万物简史 第156期:基本物质(24)

 　　Kelvin died in 1907. That year also saw the death of Dmitri Mendeleyev. Like Kelvin, his productive work was far behind him, but his declining years were notably¹ less serene². As he aged³, Mendeleyev became increasingly eccentric—he refused to acknowledge the existence of radiation or the electron or anything else much that was new—and difficult. His final decades were spent mostly storming out of labs and lecture halls all across Europe. In 1955, element 101 was named mendelevium in his honor. "Appropriately," notes Paul Strathern, "it is an unstable⁴ element."

　　开尔文死于1907年。德米特里·门捷列夫也在那年去世。和开尔文一样，他的累累成果将流芳百世，但他的晚年生活显然不大平静。随着人越来越老，门捷列夫变得越来越古怪——他拒不承认放射现象、电子以及许多别的新鲜东西的存在——也越来越难以相处。在最后的几十年里，无论在欧洲什么地方，他大多怒气冲冲地退出实验室和课堂。1955年，第101号元素被命名为钔，作为对他的纪念。“非常恰当，”保罗·斯特拉森认为，“它是一种不稳定的元素。”

　　居里夫人

　　Radiation, of course, went on and on, literally⁵ and in ways nobody expected. In the early 1900s Pierre Curie began to experience clear signs of radiation sickness—notably dull aches in his bones and chronic⁶ feelings of malaise—which doubtless would have progressed unpleasantly. We shall never know for certain because in 1906 he was fatally run over by a carriage while crossing a Paris street.

　　当然，放射现象实际上在不停地发生，以谁也估计不到的方式发生。20世纪初，皮埃尔·居里开始出现放射病的明显症状——骨头里隐隐作痛，经常有不舒服的感觉——那些症状本来肯定会不断加剧。但是，我们永远也无法确切知道，因为他1906年在巴黎过马路时被马车撞死了。

　　Marie Curie spent the rest of her life working with distinction in the field, helping⁷ to found the celebrated⁸ Radium Institute of the University of Paris in 1914. Despite her two Nobel Prizes, she was never elected to the Academy of Sciences, in large part because after the death of Pierre she conducted an affair with a married physicist⁹ that was sufficiently¹⁰ indiscreet to scandalize even the French—or at least the old men who ran the academy, which is perhaps another matter.

　　玛丽·居里在余生干得很出色，1914年帮助建立了著名的巴黎大学铀研究所。尽管她两次获得诺贝尔奖，但她从来没有当选过科学院院士。在很大程度上，这是因为皮埃尔死了以后，她跟一位有妻室的物理学家发生了暧昧关系。她的行为如此不检点，连法国人都觉得很丢脸——至少掌管科学院的老头儿们觉得很丢脸。当然，这件事也许跟本书不相干了。

1 notably   

adv.值得注意地，显著地，尤其地，特别地

参考例句：

• Many students were absent,notably the monitor.许多学生缺席，特别是连班长也没来。
• A notably short,silver-haired man,he plays basketball with his staff several times a week.他个子明显较为矮小，一头银发，每周都会和他的员工一起打几次篮球。

2 serene   

adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的

参考例句：

• He has entered the serene autumn of his life.他已进入了美好的中年时期。
• He didn't speak much,he just smiled with that serene smile of his.他话不多，只是脸上露出他招牌式的淡定的微笑。

3 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。

4 unstable   

adj.不稳定的，易变的

参考例句：

• This bookcase is too unstable to hold so many books.这书橱很不结实，装不了这么多书。
• The patient's condition was unstable.那患者的病情不稳定。

5 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

6 chronic   

adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的

参考例句：

• Famine differs from chronic malnutrition.饥荒不同于慢性营养不良。
• Chronic poisoning may lead to death from inanition.慢性中毒也可能由虚弱导致死亡。

7 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。

8 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

9 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。

10 sufficiently   

adv.足够地，充分地

参考例句：

• It turned out he had not insured the house sufficiently.原来他没有给房屋投足保险。
• The new policy was sufficiently elastic to accommodate both views.新政策充分灵活地适用两种观点。