第7章 元素那些事 Elemental Matters · 第1讲

1. 讲稿里说化学是从1661年罗伯特·波义耳出版《怀疑的化学家》开始成为一门'严肃'科学的，这里的'earnest'具体指什么？它和形容人性格严肃的'serious'是一回事吗？
2. 文中提到到了18世纪，像德国的约翰·贝塔这样的学者依然觉得在化学和炼金术两个阵营里待着都很舒服（feel comfortable in both camps），这听起来很奇怪，为什么当时的科学家能同时接受这两者？
3. 文中出现了'unexceptionable'和'exceptional'这两个长得很像的词，讲稿里特别强调它们意思完全相反。能具体解释一下它们的区别吗？比如'unexceptionable'为什么是'无可争议的'？
4. 德国科学家亨尼格·布兰德为什么坚信能从人尿里提炼出黄金？讲稿里提到'颜色的相似性'是一个因素，这听起来像迷信，为什么这能推动他去进行复杂的化学实验？
5. 布兰德最终没有提炼出黄金，却发现了磷（phosphorus），而且磷会自燃。这个偶然发现的过程如何体现了讲稿开头提到的早期化学科学'奇怪且充满偶然性'（strange and accidental nature）的特点？

1. The transcript says chemistry became an 'earnest' science starting from Robert Boyle's 1661 book. What exactly does 'earnest' mean here? Is it the same as 'serious' when describing a person's personality?
2. It was mentioned that in the 18th century, scholars like John Bechhold felt 'comfortable in both camps' (alchemy and chemistry). That sounds weird; why could scientists at that time accept both simultaneously?
3. The text highlights the difference between 'unexceptionable' and 'exceptional', which look similar but mean opposite things. Can you explain the distinction? For example, why is 'unexceptionable' translated as 'unquestionable' or 'beyond reproach'?
4. Why was Hennig Brand convinced that he could distill gold from human urine? The transcript mentions 'similarity of color' as a factor. This sounds superstitious, so why did it drive him to conduct complex chemical experiments?
5. Brand didn't get gold but discovered phosphorus, which glows and ignites spontaneously. How does this accidental discovery illustrate the 'strange and accidental nature' of early chemical science mentioned at the beginning of the lecture?

1 00:00:04,040 --> 00:00:04,640 Hello, 2 00:00:11,640 --> 00:00:11,900 everyone, 3 00:00:12,220 --> 00:00:14,720 and welcome to the first lesson of Chapter 7, 4 00:00:14,880 --> 00:00:17,400 Elemental Matters.Together, 5 00:00:17,600 --> 00:00:20,700 we will go through these statements and see if they are 6 00:00:20,700 --> 00:00:21,520 true or false. 7 00:00:22,780 --> 00:00:23,980 Now,chemistry, 8 00:00:24,320 --> 00:00:26,620 as an earnest and respectable science, 9 00:00:26,960 --> 00:00:29,800 is often said to date from 1661, 10 00:00:29,800 --> 00:00:34,120 When Robert Boyle of Oxford published The Skeptical 11 00:00:34,120 --> 00:00:37,020 Chemist The first work to distinguish between 12 00:00:37,020 --> 00:00:41,580 chemists and alchemists But it was a slow and often 13 00:00:41,580 --> 00:00:42,560 erratic transition 14 00:00:43,320 --> 00:00:49,270 Earnest means serious 但是这个 serious 不是指神情非 15 00:00:49,270 --> 00:00:54,300 常严肃为人非常严肃不好相处的意思而是指认真的 16 00:00:54,300 --> 00:00:59,010 Chemistry as an earnest and respectable science 化学 17 00:00:59,010 --> 00:01:02,170 作为一门严肃而又受人尊敬的科学 18 00:01:02,850 --> 00:01:08,210 人们现在一般说是从 1661 年开始的 to date from means 19 00:01:08,210 --> 00:01:10,390 to start from a certain time 20 00:01:10,950 --> 00:01:16,450 那为什么说作为一门严肃而又受人尊敬的科学难道还 21 00:01:16,450 --> 00:01:18,970 有什么科学不是 earnest and respectable 22 00:01:20,050 --> 00:01:24,490 这么说是因为在刚开始的时候 chemistry and alchemy 23 00:01:24,490 --> 00:01:29,630 were closely related Chemistry was not separated from 24 00:01:29,630 --> 00:01:34,390 alchemy and alchemy was not considered a science was 25 00:01:34,390 --> 00:01:39,130 not serious and respectable science 这位科学家写的 26 00:01:39,130 --> 00:01:45,460 这本书 The Skeptical Chemist Skeptical meanstending 27 00:01:45,460 --> 00:01:48,920 to disagree with what other people tell you or tending 28 00:01:48,920 --> 00:01:51,760 to not believe As see, 29 00:01:51,960 --> 00:01:54,860 skeptical is the British spelling of the word 30 00:02:07,520 --> 00:02:11,680 我对报刊上读到的文字是持高度的怀疑态度 31 00:02:15,180 --> 00:02:21,400 现在其实就是拼写成 che 而不是 y 就是化学家怀疑的化 32 00:02:21,400 --> 00:02:26,620 学家作者在这本书中对当时欧洲的化学思想表示了怀 33 00:02:26,620 --> 00:02:31,580 疑正是这种怀疑推动了化学使它成为真正的一门科学 34 00:02:31,580 --> 00:02:35,620 It's the first work to distinguish between chemists 35 00:02:35,620 --> 00:02:39,400 and alchemists To distinguish means to tell the 36 00:02:39,400 --> 00:02:44,860 difference To tell them apart To separate them 这本书 37 00:02:44,860 --> 00:02:55,340 是首次把化学家和炼金术士分开的一部著作但是这个 38 00:02:55,340 --> 00:03:00,340 转变的过程 transition 是指过渡这个状态转变的过程 39 00:03:00,340 --> 00:03:06,720 是非常缓慢的而且是 erraticerratic 现在是第三次见 40 00:03:06,720 --> 00:03:10,720 到他了第一次的时候讲的是牛顿他是一个 erratic 41 00:03:10,720 --> 00:03:14,260 professor 性格怪异仿佛无常的一个 profess 42 00:03:14,260 --> 00:03:20,120 orerratic means not following any pattern or plan but 43 00:03:20,120 --> 00:03:24,000 happens in a way that is not regular 就是没有什么规律 44 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:24,620 可循的 45 00:03:24,780 --> 00:03:31,740 所以早期的时候这个过渡的过程是非常缓慢而且经历 46 00:03:31,740 --> 00:03:32,880 了好多次的反复 47 00:03:32,960 --> 00:03:38,350 并不是一下子就分开的 Into the 18th century, 48 00:03:38,510 --> 00:03:40,970 scholars could feel utterly comfortable in both 49 00:03:40,970 --> 00:03:45,530 campslike the German John and Betta who produced an 50 00:03:45,530 --> 00:03:49,350 unexceptionable work on minority called Physical 51 00:03:49,350 --> 00:03:53,530 Subterrane a but who also was certain thatgiven the 52 00:03:53,530 --> 00:03:56,330 right materials he could make himself invisible 53 00:03:57,670 --> 00:04:03,190 一直到了 18 世纪这已经过去了好几十年了当时的科学 54 00:04:03,190 --> 00:04:07,690 家依然是 feel comfortable in both campsboth camps 55 00:04:07,690 --> 00:04:14,030 means in both alchemy and chemistry 在两个阵营他们 56 00:04:14,260 --> 00:04:19,780 都觉得非常的舒适都觉得适得其所这个在我们现在看 57 00:04:19,780 --> 00:04:23,820 来是 oddly,odd,就是很奇怪的可是他们不觉得, 58 00:04:23,940 --> 00:04:29,660 觉得很正常他们可以脚踩两条船脚踩炼金术和科学两 59 00:04:29,660 --> 00:04:34,160 条船比如这个德国的科学家 who 60 00:04:34,220 --> 00:04:37,200 produced an unexceptionable work on 61 00:04:37,200 --> 00:04:40,010 mineralogyunexceptionable, 62 00:04:40,150 --> 00:04:43,450 这是第二次见到这个词第一次见到的时候, 63 00:04:43,730 --> 00:04:48,390 我就提醒大家这个词很容易跟另外一个词混淆我们 64 00:04:48,460 --> 00:04:54,140 先把 un 去掉这样就变成 exceptionableexceptionable 65 00:04:54,140 --> 00:04:59,120 it means open or liable to debate or liable to objection 66 00:04:59,120 --> 00:05:03,900 it means objectionable or debatable 可争议的可以提 67 00:05:03,900 --> 00:05:08,580 出反对意见的跟它很相似的一个词就是 exceptional 68 00:05:08,580 --> 00:05:13,560 这只是词型很相似意思是完全没有什么联系的 69 00:05:13,560 --> 00:05:15,880 exceptional means unusually good 70 00:05:16,770 --> 00:05:20,130 那我们上一回见到这个词是在这个句子里边, 71 00:05:20,210 --> 00:05:24,250 讲欧文欧文 would never again do important research, 72 00:05:24,570 --> 00:05:28,070 but the latter half of his career was devoted to one 73 00:05:28,070 --> 00:05:29,970 unexceptionable pursuit, 74 00:05:30,230 --> 00:05:32,350 for which we can all be grateful 75 00:05:33,160 --> 00:05:37,400 这里讲的是他建自然历史博物馆这件无可争议的一件 76 00:05:37,400 --> 00:05:40,860 好事好了,这位德国的科学家, 77 00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:45,980 他创作了一部矿物学方面的无可争议的著作叫做 78 00:05:45,980 --> 00:05:51,170 Physiker Subterranean 那这两个词并不是英语但是我 79 00:05:51,170 --> 00:05:56,510 们看过去却并不陌生但是因为英语中的科学的用词很 80 00:05:56,510 --> 00:06:02,200 多也都是拉丁文的词根的所以呢看过去都很相似比如 81 00:06:02,200 --> 00:06:05,340 说这个 Physiker 我们熟悉的那个词那个英语是 82 00:06:05,340 --> 00:06:07,060 Physics 物理学 83 00:06:07,580 --> 00:06:12,300 而 Subterranean 是有两个部分构成的一个是 Sub means 84 00:06:12,300 --> 00:06:17,460 below 还有这个 Terranean 假如大家见过以下这两个词 85 00:06:17,460 --> 00:06:23,360 terrain 地形 territory 领土那你就可以看出来这三个 86 00:06:23,360 --> 00:06:28,420 词它的词根是一样的都是指地土地那么 subterranean 87 00:06:28,420 --> 00:06:33,960 就是在地下的因为他研究的是矿物学嘛所以这是地下 88 00:06:33,960 --> 00:06:34,520 物理学 89 00:06:35,770 --> 00:06:41,670 那他写了这一部毫无争议的矿物学的著作 But who also 90 00:06:41,670 --> 00:06:45,670 ……（后略，完整文稿见视频页字幕）