英国学生科学读本 第11期:我们呼吸的空气

 　　Lesson 11 THE AIR WE BREATHE

　　第11课 我们呼吸的空气

　　Have you any empty cups, or jugs², or bottles in your house? No, not one. You may have many which you call empty, but they are really all full of air.

　　小朋友, 你家里有空杯子、空水壶、空瓶子吗? 没有, 一个也没有！可能有不少杯子瓶子, 你管它们叫“空的”, 可是, 它们都盛满了空气！

　　Have you ever noticed how hard it is to fill with water from the tap a bottle which has a narrow neck? The bottle is full of air, and the air must get out of it before the water can get in. Two things cannot be in the same place at the same time.

　　你注意过没有, 用水龙头往窄口瓶里面灌水, 想把瓶子装满, 是一件特别困难的事儿。因为瓶子里充满了空气, 只有空气先出来, 水才能进去。这两种东西, 在同一个时间, 同一个地点, 是不能待在一块儿的。

　　Air and water are both called fluids³, because they can flow from one place to another. Wind is nothing but air flowing from one place to another.

　　空气和水都叫流体, 因为它们都能从一个地方流到另一个地方。风, 就是空气从一个地方流到另一个地方。

　　Air is a gas. When pure, it has no colour, taste, or smell. The air is many miles high. Men have gone seven miles up in a balloon; but even then they were not near the top of the air.

　　空气是一种气体, 纯净的空气是无色无味的。地球表面的空气, 有好多英里厚呢。人类曾经坐气球升到7英里的高度, 可是, 这个高度离空气的顶端还很远呢！

　　But the air does not reach all the way to the sun, moon, and stars. The air lies all round the earth on which we live, and it is of great use to us.

　　可是, 空气并不是一直延伸到太阳、月亮、星星的。空气只在地球周围有一层, 空气对我们十分有用。

　　The air is of great use in helping⁴ things to burn. Let us light two or three bits of candle and put them under glass tumblers of different sizes. Soon all the candles will go out. The candle under the smallest tumbler, which has least air in it, will go out first.

　　空气可以帮助燃烧。咱们点起两三根蜡烛来, 把蜡烛倒扣在大小不同的平底玻璃杯里。很快, 蜡烛就都熄灭了。最小的平底杯里面, 空气最少, 所以这里的蜡烛也就最早熄灭。

　　It is the air in a room that makes the fire burn brightly. It burns better when you open the door or the window, because you then let in more air.

　　房间里的空气, 让火烧得更旺。你在开门、开窗户的时候, 火会烧得更好一些, 因为你把更多的空气放进了屋子。

　　And it is the air that keeps all things alive. All animals and all plants must have plenty of fresh air to breathe, or they will soon die.

　　所有的生物, 也都需要空气才能活。一切动物和植物, 都必须有足够的新鲜空气呼吸才行, 不然很快就会死掉的。

　　We must be very careful to let plenty of fresh air into the rooms in which we live. The windows should be left open a little, even at night.

　　我们一定要小心, 要让自己的房间有足够的新鲜空气。就算晚上, 也要开一点儿窗户。

　　Do you want to feel the air? All you need to do is to move your hand about quickly. Or you may squeeze⁵ a foot-ball, or a paper bag which you have blown full with your breath¹. All of these are full of air.

　　你想感觉一下空气吗? 只要把手很快地摆来摆去就行了。也可以挤一下足球, 挤一下吹足了气的纸袋子。这些东西里面, 都充满了空气。

1 breath   

n.呼吸，气息，微风，迹象，精神，一种说话的声音

参考例句：

• I'm just going out for a breath of fresh air.我正要出去呼吸新鲜空气。
• While climbing up the stairs the old man always loses his breath.那老人上楼时总是气喘吁吁的。

2 jugs   

（有柄及小口的）水壶( jug的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Two china jugs held steaming gravy. 两个瓷罐子装着热气腾腾的肉卤。
• Jugs-Big wall lingo for Jumars or any other type of ascenders. 大岩壁术语，祝玛式上升器或其它种类的上升器。

3 fluids   

n.液体，流体( fluid的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He is taking cold fluids. 他正在喝冷饮。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• You can contract Aids if your bodily fluids come into contact with the bodily fluids of someone else who is infected with HIV. 如果你的体液与染有HIV者的体液接触，你就会染上艾滋病。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

5 squeeze   

vt.硬塞，硬挤；挤压；n.榨；经济困难；拮据

参考例句：

• This machine helps you to squeeze more juice out.这台机器能挤出更多的果汁。
• It was a tight squeeze in the crowded bus.公共汽车上载客太多，挤得很。