第6章 红牙利爪的科学 Science Red in Tooth and Claw · 第7讲S4

1. 讲稿里说 'complex' 和 'complicated' 都有复杂的意思，但我感觉 'complicated' 语气更重，能举个具体的例子说明啥时候该用 'complicated problems' 而不是 'complex life' 吗？
2. Ernest Rutherford 居然用的是炼金术（alchemy）来证明地球年龄，这听起来太不科学了，为啥讲稿里还说他的证据是 'scientifically credible'（科学可信）的呢？
3. 文中提到 'intractably confused' 形容情况乱到没头绪，那 'intractable' 除了形容孩子难管教，还能怎么形容人或事物？有没有其他搭配？
4. 为什么直到 1910 年，像 George Becker 这样受人尊敬的科学家，估算出的地球年龄才只有 5000 万年？那时候到底缺了什么导致大家算不准？
5. 既然 Rutherford 的证据是基于炼金术的，那下一章讲的 'elemental matter'（基础物质）和炼金术到底有啥关系？这会不会颠覆我们对化学起源的看法？

1. The transcript says both 'complex' and 'complicated' mean 'not simple,' but 'complicated' seems stronger. Can you give a specific example of when to use 'complicated problems' instead of 'complex life'?
2. It sounds so unscientific that Ernest Rutherford used alchemy to prove the Earth's age, yet the text says his evidence was 'scientifically credible.' Why is that?
3. The text uses 'intractably confused' to describe a chaotic situation. Besides describing difficult children, how else can 'intractable' be used to describe people or things? Are there other common collocations?
4. Why was it that as late as 1910, a respected scientist like George Becker estimated the Earth's age to be only 50 million years? What was missing back then that prevented accurate calculation?
5. Since Rutherford's evidence was based on alchemy, what exactly is the connection to the 'elemental matter' discussed in the next chapter? Does this challenge our understanding of the origins of chemistry?

1 00:00:05,810 --> 00:00:10,670 这样的困惑是在 19 世纪的尾声下, 2 00:00:10,650 --> 00:00:14,850 根据您所研究的文章,您可以学习到, 3 00:00:14,850 --> 00:00:22,590 在甘布里安时期的困难生活的数量是 3 亿, 4 00:00:22,810 --> 00:00:29,670 18 亿,600 亿,794 亿,或 2.4 亿, 5 00:00:29,970 --> 00:00:32,270 或其他一些数量之中的数量。 6 00:00:34,280 --> 00:00:39,480 such was the confusion that 当时的情形已经混乱到了 7 00:00:39,480 --> 00:00:45,460 什么程度呢 by the close of the 19th century 到了 19 世纪 8 00:00:45,460 --> 00:00:50,000 晚期进入尾声的时候 depending on which text you 9 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:55,480 consulted to consult a book to consult a text means to 10 00:00:55,480 --> 00:00:59,680 look up information in a book 看你查阅的是哪一本书了 11 00:00:59,680 --> 00:01:02,480 you could learn that the number of years The years that 12 00:01:02,480 --> 00:01:06,580 stood between us and the dawn of complex life in the 13 00:01:06,580 --> 00:01:11,400 Cambrian period 先看这个部分 The dawn of complex life 14 00:01:11,400 --> 00:01:14,040 in the Cambrian period 韩 15 00:01:14,230 --> 00:01:19,740 武纪时期开始出现复杂的生命 Complex life 指的是已 16 00:01:19,740 --> 00:01:24,770 经拥有比较复杂结构的生命而不是那些单细胞的生物 17 00:01:24,770 --> 00:01:31,250 The dawn of complex lifedawn 等于是黎明这里是指复杂 18 00:01:31,250 --> 00:01:35,550 的生物刚刚开始出现的那个时刻好了现在讲的是 19 00:01:43,740 --> 00:01:50,520 从现在一直到韩武纪刚开始出现复杂生物的那个时期 20 00:01:50,520 --> 00:01:56,660 这中间相隔了多少年呢 The number of years 有可能是 21 00:01:56,660 --> 00:02:01,280 300 万年 1800 万年或者 6 亿年或者 7. 22 00:02:01,500 --> 00:02:07,400 94 亿或者 24 亿年这到底是哪个数字就要看你查的是哪 23 00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:11,080 一本书了那还有可能是 Some other number within that 24 00:02:11,080 --> 00:02:15,540 range 还有可能是这个范围之内的别的什么数字总之 25 00:02:15,540 --> 00:02:21,080 各种说法都有 As late as 1910 One of the most respected 26 00:02:21,080 --> 00:02:24,900 estimates by the American George Beckerput the 27 00:02:24,900 --> 00:02:29,060 earth's age at perhaps as little as 50 million years 一 28 00:02:29,060 --> 00:02:34,920 直到了 1910 年这个已经到了很后期了已经进入了 20 世 29 00:02:34,920 --> 00:02:39,720 纪了 one of the most respected estimatesestimates 30 00:02:40,400 --> 00:02:46,480 是前面我们见过的这个这个 estimated 的名词形式指 31 00:02:46,480 --> 00:02:53,040 的是估算估计其中一个颇受人重视颇受人信任的一个 32 00:02:53,040 --> 00:02:57,780 估算这个是由一个美国的科学家 George Becker 做出的 33 00:02:57,780 --> 00:03:05,620 他把地球的年龄定在了仅仅是五千五百万年这简直是 34 00:03:05,620 --> 00:03:10,920 离真实的情况就越来越远了说明人类到很迟很迟才真 35 00:03:10,920 --> 00:03:13,360 正知道地球的年龄到底是多少 36 00:03:14,810 --> 00:03:19,590 我们现在看一下 complex 这个词有很多的记忆词比如 37 00:03:19,590 --> 00:03:20,270 说 complicated 38 00:03:21,790 --> 00:03:23,710 这些都有复杂的意思 39 00:03:24,310 --> 00:03:29,470 但是 complicated 比 complex 语气更强而且它经常跟 40 00:03:29,470 --> 00:03:34,230 problems 或者 business 这样的词联用比如说 41 00:03:34,230 --> 00:03:35,410 complicated problems 42 00:03:36,010 --> 00:03:40,990 非常复杂的问题非常难以分析难以理解 For 43 00:03:41,700 --> 00:03:42,280 young children, 44 00:03:42,420 --> 00:03:46,080 getting dressed is a complicated business 对孩子来说 45 00:03:46,080 --> 00:03:51,790 对年龄较小的孩子来说穿衣服可是一件复杂的事而这 46 00:03:51,790 --> 00:03:56,960 个 sophisticated 往往指示请事物发展到比较高级的 47 00:03:56,960 --> 00:04:02,240 程度所体现出的复杂比如说 sophisticated machine 比 48 00:04:02,240 --> 00:04:07,280 较高级的机器复杂的机器 sophisticated system 或者 49 00:04:07,280 --> 00:04:07,760 method 50 00:04:08,510 --> 00:04:14,170 有一种高级的这个意思而 intricate 指的是错综复杂 51 00:04:14,170 --> 00:04:20,170 非常精细错综复杂常常会跟 patterns 这个词联用那 52 00:04:20,200 --> 00:04:25,780 我们可能会觉得这些都非常的相似所以如果是仅靠这 53 00:04:25,780 --> 00:04:30,240 样的解释来区分它们是不太可能的最好的办法就是多 54 00:04:30,240 --> 00:04:35,040 阅读多在语境中见到这些词然后我们就会比较熟悉它 55 00:04:35,040 --> 00:04:36,960 们的搭配的习惯了 56 00:04:37,220 --> 00:04:42,620 再看一下这个 estimate 作为名词的用法我们可以跟这 57 00:04:42,620 --> 00:04:47,600 个 rough 联用 a rough estimate 一个粗略的估计 a 58 00:04:47,600 --> 00:04:50,740 conservative estimate 比较保守的估计 59 00:05:05,980 --> 00:05:09,760 这个 intractably 显然是副词它的形容词就是 60 00:05:09,760 --> 00:05:11,080 intractable 61 00:05:22,610 --> 00:05:24,010 An intractable children, 62 00:05:24,350 --> 00:05:28,370 非常难以管教的孩子 Or intractable disease, 63 00:05:28,810 --> 00:05:32,090 难以治疗的疾病 Intractable river, 64 00:05:32,430 --> 00:05:36,150 难以驾驭的,难以治理的河流 Or 65 00:05:36,340 --> 00:05:40,740 take no notice of such a wild and intractable man 他这个 66 00:05:40,740 --> 00:05:43,680 人就是桀骜不驯,不要理他那 67 00:05:44,160 --> 00:05:46,280 现在这里说的 intractably confused 68 00:05:47,040 --> 00:05:52,540 真当事情乱到毫无头绪的时候好像就是根本弄不清楚 69 00:05:52,540 --> 00:05:56,980 的时候 Al one came another extraordinary figure with a 70 00:05:56,980 --> 00:06:01,740 novel approach 这个 novel 我们在之前学那个超新星的 71 00:06:01,740 --> 00:06:06,760 那一课学过这个词了 novel 指的是新兴的正 72 00:06:07,020 --> 00:06:12,280 当大家乱成一锅粥的时候出现了一个杰出的人物这个 73 00:06:12,280 --> 00:06:16,820 人有一种崭新的方法来计算地球的年龄 He 74 00:06:17,240 --> 00:06:20,820 was a bluff and brilliant New Zealand farm boynamed 75 00:06:20,820 --> 00:06:25,000 Ernest Rutherford and he produced pretty well 76 00:06:25,000 --> 00:06:29,300 irrefutable evidence that the earth was at least many 77 00:06:29,300 --> 00:06:32,840 hundreds of millions of years oldprobably rather 78 00:06:32,840 --> 00:06:38,900 morebluff a bluff person usually a man is pleasant but 79 00:06:38,900 --> 00:06:42,440 very direct and does not always consider other people 80 00:06:42,440 --> 00:06:48,590 这个 bluff 指的是直肠子的坦率的好爽的这位杰出的 81 00:06:48,590 --> 00:06:56,140 人物居然是新西兰的一个 fun boy 一个农家子弟名字叫 82 00:06:56,140 --> 00:06:59,520 Ernest Rutherford And he produced pretty well 83 00:06:59,520 --> 00:07:04,680 irrefutable evidence Irrefutable 我们看一下 refute 84 00:07:04,680 --> 00:07:07,980 它的动词是 refute To 85 00:07:08,170 --> 00:07:12,310 refute means to prove that a statement or idea is not 86 00:07:12,310 --> 00:07:12,750 correct 87 00:07:13,070 --> 00:07:15,270 就是反驳 An 88 00:07:15,590 --> 00:07:19,390 attempt to refute Darwin's theories 而这个 89 00:07:19,390 --> 00:07:21,710 irrefutable 这不前面加上 IR, 90 00:07:22,090 --> 00:07:24,430 加上 IR 以后就变成否定了, 91 00:07:24,470 --> 00:07:27,370 就是不能反驳的,难以反驳的。 92 00:07:27,630 --> 00:07:32,010 他拿出了一下别人根本就无法反驳的证据, 93 00:07:32,1 ……（后略，完整文稿见视频页字幕）