第7章 元素那些事 Elemental Matters · 第7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 40 条句型 6 条要点 2 条
一、本课要点
- 质能转换：岩石将质量转换为能量。这是爱因斯坦E=mc²理论的核心，解释了为何能量巨大却无明显质量损失。
- 双诺奖得主：玛丽·居里是唯一一位在两个不同科学领域（物理和化学）获得诺贝尔奖的人。
二、核心词汇（40）
| 词条 | 释义 / 讲解 |
|---|
| uranium salts | 铀盐。本课语境中指含放射性铀元素的化合物，非厨房食用盐。 |
| impression | 印记。此处指放射性物质在底片上留下的具体影像，而非抽象印象。 |
| emit rays | 发射射线。emit意为发出，此处指放射性物质释放光线/射线。 |
| emigré | 移居者。特指出于政治原因离开祖国的人，如居里夫人从波兰移居法国。 |
| pour out | 大量流出/发出。此处比喻能量如液体般大量涌出，强调数量巨大。 |
| diminishing | 减少/变小。diminish意为缩小，此处指矿石体积未因能量释放而减小。 |
| Polonium | 钋。居里夫人以祖国波兰(Poland)命名，虽当时波兰已灭国，但以此纪念民族意识。 |
| immense reserves | 巨大的储备/蕴藏。此处指放射性物质中蕴藏的巨大能量，reserve不仅指自然保护区，也指储备资源。 |
| bound up | 紧密相连、蕴藏。原型bind意为束缚，bound up指能量被“束缚”在少量物质中。 |
| account for | 解释、说明（原因）；占据。此处指放射性衰变“解释”了地球热量的来源。 |
| alchemy | 炼金术。文中指元素自然衰变成铅的现象，在当时看来如同点石成金的炼金术。 |
| half life | 半衰期。放射性元素衰变至原来数量一半所需的时间，具有恒定不变的稳定性。 |
| calculate backwards | 倒推。指通过当前状态和衰变速度，反向推算过去的时间或年龄。 |
| decay | 衰变。放射性元素原子核自发破裂并释放辐射的过程。 |
| pitchblende | 沥青铀矿。提取铀的主要矿石，因具有沥青光泽而得名。 |
| principal ore | 主要矿石。Principal意为主要的，ore指矿石。 |
| grant | 授予/认可。此处指人们正式承认或赋予地球某个年龄。 |
| powdery and periwigged | 涂脂抹粉戴假发的。形容18世纪人们夸张的妆容和发型。 |
| robustness | 健壮/活力。指维多利亚时代后期人们充满生命力的社会风貌。 |
| disintegration | 衰变/解体。前缀dis-表否定，integrate表结合，即不再结合而分散衰变。 |
| self-evidently | 不证自明地。Self evident指无需额外证据即可证明。 |
| unmoved | 无动于衷的。指凯尔文对卢瑟福的发现并未被说服或感动。 |
| astute | adj. 精明的，有洞察力的。指能迅速理解情况或行为，充满智慧。 |
| strenuously | adv. 费力地，顽强地。源自 strenuous，指精力充沛且坚决地坚持某事。 |
| radiometric dating | n. 放射性测年法。利用放射性物质衰变测量年代的方法，即 decay measurements。 |
| declining years | n. 晚年，衰老时期。指人年纪渐长、精力衰退的阶段，即 aging years。 |
| serene | adj. 平静的，宁静的。less serene 指生活或心境不再平静，充满波折。 |
| eccentric | adj. 古怪的，反常的。前缀 e- 表偏离，center 表中心，即偏离正常轨道。 |
| difficult | adj. 难相处的。此处指人难以取悦或交往，而非指事情难以理解。 |
| malaise | n. 不适，倦怠感。指一种轻微的、非特异性的生病或不舒服的感觉。 |
| fatally | adv. 致命地。源自fatal，此处修饰run over，强调车祸后果严重。 |
| signs of radiation sickness | n. 辐射病症状。radiation指辐射，sickness指疾病，科普常用搭配。 |
| celebrated | adj. 著名的，受赞扬的。词根celebr-（庆祝），名词celebrity指名人。 |
| indiscreet | adj. 不谨慎的，轻率的。discreet指谨慎，前缀in-表否定，指言行失当。 |
| laxatives | n. 泻药，通便剂。lax-意为松弛，指促进肠道蠕动的药物。 |
| pernicious | adj. 有害的，恶性的。指隐蔽且持久的危害，常修饰影响或辐射。 |
| unquestionably | adv. 毫无疑问地；确实地。强调某事绝对真实，无可置疑。 |
| vulnerable | adj. 易受攻击的；脆弱的。此处指因年老、经验或品格而值得尊重的古老事物。 |
| atomic scientists | n. 原子科学家。指专注于原子核物理研究的科学家群体。 |
| atomic age | n. 原子时代。指以核能利用为标志的科学新纪元。 |
三、句型与语法点（6）
| 要点 | 说明 |
|---|
| without doing | 介词without+动名词。表示“在没有发生某事的情况下”，此处指能量释放但体积未变。 |
| be jointly awarded | 共同获得。jointly意为“联合地、共同地”，此处指居里夫妇与贝克勒尔共同获得诺贝尔奖。 |
| throw ... out | 推翻/使无效。Throw his calculations out意为使他的计算结果失效。 |
| Despite her two Nobel Prizes | 介词Despite引导让步状语，意为“尽管”，后接名词短语，同义于In spite of。 |
| sufficiently...to... | 结构：足够...以至于...。sufficiently修饰indiscreet，to scandalize表结果。 |
| which 非限制性定语从句 | which 引导非限制性定语从句，补充说明前面提到的内容（两部分、七章、4万字）。 |
四、课堂讨论题
1. 讲稿里说居里夫妇发现矿石在持续发出巨大能量，但体积却没变小，这听起来太反常识了，他们当时是怎么解释这个现象的？
2. 文中提到贝克勒尔把这么重要的发现交给一个研究生去调查，老师为什么说这有点奇怪？那个研究生玛丽·居里有什么特别之处吗？
3. 讲稿里说铀盐（uranium salts）不是厨房里的盐，那它到底是什么？为什么偏偏是这种物质能让包好的摄影底片感光成像？
4. 卢瑟福（Rutherford）用放射性衰变来解释地球的热源，这里说的 'immense reserves of energy' 和之前居里夫人发现的能量是一回事吗？有什么区别？
5. 居里夫人一个人拿了物理和化学两个诺贝尔奖，而且她的女儿也拿了化学奖，这一家子都这么厉害，这对后来原子时代的开启有什么关键影响？
五、Discussion Questions (English)
1. The transcript says the Curie夫妇 found that rocks emitted huge amounts of energy continuously without shrinking in size. This sounds so counter-intuitive; how did they explain this phenomenon at that time?
2. The text mentions that Becquerel handed over such an important discovery to a graduate student, and the teacher said this was strange. Why was it strange? What was so special about Marie Curie?
3. The transcript states that uranium salts are not table salt. So what exactly are they? Why did only this specific substance cause the wrapped photographic plates to develop an image?
4. Rutherford used radioactive decay to explain the Earth's heat source. Is the 'immense reserves of energy' mentioned here the same as what the Curie夫妇 discovered? What are the differences?
5. Marie Curie won Nobel Prizes in both Physics and Chemistry, and her daughter also won a Chemistry Nobel. Given this family's achievements, what was their key impact on the beginning of the atomic age?
六、听力 / 讲稿全文
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Our whole universe was in a hot dance,
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taken nearly 14 million years ago.
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Expansion started way back in the beginning
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of the atomic age.Well,
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today we are going to talk about the beginning of the
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atomic age,就是原子时代的开端。
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The 19th century held one last great surprise for
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chemists.
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It began in 1896 when Henri Becquerel in Paris
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carelessly left a packet of uranium salts on a rapt
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photograph
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Uranium salts,
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油盐,
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这个油就是上一课我们说到过的原子序号为 90 号的放
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射性物质,而 salt 当然不是我们厨房里的盐,
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我们厨房里的盐是氯化钠,
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这个油盐是指油和钠的某种化合物。
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有一天,
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这位 Henry Beverell 无意之中把一小袋的油盐放在抽
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屉里正好就放在 a wrapped photographic plate 放在一
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张包好的摄影底片上面
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这个摄影底片,
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现在的小孩子都不太有机会看到因为现在大家都用手
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机拍照,
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不再用这种 photographic plate 只是在医院照 X 光的时
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候可以拿到一张这样的一个 plate 这种摄影底片有光
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线照射在上面的时候它就会成像所以平常保存呢它要
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包裹得很好不要让它见光那有一天这个油盐就被放到
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了这个摄影底片上面大家要注意到这个油盐是包好的
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a packet 是包在一个 packet 里面这个摄影底片也是包
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好的 When
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he took the plate out some time later he was surprised to
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discover that the source had burned an impression in it
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just as if the plate had been exposed to light 后
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来他把这张底片拿出来的时候就很惊讶地发现这一包
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的油盐在底片上烧出了一个印记 impression 我们平时
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可能觉得 impression 是印象是表示抽象意义上那个印
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象其实 impression
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就是指印在什么东西上呈现出来的那个影像就叫
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impression 它是有个很具体的意思的这就是那一包的
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邮言留下的 impression Just as if the plate had been
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exposed to light 这种情况就像是这个底片被曝光了那
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样 be exposed to light 被暴露在光线之下。
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The swords were emitting rays of some sort.
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看来是这一包的油盐在 emitting rays of some sort,
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emitting means giving out,
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在发出某种光线,rays,
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光线。
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Considering the importance of what he had found,
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Baccaro did a very strange thing.He turned the matter
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over to a graduate student for investigation
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Baccaro 做了一件让人感到奇怪的事他把这个事情交
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给了一位研究生 Graduate student 交给一位研究生去
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研究去调查
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为什么说这是一件有点奇怪的事呢因为 considering
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the importance of what he had found 因为他发现了这个
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东西具有很重大的意义这么重要的事情交给一个研究
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生去做那这不是有点奇怪吗幸好这
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位研究生不是一般的一位研究生
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他是最近刚从波兰移民过来的马利居里 When
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you say this word emigre I'm sure you'll think of
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emigrant 移民 Especially for political reasons 这个
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emigre 尤其是指出于政治原因而离开自己原来生活的
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地方到另外一个地方生活的这样的移民那这位 Mary
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Curie 就是玛丽居里夫人她的祖籍是波兰这是波兰现
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在的位置
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但是在当时波兰已经被三个国家瓜分了被俄国奥地利
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和普鲁士给瓜分了所以这个时候波兰这个国家可以说
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是不存在的 Working with her new husband Pierre Curie
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found that certain kinds of rocks poured out constant
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and extraordinary amounts of energy yet without
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diminishing in size or changing in any detectable way
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Pierre Madame Curie's husband His name was Pierre
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Curie So it's quite confusing here because both are
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named Curie 两个人的姓都是 Julie But we ought to know
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that Curie here means Madam Curie herself Mad am Curie
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这里说的 Julie 指的是 Julie 夫人也
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就是这里说的这位她 New husband because they had been
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married for just one year by that time So working with
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her new husband Pierre Mercury found that certain
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kinds of rocks poured out constant and extraordinary
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amounts of energypoured out means gave out in great
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amountp our 我们知道倒咖啡倒水都是用这个词那其实
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我们可以把它替换成 gave out 不过假如换成 gave out 那
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这里就少掉了一种意思因为用 p our out 好像倒出来可
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以让人感觉到它那个量是巨大的 constant means
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happening all the time or regularly 这里是指持续的
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and
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extraordinary amount of energy 基里夫人发现某些矿
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石持续不断地上发出大量的能量会发出大量的能量
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yet without diminishing in size or
……（后略，完整文稿见视频页字幕）
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七、课堂练习（AI 生成）
1. 在文中，放射性衰变过程被用来解释地球热量的来源。下列哪个短语可以替换“解释、说明（原因）”？
A. account for
B. pour out
C. bound up
D. calculate backwards
答案：A · account for在此处意为解释、说明原因，符合语境。
2. 课文中提到能量释放但体积未变的情况，使用了“without diminishing”这一结构。关于该语法结构，下列说法正确的是？
A. 介词without后直接接动词原形
B. 表示为了做某事
C. 介词without后需接动名词形式
D. 仅用于否定将来时态
答案：C · 介词without后必须接动名词（doing），表示在没有发生某事的情况下。
3. 科学家利用放射性元素衰变至原来数量一半所需的时间来推算岩石的年龄。这一时间概念及推算方法分别对应材料中的哪些术语？
A. decay与calculate backwards
B. half life与calculate backwards
C. alchemy与account for
D. pitchblende与immense reserves
答案：B · half life指半衰期，calculate backwards指通过衰变速度反向推算过去的时间。
4. 句子“______ her two Nobel Prizes, she faced many difficulties.”中，空格处应填入哪个词以表达“尽管”之意，且后接名词短语？
A. Despite
B. Without
C. Account for
D. Bound up
答案：A · Despite为介词，引导让步状语，意为尽管，后接名词短语，同义于In spite of。
5. 材料中提到某位科学家言行失当，用indiscreet一词形容。该词的前缀in-表否定，其反义词discreet的含义是？
A. 谨慎的
B. 精明的
C. 健壮的
D. 平静的
答案：A · indiscreet意为不谨慎的，其反义词discreet指谨慎的。