【英语时差8,16】危险的摆动

 A little fun you can have to demonstrate centrifugal force, but you might want to do it outside. Don: Ya?l, see this glass full of water? Ya?l: Yes. D: Watch me swing it around my head! Y: Look out!!!...Hey, how did you do that? You swung the glass completely around without spilling a drop. D: Not bad, eh? Want to try it? Y: Not until I know the secret. D: The secret is centrifugal. Y: You mean centrifugal force? I thought that was a myth¹. D: It's no myth, though it is what physicists² call a "fictitious³ force." If you tie a rock to a string and spin it around, it feels as though some force is trying to drive the rock away from the center of the spin. What you're actually feeling, though, is just the rock's inertia⁴. Y: Hmmm...better explain that. D: Well, the law of inertia says that something in motion will tend to stay in motion, and what's more, to move in a straight line. The rock is set into motion and is trying at every moment to leave the circle and move away in a straight line. The string is keeping it from doing so, which is why it feels like a mysterious force is pushing the rock away. Y: I get it. So when you spin the glass over your head, the water inside it is trying to move off in a straight line too. But the glass prevents it from doing so, as long as you keep the bottom of the glass pointed⁵ away from yourself. Inertia holds the water inside the spinning glass! D: Right. Let's try again. (SPLASH) Y: I think our listeners better practice this one outside at first.

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 physicists   

物理学家( physicist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• For many particle physicists, however, it was a year of frustration. 对于许多粒子物理学家来说，这是受挫折的一年。 来自英汉非文学 - 科技
• Physicists seek rules or patterns to provide a framework. 物理学家寻求用法则或图式来构成一个框架。

3 fictitious   

adj.虚构的，假设的；空头的

参考例句：

• She invented a fictitious boyfriend to put him off.她虚构出一个男朋友来拒绝他。
• The story my mother told me when I was young is fictitious.小时候妈妈对我讲的那个故事是虚构的。

4 inertia   

adj.惰性，惯性，懒惰，迟钝

参考例句：

• We had a feeling of inertia in the afternoon.下午我们感觉很懒。
• Inertia carried the plane onto the ground.飞机靠惯性着陆。

5 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。