第4章 万物的尺度 The Measure of Things · 第2讲

1. 讲稿里说牛顿是 'decidedly odd'，这里 'decidedly' 具体是啥意思？是说他‘绝对’奇怪还是‘显然’奇怪呀？
2. 牛顿往自己眼窝里插长钉子（bodkin）做实验，这听着太疯狂了，他到底是为了看啥？真的没伤到眼睛吗？
3. 'prickly' 和 'quirky' 在讲稿里都形容牛顿古怪，这两个词有啥区别？一个是脾气坏，一个是性格怪吗？
4. 为什么牛顿发明了微积分和光学理论这么牛的成果，却选择‘藏起来’27年或30年不发表？他为啥这么神秘？
5. 讲稿提到牛顿花了一半时间去搞炼金术（alchemy），这和他‘绝世天才’的形象咋结合起来？炼金术对他有啥意义？

1. The transcript says Newton was 'decidedly odd'; what does 'decidedly' mean here exactly? Does it mean 'absolutely' strange or 'obviously' strange?
2. Newton sticking a long needle (bodkin) into his eye socket sounds crazy; what was he trying to see? Did he really not hurt his eyes?
3. Both 'prickly' and 'quirky' are used to describe Newton's oddness. What's the difference between them? Is one about his bad temper and the other his strange personality?
4. Why did Newton choose to keep his groundbreaking discoveries in calculus and optics secret for 27 or 30 years? Why was he so secretive?
5. The transcript mentions Newton spent half his life on alchemy. How does that fit with his image as a 'supreme genius'? What significance did alchemy have for him?

1 00:00:12,240 --> 00:00:14,460 Hello friends,as you can see, 2 00:00:14,580 --> 00:00:16,800 today's lesson is focused on Newton, 3 00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:20,920 but it's mostly about what a strange person Newton was. 4 00:00:21,220 --> 00:00:22,420 And here we go. 5 00:00:23,350 --> 00:00:25,980 Newton was a decidedly odd figure, 6 00:00:26,220 --> 00:00:27,900 brilliant beyond measure, 7 00:00:28,080 --> 00:00:30,220 but solitary,joyless, 8 00:00:30,400 --> 00:00:32,400 prickly to the point of paranoia, 9 00:00:32,620 --> 00:00:34,060 famously distracted. 10 00:00:36,980 --> 00:00:40,880 He would reportedly sometimes sit for hours, 11 00:00:41,080 --> 00:00:44,620 immobilized by the sudden rush of thoughts to his head, 12 00:00:44,780 --> 00:00:48,280 and capable of the most riveting strangeness. 13 00:00:48,540 --> 00:00:51,000 Decidedly means definitely. 14 00:00:51,520 --> 00:00:53,680 Art figure means strange person. 15 00:00:54,060 --> 00:00:55,620 Figure means character, 16 00:00:56,060 --> 00:00:57,400 the kind of person. 17 00:00:58,340 --> 00:01:01,580 Newton was definitely a very strange person. 18 00:01:02,300 --> 00:01:05,960 He was brilliant beyond measure.brilliant means very 19 00:01:05,960 --> 00:01:06,520 smart, 20 00:01:06,820 --> 00:01:11,620 intelligent 他聪明绝顶 beyond measure measure 是衡 21 00:01:11,620 --> 00:01:16,080 量次量的意思他聪明的程度都无法衡量了 but 22 00:01:16,080 --> 00:01:16,900 solitary 23 00:01:17,530 --> 00:01:21,970 a solitary person spends a lot of time alonebecause he 24 00:01:21,970 --> 00:01:27,410 likes to be alone so solitary 他不喜欢跟别人在一起他 25 00:01:27,410 --> 00:01:31,710 喜欢一个人待着 joyless and prickly to the point of 26 00:01:31,710 --> 00:01:32,450 paranoia 27 00:01:33,150 --> 00:01:35,790 第十二课的时候,我们学过一个词 prick, 28 00:01:35,890 --> 00:01:42,910 就是争刺那么 prickly 指的就是很容易受刺激的动不 29 00:01:42,910 --> 00:01:45,530 动就像被挣扎了一下,总有人就跳起来, 30 00:01:45,590 --> 00:01:48,440 反应非常剧烈 to the point of, 31 00:01:48,680 --> 00:01:54,820 是指到了什么程度他这种易怒暴躁的性格简直是近乎 32 00:01:54,820 --> 00:01:57,720 偏执 f amously distracted, 33 00:01:58,480 --> 00:02:04,040 他也是有名的心不在焉 Distracted 指的是注意力分散 34 00:02:04,040 --> 00:02:05,040 Up 35 00:02:05,300 --> 00:02:09,040 on swinging his feet out of bed in the morning Swing his 36 00:02:09,040 --> 00:02:15,660 feet out of bed 也就是翻身起床脚已经放到床下去了 He 37 00:02:15,660 --> 00:02:20,220 would reportedly sometimes sit for hours 他就会坐在 38 00:02:20,220 --> 00:02:24,660 床上坐好几个小时 Reportedly means it is reported 39 00:02:24,660 --> 00:02:28,840 that or it is said that he would sometimes sit for hours 40 00:02:28,840 --> 00:02:30,980 up on swinging his feet out of bed in the 41 00:02:30,980 --> 00:02:34,780 morningimmobilized by the sudden rush of thoughts to 42 00:02:34,780 --> 00:02:44,200 his headmobilem o b i l emobile 是移动的比如手机在美 43 00:02:44,200 --> 00:02:49,580 国是叫 cell phone 在英国就是 mobile phone 移动电话那 44 00:02:49,580 --> 00:02:56,820 immobilized 这里 im 是一个否定的前缀表示不会移动 45 00:02:56,820 --> 00:03:01,680 的那也就是他坐在那儿一动不动 by the sudden rush of 46 00:03:01,680 --> 00:03:06,840 thoughts to his head 那是因为他突然想到了什么东西 47 00:03:06,840 --> 00:03:13,000 突然间思绪涌来他就忘了要起床了 uncapable of the 48 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:19,300 most riveting strangenessrivet 指的是这些卯钉那么 49 00:03:19,300 --> 00:03:21,260 riveting usually 50 00:03:21,290 --> 00:03:24,670 means interesting it's so interesting that you will 51 00:03:24,670 --> 00:03:30,650 fix your eyes on it Briefing 指的是引人注目的牛顿的 52 00:03:30,650 --> 00:03:35,810 这种孤僻和奇怪也是绝了非常引人注目 He 53 00:03:36,360 --> 00:03:37,900 built his own laboratory, 54 00:03:38,380 --> 00:03:42,020 the first at Cambridge but then engaged in the most 55 00:03:42,020 --> 00:03:43,080 bizarre experiments 56 00:03:43,840 --> 00:03:52,120 他建立了剑桥大学的第一个实验室从事的却是最奇葩 57 00:03:52,120 --> 00:03:55,080 的实验 Bizarre means very very strange 58 00:03:56,660 --> 00:03:58,680 现在的话说就是奇葩。 59 00:03:59,140 --> 00:04:01,380 Once he inserted a bodkin, 60 00:04:01,640 --> 00:04:04,580 a long needle of the sort used for sewing leather, 61 00:04:04,900 --> 00:04:06,400 into his eye socket, 62 00:04:06,580 --> 00:04:10,940 and rubbed it around betwixt my eye and the bone as near 63 00:04:10,940 --> 00:04:13,180 to the backside of my eye as I could, 64 00:04:13,280 --> 00:04:15,140 just to see what would happen. 65 00:04:16,620 --> 00:04:19,000 insert means to put in between, 66 00:04:19,880 --> 00:04:20,380 插入。 67 00:04:20,380 --> 00:04:24,020 有一次呢,他插了一根 botkin, 68 00:04:24,320 --> 00:04:29,540 botkin 是粉质皮革用的那种长钉子, 69 00:04:29,620 --> 00:04:32,540 也就是鞋匠常用的那种长钉子, 70 00:04:32,600 --> 00:04:36,740 into his eye socket,socket 是眼窝, 71 00:04:36,860 --> 00:04:38,520 凹陷进去的眼窝, 72 00:04:38,600 --> 00:04:42,120 他把这个长钉子插到自己的眼窝里去, 73 00:04:42,220 --> 00:04:43,940 然后还 rub it around, 74 00:04:44,420 --> 00:04:48,480 bet weaks my eye and bone as near to the back side of my eye 75 00:04:48,480 --> 00:04:49,620 as I could. 76 00:04:50,380 --> 00:04:52,900 这个 B itwix,你把它理解为 Between 77 00:04:53,340 --> 00:04:58,160 因为牛顿毕竟是好几百年前的人他的文字当时的英语 78 00:04:58,160 --> 00:04:59,660 跟现在是有一些不同的 79 00:05:00,280 --> 00:05:03,860 他把这个钉子插到他的眼睛, 80 00:05:03,920 --> 00:05:08,560 也就是眼球跟那个眼眶的那个骨头之间的空隙, 81 00:05:08,620 --> 00:05:12,480 把那个空隙插进去 As near to the backside of my eye as I 82 00:05:12,480 --> 00:05:15,640 could 尽量插到眼睛的后面, 83 00:05:15,680 --> 00:05:19,860 尽量往后他这样做的目的 Just to see what would happen 84 00:05:19,860 --> 00:05:21,920 就想看看会发生什么 85 00:05:22,520 --> 00:05:22,960 好 86 00:05:23,000 --> 00:05:27,200 大家听到这里不要误解不要觉得他把一根钉子插到自 87 00:05:27,200 --> 00:05:31,940 己的眼睛里面把自己的眼睛戳得鲜血直流并不是这样 88 00:05:31,940 --> 00:05:33,620 的牛顿并没有那么疯狂 89 00:05:35,400 --> 00:05:41,280 这是牛顿的手稿这张图上画的就是他当时做的这个实 90 00:05:41,280 --> 00:05:45,090 验就是把这个 Botkin 我们可以看到这 Botkin 并不是那 91 00:05:45,090 --> 00:05:49,940 么尖可能已经用了很钝了插到自己眼球跟眼眶之间的 92 00:05:49,940 --> 00:05:56,800 空隙他就用这个长钉子的头去压迫眼球压迫不同的点 93 00:05:56,800 --> 00:05:58,600 A BC DE F 94 00:05:59,220 --> 00:06:04,680 然后自己的眼前会出现这种圈圈然后随着压迫的时 ……（后略，完整文稿见视频页字幕）