【英语时差8,16】阿基米德用镜子烧了罗马船？（下）

So, the Archimedes mirror story is probably more myth¹ than real, for a few reasons. First, for the plan to work, the Roman fleet² would have had to attack in the morning, since Syracuse faces the sea to the east. This may have been the case, but there’s no evidence that the Roman’s carried off a morning attack. More importantly, using mirrors to burn Roman ships would probably have been too impractical³. It would have made more sense to use flaming arrows or pitch shot from catapults to set the boats on fire. Still, Archimedes was an extraordinary inventor of, among other things, military machines. So while the mirror story is probably a myth, if anyone could have pulled it off, it was Archimedes.

1 myth   

n.神话，神话故事

参考例句：

• The story has points of resemblance to a Hebrew myth.这个故事与某个希伯来神话有相似之处。
• The story is a pure myth.这故事纯属虚构。

2 fleet   

n.舰队；船队，机群

参考例句：

• He made his money with a fleet of moving vans.他靠一队家具搬运车赚钱。
• He was placed in command of the fleet.他被任命为舰队司令。

3 impractical   

adj.不现实的，不实用的，不切实际的

参考例句：

• He was hopelessly impractical when it came to planning new projects.一到规划新项目，他就完全没有了实际操作的能力。
• An entirely rigid system is impractical.一套完全死板的体制是不实际的。