Brown fan has heard of this mysterious figure that crops up everywhere--in the human body, in ancient architecture, in the natural world--and whose appeal nobody can explain. The truth is it doesn't appear in most of the places it's supposed to, and many of the claims about it are false.

　　每个丹·布朗的书迷都听说过这一充斥于我们周遭的神秘的黄金比例，人体内、古代建筑、自然界，而这一现象无人可以给出解释。真相是，黄金比例并没有出现在那些人们认为它应该出现的地方，关于黄金比例的很多说法都是错误的。

　　The Greeks knew about the golden ratio, and the Parthenon is the usual example given of its use in architecture. But any diagrams showing how its side or front elevations⁷ demonstrate a "golden rectangle" always either include some empty air at the top or leave out some steps at the bottom.

　　希腊人知道黄金比例并把它用在了帕台农神庙的建造中，这是黄金比例在建筑中的普通运用。但是，根据其侧视图和前视图显示，这一“黄金矩形”的诞生是由于误算了其高度，不是多算了顶部的高度，就是少算了底部的高度。

　　What color are oranges?

　　橙子是啥色？

　　That depends. In many countries, oranges are green, even when ripe, and are sold that way in shops. Oranges were first grown in Southeast Asia. There were green there then, and today they still are. Vietnamese and Thai oranges are bright green on the outside and orange only on the inside.

　　这可说不准。在很多国家，橙子是绿色的，即使是橙子成熟之后，可以拿到店里去卖了，它也还是绿色的。橙子最早是在东南亚种植的，那时就有绿色的橙子，直到现在也还有。越南和泰国的橙子外面是亮绿色，剥开里面才是橙黄色的。

 

1 reptile   

n.爬行动物；两栖动物

参考例句：

• The frog is not a true reptile.青蛙并非真正的爬行动物。
• So you should not be surprised to see someone keep a reptile as a pet.所以，你不必惊奇有人养了一只爬行动物作为宠物。

2 reptiles   

n.爬行动物，爬虫( reptile的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Snakes and crocodiles are both reptiles. 蛇和鳄鱼都是爬行动物。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Birds, reptiles and insects come from eggs. 鸟类、爬虫及昆虫是卵生的。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 immortal   

adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的

参考例句：

• The wild cocoa tree is effectively immortal.野生可可树实际上是不会死的。
• The heroes of the people are immortal!人民英雄永垂不朽！

4 juvenile   

n.青少年，少年读物；adj.青少年的，幼稚的

参考例句：

• For a grown man he acted in a very juvenile manner.身为成年人，他的行为举止显得十分幼稚。
• Juvenile crime is increasing at a terrifying rate.青少年犯罪正在以惊人的速度增长。

5 atmospheric   

adj.大气的，空气的；大气层的；大气所引起的

参考例句：

• Sea surface temperatures and atmospheric circulation are strongly coupled.海洋表面温度与大气环流是密切相关的。
• Clouds return radiant energy to the surface primarily via the atmospheric window.云主要通过大气窗区向地表辐射能量。

6 boulder   

n.巨砾；卵石，圆石

参考例句：

• We all heaved together and removed the boulder.大家一齐用劲，把大石头搬开了。
• He stepped clear of the boulder.他从大石头后面走了出来。

7 elevations   

（水平或数量）提高( elevation的名词复数 )； 高地； 海拔； 提升

参考例句：

• Weight of the crust changes as elevations are eroded and materials are deposited elsewhere. 当高地受到侵蚀，物质沉积到别的地方时，地壳的重量就改变。
• All deck elevations are on the top of structural beams. 所有甲板标高线均指结构梁顶线。