第7章 元素那些事 Elemental Matters · 第6讲S2

1. 老师，讲稿里说铁是Fe，银是Ag，但很多其他元素像氮(N)、氧(O)都是按英文名缩写的。这到底是因为英语本身地位很高，还是因为英语里有很多词其实是借自拉丁文的呀？
2. 我不太明白 'a measure of order' 这个短语。这里说化学家给混乱的化学界带来了 'a measure of order'，是不是指带来了一种 'measure of success'（某种程度的成功）？这两个用法有啥区别吗？
3. 讲稿里提到了 superscript（上标）和 subscript（下标），说后来大家习惯用下标表示原子数量。为什么 'sub-' 前缀会让数字跑到下面去，而 'super-' 会让它跑到上面去？有没有什么好记的小窍门？
4. 为什么像铁(Fe)和银(Ag)这样的元素缩写要遵循拉丁文或希腊文名字，而不是直接用英文首字母？这反映了英语语言里的什么特点，跟它的 'exalted status'（崇高地位）有关吗？
5. 门捷列夫(Mendeleev)出生在一个有14到17个孩子的大家庭里，讲稿说 'history has lost track of exactly how many Mendeleevs there were'。这句话里的 'lost track of' 是什么意思？为什么家里孩子这么多，历史学家就搞不清楚具体人数了呢？

1. Sir, the transcript says Iron is Fe and Silver is Ag, but many other elements like Nitrogen (N) and Oxygen (O) seem to follow English names. Is this because English has a high status, or just because English borrows so many words from Latin?
2. I'm confused about the phrase 'a measure of order'. When it says the chemist brought 'a measure of order' to the messy field, is it similar to 'a measure of success'? What's the difference between these two usages?
3. The transcript mentions superscript and subscript, noting that subscript is used for atomic numbers later on. Why does the prefix 'sub-' mean 'under' and 'super-' mean 'above'? Is there an easy way to remember which is which?
4. Why do abbreviations like Fe and Ag follow Latin or Greek names instead of English initials? Does this reflect a specific characteristic of the English language, or is it unrelated to its 'exalted status'?
5. Mendeleev was born into a huge family with 14 to 17 kids, and the text says 'history has lost track of exactly how many Mendeleevs there were'. What does 'lost track of' mean here, and why did the historians lose count of the children?

1 00:00:17,980 --> 00:00:22,220 化学家还经常使用一种令人困惑的、 2 00:00:22,280 --> 00:00:26,420 令人眼花缭乱的各种各样的符号还有缩写, 3 00:00:26,520 --> 00:00:29,500 而且这些符号和缩写都是自己发明的, 4 00:00:29,560 --> 00:00:31,400 你发明一种,我发明一种, 5 00:00:31,460 --> 00:00:33,280 大家都搞得乱七八糟。 6 00:00:33,280 --> 00:00:35,450 Sweden's J. 7 00:00:35,610 --> 00:00:35,890 J. 8 00:00:35,970 --> 00:00:39,970 Basilius brought a much needed measure of order to 9 00:00:39,970 --> 00:00:44,310 matters by decreeing that the elements be abbreviated 10 00:00:44,310 --> 00:00:48,290 on the basis of their Greek or Latin nameswhich is why 11 00:00:48,290 --> 00:00:53,050 the abbreviation for iron is Fe from the Latin ferrum 12 00:00:53,050 --> 00:00:57,790 and that for silver is Ag from the Latin Argentine 13 00:00:57,790 --> 00:00:59,650 measure 14 00:00:59,810 --> 00:01:05,170 并不是衡量次量的意思 a measure of A measure of means a 15 00:01:05,170 --> 00:01:08,970 certain amount of She achieved a measure of success 16 00:01:08,970 --> 00:01:12,910 with her first book 她的第一部书就获得了一定程度的 17 00:01:12,910 --> 00:01:17,990 成功 A measure of success 不是指特别大的成功但是是 18 00:01:17,990 --> 00:01:22,760 一定程度的成功所以这里呢 A measure of order 就是一 19 00:01:22,760 --> 00:01:24,170 定程度的秩序 20 00:01:24,750 --> 00:01:30,130 To matters Matters 是指当时的那种状况就是混乱不堪 21 00:01:30,130 --> 00:01:35,650 的化学界那这位瑞典的化学家 brought a much needed 22 00:01:35,650 --> 00:01:40,370 measure of order to matters 为当时混乱不堪的化学界 23 00:01:40,370 --> 00:01:45,490 带来了一定程度的秩序而这种秩序对于当时混乱不堪 24 00:01:45,490 --> 00:01:47,470 的局面来说是 much needed 25 00:01:47,690 --> 00:01:52,370 非常需要的那它是通过什么方式做到的呢是 by 26 00:01:52,370 --> 00:01:56,310 decreeing that the elements be abbreviated on the 27 00:01:56,310 --> 00:01:58,490 basis of their Greek or Latin names 28 00:02:00,560 --> 00:02:06,420 to decree means to issue an official order 发布一个法 29 00:02:06,420 --> 00:02:12,420 令或者裁定发布命令的意思在这里呢也只是规定他 30 00:02:12,550 --> 00:02:18,010 提出也就是他决定所有的元素都必须根据他们的拉丁 31 00:02:18,010 --> 00:02:23,410 文或者希腊文的名称来缩写这个 abbreviated 就是 32 00:02:23,410 --> 00:02:26,350 abbreviation 这个名词的动词形式 33 00:02:32,830 --> 00:02:39,050 这就可以解释为什么铁元素的简称是 FE 而不是 I 因为 34 00:02:39,050 --> 00:02:43,670 它不是根据英文名称而是根据它的拉丁文名称来缩写 35 00:02:43,670 --> 00:02:47,210 的 and that for silver is AG 36 00:02:48,500 --> 00:02:52,860 that for silver 就是 the abbreviation for silver 这个 37 00:02:52,860 --> 00:02:57,160 that 只带的就是 abbreviation 就是银的缩写是 Ag, 38 00:02:57,380 --> 00:03:01,440 而不是 Si,因为它是根据 Latin name, 39 00:03:01,580 --> 00:03:03,400 Argentine that 40 00:03:04,360 --> 00:03:07,500 so many of the other abbreviations accord with their 41 00:03:07,500 --> 00:03:09,540 English names N for nitrogen, 42 00:03:09,860 --> 00:03:12,480 O for oxygen,H for hydrogen, 43 00:03:12,720 --> 00:03:16,300 and so onreflects English's Latinate nature, 44 00:03:16,440 --> 00:03:18,200 not its exalted status 45 00:03:19,120 --> 00:03:23,480 但是有很多其他的简写 accord with their English 46 00:03:23,480 --> 00:03:28,080 names to accord with means to be consistent with their 47 00:03:28,080 --> 00:03:33,140 English names 跟他们的英文名字是相符合的比如说 N 48 00:03:33,140 --> 00:03:34,980 for nitrogen 蛋 49 00:03:35,140 --> 00:03:38,340 它的缩写就是 N 是 N itrogen 的第一个字母 50 00:03:38,760 --> 00:03:44,640 而 O 是 Oxygen 这不是一样吗所以说这是 accord with 这 51 00:03:44,640 --> 00:03:47,300 二者是相符合的 H for hydrogen 52 00:03:48,220 --> 00:03:50,060 好了这样一种情况 53 00:03:50,820 --> 00:03:54,040 整个就从这里开始 so many of the other 54 00:03:54,040 --> 00:03:57,430 abbreviationsaccord with their English names 然后包 55 00:03:57,430 --> 00:04:03,420 括这个括号的部分这个部分是主语从句由 that 来引导 56 00:04:04,640 --> 00:04:08,960 that reflects English's Latinate nature 这种情况其 57 00:04:08,960 --> 00:04:14,820 实是反映了英语的拉丁话的特征拉丁话的这个性质那 58 00:04:14,820 --> 00:04:18,820 是因为英语里面有很多的单词是来自拉丁文的 59 00:04:19,680 --> 00:04:22,080 Not its exalted status 60 00:04:22,620 --> 00:04:27,260 To exalt means to put someone or somethinginto a higher 61 00:04:27,260 --> 00:04:32,500 rank or position It means elevated 就是抬高的抬升的 62 00:04:32,500 --> 00:04:36,840 Status means position 这并不能说明英语的地位有多 63 00:04:36,840 --> 00:04:41,540 高这只是反映了英文跟拉丁文的渊源关系 64 00:04:42,120 --> 00:04:47,080 所以这里呢 N for nitrogen 实际上它并不是根据英文只 65 00:04:47,080 --> 00:04:47,480 不过呢, 66 00:04:47,580 --> 00:04:51,460 是英文的这个单词正好用的是拉丁文的单词, 67 00:04:51,540 --> 00:04:57,000 它的这个元素名称的简写规则还是根据拉丁文或者希 68 00:04:57,000 --> 00:04:58,860 腊文的,并不是根据英语。 69 00:05:16,640 --> 00:05:19,900 used to represent something such as music, 70 00:05:20,180 --> 00:05:24,640 mathematics or scientific ideas 就是标记, 71 00:05:24,800 --> 00:05:25,760 在音乐、 72 00:05:25,920 --> 00:05:31,740 数学或者科学上使用的一些标记 Bursley was 采取了上 73 00:05:31,740 --> 00:05:39,320 标的方式来表示分子里边原子的数量比如说 H2 O, 74 00:05:39,440 --> 00:05:45,260 因为水分子里边有两个的氢原子而这个 r 该怎么表示 75 00:05:45,260 --> 00:05:50,360 呢它采用了 s uperscript 上标的方式写在上面 Later 76 00:05:50,360 --> 00:05:54,620 for no special reason the fashion became to render the 77 00:05:54,620 --> 00:05:58,480 number of subscript h2o 这里 78 00:05:58,600 --> 00:06:03,960 的 render 跟这个 indicate 意思是很相似的意思是 to 79 00:06:03,960 --> 00:06:09,120 represent the number 后来也没有什么特别的原因慢慢 80 00:06:09,120 --> 00:06:15,240 的这个做法就改变了变成用下标的方式来代表这个数 81 00:06:15,240 --> 00:06:16,640 字 subscript, 82 00:06:16,930 --> 00:06:21,890 superscript 你可以看到这两个之间的关系因为这个 83 00:06:21,890 --> 00:06:27,870 sub 就表示下面嘛在底下比如说 sub way 是地铁还有 84 00:06:27,870 --> 00:06:33,600 submarine 潜水艇 Despite the occasional tidying up 85 00:06:33,600 --> 00:06:38,400 chemistry by the second half of the 19th century was in 86 00:06:38,400 --> 00:06:39,420 something of a mess 87 00:06:56,020 --> 00:06:59,880 我们可以看出来这里有一个词是 tidytidy 88 00:06:59,960 --> 00:07:06,420 动词就是整理尽管时不时会有一些有心人偶尔的去对 89 00:07:06,420 --> 00:07:11,120 混乱的局面进行一些整理统合总 90 00:07:11,280 --> 00:07:17,060 体来说化学一直到 19 世纪中叶就一直到到 19 世纪下半 91 00:07:17,060 --> 00:07:17,300 叶 92 00:07:18,180 --> 00:07:23,480 was still in something of a mess in a mess 就是处于混乱 93 00:07:23,480 --> 00:07:28,860 的局面加上 something of 只是把这个说话的语气稍 ……（后略，完整文稿见视频页字幕）