第1章 迷失在宇宙中 Lost in the Cosmos · 第1讲
课程:《万物简史》慕课教程(WANWUJS001)主讲:余俊英副教授(数字人)词汇 32 条句型 6 条要点 1 条
一、本课要点
- T=0 的含义:类比火箭发射倒计时,T=0 指点火升空瞬间。文中借指宇宙大爆炸发生的那一确切时刻。
二、核心词汇(32)
| 词条 | 释义 / 讲解 |
|---|
| Short History of Nearly Everything | 《万物简史》书名。Nearly everything 意为“几乎所有事物”,体现内容包罗万象。 |
| intimidating | 令人生畏的,吓人的。文中指非科学背景的人面对科学知识时感到的压力。 |
| witty, engaging | 机智风趣的,引人入胜的。形容作者Bill Bryson写作风格幽默且吸引人。 |
| Cosmos vs Chaos | Cosmos指有序宇宙,Chaos指混沌无序。二者互为反义词,源自希腊语。 |
| plane | 平面。此处指太阳系行星运行轨道所在的同一几何平面,非飞机。 |
| gorgeous | 极好的,华丽的。常形容风景绝美或人长得漂亮,如gorgeous sunset。 |
| uncanny | 怪诞的,离奇的。指事物奇怪到难以解释,带有神秘色彩。 |
| assuming | 傲慢的,自大的。文中指出此处并非“假定”,而是指taking too much upon oneself。 |
| unassuming | 谦逊的,不张扬的。与assuming相反,对应unpretentious, modest。 |
| way too | 太...了,极其...。way作程度副词,强调程度之深,如way too small。 |
| infinitesimal | 极小的,微乎其微的。由infinite(无限)+ -esimal(小后缀)构成,指小到极限。 |
| insubstantial | 非实体的,虚幻的。substance为实质,in-否定前缀,指几乎不存在、不值一提。 |
| to say the least | 退一步说,至少。用于强调所述情况保守估计成立,此处强调质子极小。 |
| edge | 边缘。The edge of creation 指宇宙诞生的边缘。 |
| infinitesimally compact | 极其微小紧凑的。infinitesimal 指极小的,compact 指紧凑的。 |
| dimension | 维度。two/three dimensions 指二维/三维空间。 |
| singularity | 奇点。物理学中指时空曲率无限大的点,此处指宇宙起点。 |
| spectacle | 奇观,壮观景象。形容词 spectacular 意为壮观的。 |
| pregnant dot | 蕴含无限可能的小点。pregnant 此处喻指“充满(可能性)”。 |
| pop into being | 突然出现/诞生。比 come into being 更生动,强调突然性。 |
| submerge / emerge | submerge 淹没;emerge 出现。两者互为反义词,常用于描述潜水艇或物体在水中的状态变化。 |
| pulse | 脉冲;脉搏。指突然增强的一股电流或波,此处形容宇宙大爆炸时瞬间爆发的能量。 |
| swift | 迅速的,敏捷的。同义词 fast/quick。此处形容宇宙诞生时刻发生速度极快。 |
| expansive | 广阔的,扩张的。注意区分 expensive(昂贵的)。此处指宇宙空间迅速膨胀。 |
| beyond conception | 无法想象,超出概念。conception 指形成观念或概念。形容空间之大超乎人类认知。 |
| cosmologist | 宇宙学家。由 cosmos(宇宙)+ -logist(学者)构成。研究宇宙起源、结构的天文学分支专家。 |
| a dash of | 少许,一点点。原指烹饪中加的一滴调料,此处幽默地形容锂元素在宇宙元素中占比极微。 |
| wondrous | adj. 奇迹般的,令人惊异的。文中指宇宙充满无限可能,令人惊叹。 |
| gratifying | adj. 令人满意的,愉悦的。源自gratify(使高兴),此处形容宇宙的美好。 |
| consensus | n. 一致意见,共识。heading for consensus 意为“趋向于达成共识”。 |
| notoriously | adv. 众所周知地(常指坏事)。notorious 指“声名狼藉的”,此处幽默地强调测量之难。 |
| indeterminate | adj. 不确定的,模糊的。前缀in-表否定,determine决定。指时间点在遥远过去且无法精确确定。 |
三、句型与语法点(6)
| 要点 | 说明 |
|---|
| How + adj. 感叹句 | How tiny... is a proton. 倒装结构,强调质子极其微小,难以被人类理解。 |
| 定语从句嵌套 | which指代atom,itself指代proton。层层递进说明质子极小,原子本身也微不足道。 |
| Imaginary Scenario | Imagine doing... 想象做某事。you can't为插入语。后接shrinking...into...,描述缩小质子的假设场景。 |
| visualize ... as ... | 把……想象成……。visualize 意为构想、设想。 |
| It is a matter of... | 句型:It is a matter of + n. 意为“……的问题/事宜”。此处指“这是一个有争议的问题”。 |
| lose track of | 短语:失去线索,忘记。lose track of the general meaning 指因逐句讲解而忽略整体大意。 |
四、课堂讨论题
1. 老师,讲稿里提到太阳系天体都在同一个 'plane' 上,但 'plane' 平时不都是指飞机吗?这里到底啥意思呀?
2. 文中说 Bill Bryson 不是科学家,那他是怎么把那些像量子力学、地质学这么难的科学知识,讲得连外行人都觉得有趣的呢?
3. 这里提到了 'cosmos' 和 'universe' 都是宇宙的意思,它们有啥区别吗?为什么作者要特意区分这两个词?
4. 为什么 'lunacy'(精神失常)这个词的词根是 'luna'(月亮)?古人觉得月亮和人的精神状态有啥关系吗?
5. 作者用 'a little dip of ink'(一个小墨点)能装下5000亿个质子来比喻质子有多小,这个例子虽然形象,但5000亿这个数字对我们来说还是太抽象了,有没有更生活化的对比?
五、Discussion Questions (English)
1. In the text, it says all solar system bodies are on the same 'plane'. But doesn't 'plane' usually mean an airplane? What does it mean here?
2. The text mentions Bill Bryson isn't a scientist, but how does he manage to explain complex topics like quantum mechanics in a way that ordinary people find interesting?
3. Both 'cosmos' and 'universe' refer to the universe in the text. What's the difference between them, and why does the author distinguish between the two?
4. Why is the word 'lunacy' (mental illness) derived from 'luna' (moon)? Did the ancients think there was a connection between the moon and human mental states?
5. The author uses a 'little dip of ink' holding 500 billion protons to illustrate how small a proton is. While vivid, is 500 billion still too abstract? Are there any more relatable comparisons?
六、听力 / 讲稿全文
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你有没有看过这张图片?
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也许在你的高中地理课书上吗?
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我第一次看到的时候很惊讶。
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肯定没有人能像这个样子把地球剪开来看。
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但科学家是如何找到地球不同层次,
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以及每个层次的厚度和厚度呢?
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书籍并没有回答这些问题。
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书籍告诉我们事实和图片,
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but they do not answer our whys and hows F
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ortunately,
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Bill
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Bryson has written a book to answer the questions of
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curious people like you and me A
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Short History of Nearly Everything Everything
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here includes astronomy,
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chemistry,
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evolution,geology,
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paleontology and even quantum mechanics
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万物简史包罗万象,包括天文学,
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化学,进化论,地质学,古生物学,
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粒子物理,乃至量子力学。
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Bill Bryson is not a scientist.He is a writer.
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He has written a huge lot of books.
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Most of them travelogues about his adventures across
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the world.
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Some of them are about the English language.He
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understands how intimidating science can be to those
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who are not so science minded and he knows how to explain
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things in a way that ordinary people find interesting
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The
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Times referred to this book as a
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travelogue of sciencewith a witty,
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engaging and well informed guide who loves this patch
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and is desperate to share its delights with us 英
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国的泰晤士报
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把万物简史这本书比作科学界的旅游文学作
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者 Bill Bryson 就是一个导游他知识渊博,
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幽默风趣他
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热爱自己负责的这块景区迫
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切地想和我们分享他的精彩让
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我们跟随 Bill Bryson 一同开启赋予智慧、
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风趣幽默而又大开眼界的科学之旅吧 Part
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1 Lost in the Cosmos
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迷失在宇宙中 Cosmos is the universe,
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especially when you think of it as an orderly system The
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opposite of Cosmos is Chaos Cosmos
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指
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的是一个有序体系的宇宙而 chaos 指的是宇宙未开之
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前的混沌状态 They
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are all in the same plane They are all going around in the
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same direction It's perfect,
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you know It's gorgeous It's almost uncanny Astronomer
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Geoffrey Marcy describing the solar system
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这是一位天文学家描述太阳系的一句话作为第一部分
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的引言 They
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are all in the same plane Could
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this plane be the plane that flies in the sky?
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Very often when you think you know a word but its meaning
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does not fit in the context most probably you don't
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really know this wordplane 这里也不是飞机的意思
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其实它指的是平面 They are all in the same plane 是指太
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阳系中的所有的星体它的
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运行轨道都是在同一个平面的 And they are going
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around in the same direction 运行的方向也是一致的
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It's perfect,
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you know It's gorgeous Gorgeous means very beautiful,
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very attractive You can say gorgeous women,
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gorgeous men Gorgeous sunset,
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gorgeous waterfalls 可以用来指人或者风景 It's
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almost uncanny It
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means that it is so strange that it is almost impossible
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to explain Uncanny 指的是诡异神秘 So mysterious,
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so strange Astronomer 是天文学家中间的 astro 是星星
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的意思 Astronomer actually means a person who looks at
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stars
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所以天文学家还有一个俗称是 stargazergaze means
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look atastronomy
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天文学还有
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astronaut 是宇航员 solar systemsolar 是太阳系 like
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solar calendar
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这是指太阳里也就是根据地球绕太阳公转的周期而制
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定的立法叫 solar calendar 像我们现在用的功力或者
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说心力就是一种 solar calendar 它一年是 365 天的
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solar energy 是太阳能与
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solar 相对的一个词 luna 是指月亮的 luna calendar 指
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的就是依照月亮绕地球转的周期而制定的立法
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像我们传统的农历就是一种 luna calendar
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Lunar New Year 就我们说的传统的农历春节就可以叫做
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Lunar New Year 农历新年过
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去的人有一点迷信觉得月球的音月亮的音琴圆缺跟地
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球上人们的行为状态有一点的关系觉得月圆之夜呢人
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比较容易出现异常 Lunacy 就是指这种精神异常的疯狂
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的状态而 lunatic 就是疯子
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俗称 luny
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在哈利波特里边有一个小姑娘名字叫 Luna Love good
……(后略,完整文稿见视频页字幕)
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