时差N小时 火是如何形成的?(下)

Fire is a chemical reaction.

火是一种化学反应。

A fire needs oxygen and some kind of fuel.

火的产生需要氧气和某种燃料共同作用。

This fuel–whether it's candle wax, wood, or gasoline–usually contains big molecules¹ that have carbon atoms inside them.

这些燃料，不管是蜡烛、木材还是天然气，他们通常都含有大量的碳分子。

You can think of these molecules as little containers of energy.

可以把这些分子当做小型的能量储存体。

When they're allowed to combine with oxygen, this energy is released as heat and light.

当它们与氧气结合时，这些能量会释放光和热。

Fire is a rapid chemical reaction known as oxidation.

火是一种快速的氧化化学反应。

Inside a fire, oxygen molecules break bigger molecules apart into carbon dioxide and water vapor².

在一团火中，氧分子将更大的分子分解成二氧化碳和水蒸汽。

All the heat and light of a fire comes from big, carbon-based molecules combining with oxygen.

火中的所有光和热都来自于含碳的大分子与氧气的结合。

So what is fire? It's not the fuel or the oxygen or the heat or the light.

那么到底什么是火？它不是燃料，不是氧气，也不是光和热。

Fire is what happens between all these things. It's a chemical reaction.

火就是上述因素之间产生的一种化学反应。

1 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。

2 vapor   

n.蒸汽，雾气

参考例句：

• The cold wind condenses vapor into rain.冷风使水蒸气凝结成雨。
• This new machine sometimes transpires a lot of hot vapor.这部机器有时排出大量的热气。