2021年经济学人 冬季的天气--雪(1)

Books & arts

文艺板块

Book review

书评

Winter weather

冬季的天气

The white stuff

白色的物质

Snow. By Anthony Wood.

《雪》。作者：安东尼·伍德

Anthony wood remembers sitting in the classroom one snowy morning as his teacher eyed the “saucer-size flakes” swirling¹ outside the window. “Please boys and girls”, she implored², “pray that it stops snowing.” How little she grasped the mind of children, Mr Wood observes: “We were praying, alright—praying that it would snow until June.”

安东尼·伍德还记得，在一个下雪的清晨，他坐在教室里，他的老师则看着窗外盘旋的“碟子大小的雪花”。她恳求道，“孩子们，请祈祷大雪停下来吧。”老师对孩子们的想法把握的太少了，伍德说：“我们其实是在祈祷雪能下到六月份。”

Everyone knows children love snow. Mr Wood’s new book is meant for adults who remain infatuated. It is less a systematic³ history than a meander⁴ through assorted⁵ snow-related subjects—beginning with the snowflake itself, which the author describes poetically⁶ as “the DNA⁷ of God”.

每个人都知道，小孩子喜欢雪。伍德的新书是写给那些仍然热爱雪的成年人的。与其说这本书是一部系统性的历史书，倒不如说是一部讲述各种与雪有关的主题的漫谈。书的开端，作者阐述了雪花本身，并诗意地将雪花描述为“上帝的DNA”。

These miniature ice crystals were once neglected by scientists, who saw little practical benefit in studying them. Their disdain⁸, however, was not shared by Wilson Bentley, a farm boy in Vermont who was given a microscope on his 15th birthday in 1880; later he acquired a bellows-camera, which he adapted to take the first-ever photomicrographs of snowflakes, being careful not to breathe on his evanescent subjects before tripping the shutter⁹.

这些微型冰晶曾一度为科学家们所忽视，他们认为研究雪花没有什么实际效益。然而，威尔逊·本特利并不认同科学家对雪花研究的不屑一顾。威尔逊·本特利是佛蒙特州的一个农家男孩，1880年，15岁的威尔逊得到了一台显微镜作为生日礼物；后来，他买了一台折叠暗箱照相机，并用它拍摄了有史以来第一张雪花的显微照片。在按动快门之前，他万分小心，唯恐自己的呼吸影响到雪花这个瞬息即逝的对象。

Inspired by Bentley’s ethereal images, in 1936 Nakaya Ukichiro, a Japanese nuclear physicist¹⁰, became the first person to manufacture snow in the lab. His research on how the crystals form showed that snowflakes develop on the fly, during their sometimes hours-long journey to the ground. The higher the humidity that they encounter on the way, the more intricate their architecture becomes.

1936年，日本核物理学家中谷宇吉郎受到本特利超凡图像的启发，成为第一个在实验室制造雪的人。他对雪花晶体形成方式的研究表明，雪花有时要历经数小时飘落到地面，而它们就是在飘落的过程中形成的。飘落过程中，空气湿度越高，雪花的结构就越复杂。

1 swirling   

v.旋转，打旋( swirl的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Snowflakes were swirling in the air. 天空飘洒着雪花。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• She smiled, swirling the wine in her glass. 她微笑着，旋动着杯子里的葡萄酒。 来自辞典例句

2 implored   

恳求或乞求（某人）( implore的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She implored him to stay. 她恳求他留下。
• She implored him with tears in her eyes to forgive her. 她含泪哀求他原谅她。

3 systematic   

adj.有系统的，有计划的，有方法的

参考例句：

• The way he works isn't very systematic.他的工作不是很有条理。
• The teacher made a systematic work of teaching.这个教师进行系统的教学工作。

4 meander   

n.河流的曲折，漫步，迂回旅行；v.缓慢而弯曲地流动，漫谈

参考例句：

• Visitors and locals alike meander along the sidewalks of the Seine River.游客与当地人沿着塞纳河岸漫步聊天。
• They tumble down mountainsides and meander through flat farmlands.它们滚滚冲下山脊，蜿蜒穿过平坦的农田。

5 assorted   

adj.各种各样的，各色俱备的

参考例句：

• There's a bag of assorted sweets on the table.桌子上有一袋什锦糖果。
• He has always assorted with men of his age.他总是与和他年令相仿的人交往。

6 poetically   

adv.有诗意地，用韵文

参考例句：

• Life is poetically compared to the morning dew. 在诗歌中，人生被比喻为朝露。 来自辞典例句
• Poetically, Midsummer's Eve begins in flowers and ends in fire. 仲夏节是富有诗意的节日，它以鲜花领航，在篝火旁完美落幕。 来自互联网

7 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。

8 disdain   

n.鄙视，轻视；v.轻视，鄙视，不屑

参考例句：

• Some people disdain labour.有些人轻视劳动。
• A great man should disdain flatterers.伟大的人物应鄙视献媚者。

9 shutter   

n.百叶窗；(照相机)快门；关闭装置

参考例句：

• The camera has a shutter speed of one-sixtieth of a second.这架照像机的快门速度达六十分之一秒。
• The shutter rattled in the wind.百叶窗在风中发出嘎嘎声。

10 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。