新概念第四册课文翻译及学习笔记：Lesson32

　　【课文】

　　First listen and then answer the following question.

　　听录音，然后回答以下问题。

　　What has modified out traditional view of Galileo in recent times?

　　In his own lifetime Galileo was the centre of violent controversy; but the scientific dust has long since settled, and today we can see even his famous clash with the Inquisition in something like its proper perspective. But, in contrast, it is only in modern times that Galileo has become a problem child for historians of science.

　　The old view of Galileo was delightfully uncomplicated. He was, above all, a man who experimented: who despised the prejudices and book learning of the Aristotelians, who put his questions to nature instead of to the ancients, and who drew his conclusions fearlessly. He had been the first to turn a telescope to the sky, and he had seen their evidence enough to overthrow Aristotle and Ptolemy together. He was the man who climbed the Leaning Tower of Pisa and dropped various weights from the top, who rolled balls down inclined planes, and then generalized the results of his many experiments into the famous law of free fall.

　　But a closer study of the evidence, supported by a deeper sense of the period, and particularly by a new consciousness of the philosophical undercurrents in the scientific revolution, has profoundly modified this view of Galileo. Today, although the old Galileo lives on in many popular writings, among historians of science a new and more sophisticated picture has emerged. At the same time our sympathy for Galileo's opponents has grown somewhat. His telescopic observations are justly immortal; they aroused great interest at the time, they had important theoretical consequences, and they provided a striking demonstration of the potentialities hidden in instruments and apparatus. But can we blame those who looked and failed to see what Galileo saw, if we remember that to use a telescope at the limit of its powers calls for long experience and intimate familiarity with one's instrument? Was the philosopher who refused to look through Galileo's telescope more culpable than those who alleged that the spiral nebulae observed with Lord Rosse's great telescope in the eighteen-forties were scratches left by the grinder? We can perhaps forgive those who said the moons of Jupiter were produced by Galileo's spyglass if we recall that in his day, as for centuries before, curved glass was the popular contrivance for producing not truth but illusion, untruth; and if a single curved glass would distort nature, how much more would a pair of them?

　　MICHAEL HOSKIN Galileo Reborn from The Listener

　　【New words and expressions 生词和短语】

　　controversy n. 争议，争论

　　dust n. **，骚动

　　clash n. 冲突

　　Inquisition n. (罗马**的)宗教法庭

　　perspective n. 观点，看法

　　despise v. 蔑视

　　generalize v. 归纳

　　undercurrent n. 潜流

　　apparatus n.器官, 机构,仪器

　　theoretical adj. 理论上的

　　potentiality n. 潜能

　　intimate adj. 详尽的

　　familiarity n. 熟悉的

　　culpable adj. 应受遣责的

　　Aristotelian n. 亚里士多德学派的人

　　Aristotle n. 亚里士多德(公元前384-322，古希腊哲学家)

　　Ptolemy n. 托勒密(公元90-168，古希腊天文学家)

　　Leaning Tower of Pisa 比萨斜塔

　　spiral adj. 螺旋状的

　　nebula n. 星云

　　scratch n. 擦痕

　　contrivance n. 器械

　　distort v. 歪曲

　　【课文注释】

　　1.violent controversy 激烈论战

　　controversy n. 争议, (公开的)争论

　　例句：The remark touched off a heated controversy.

　　这句话引起了热烈的争论。

　　【词义辨析】

　　controversy, argument, conflict, debate, dispute, quarrel, strife 这组名词均有“争执、不和”之意。

　　controversy: 侧重指深刻的意见分歧，多指对引起广泛兴趣或非常重要的问题的辨论。

　　argument: 指辩论双方均以事实或理由来说服对方的辨论。

　　conflict: 指双方坚持已见、互不妥协，怀有敌意的争论，多暗示分歧极为严重，有时用语言无法解决，只得诉诸武力。

　　debate: 通常指经过仔细组织和计划的个人或团体之间的辩论。

　　dispute: 普通用词，侧重指长时间，言词激烈，针锋相对的争辩。

　　quarrel: 普通用词，既可指言词激烈的争吵，也可指温和的言词上的不和。

　　strife: 指因不可缓和的矛盾而引起的争吵或斗殴。

　　2.something like 多少，大约

　　3.a problem child 做定语，修饰child。这是一种比喻修辞法，意思是“新出现的问题”。

　　4.a man who... who...who...who...,这里一连用了4个定语从句，均用who引导，构成了排比结构，起加强语气的作用。

　　5.despise vt. 轻视

　　例句：I despise his refusing to accept responsibility.

　　他拒不承担责任，我鄙视他。

　　You must not despise a man because he is poor.

　　你不可因一个人贫穷而轻视他。

　　【词义辨析】

　　despise, scorn, look down upon 这些动词或短语动词均表示“轻视，蔑视”之意。

　　despise: 指由于卑鄙、**，渺小或无价值等而被轻视。

　　scorn: 语气较强，指极端的蔑视，常伴有愤怒或恼怒的情感。

　　look down upon: 指自视地位优越而蔑视他人或事。

　　6.overthrow v. **, 打倒, 颠覆

　　例句：The rebels have overthrown the government.

　　反叛者已**了政府。

　　【词义辨析】

　　conquer, overcome, overthrow, defeat, beat, subdue 这些动词均含“征服，战胜”之意。

　　conquer : 侧重战胜和控制。书面用词。

　　overcome : 多指战胜或克服非物质的东西，如困难和不良习惯等。语气较弱也可指在斗争或竞争中战胜或压倒对方。

　　overthrow : 指彻底击败对手，使其丧失力量和地位。

　　defeat : 普通用词，多指在战争、比赛、竞选或辩论中战胜对手，侧重胜利的暂时性。

　　beat : 口笔语均可用，可与defeat换用。

　　subdue : 正式用词，与conquer同义，但强调失败后的臣服状态;也可用作借喻，表克制、压抑感情、欲望等。

　　7.generalize v. 概括, 归纳, 使一般化

　　例句：It is dangerous to generalize about people.

　　以偏概全地谈论人是危险的。

　　8.at the time 当时

　　9.use a telescope at the limit of its powers 用望远镜的极限放大率。

　　10.intimate adj.

　　①精通的,深入的,详细的

　　例句：He has an intimate knowledge of American literature.

　　他精通美国文学。

　　②亲密的，私人的

　　例句：Both of them felt that they had become very intimate.

　　他俩都感到他们已经相当亲密了。

　　11.culpable adj. 该责备的, 有罪的

　　例句：None of this necessarily means that Gap is a bad company, or culpable in the Saipan case.

　　这都不意味着盖普是个差劲的**，或者在西潘事件中是有罪的。

　　12.distort vt. 歪曲, 扭曲, 变形

　　例句：You have distorted my motives.

　　你曲解了我的动机。

　　The bias of a reporter can easily distort the news.

　　记者的偏见很容易歪曲新闻的报导。

　　【参考译文】

　　伽利略在世时是激烈论战的中心。但是，自他逝世以来，那场科学上的纷争早已平息了下来，甚至他和宗教法庭的著名冲突，我们今天也能正确如实地看待。但是相比之下，对于科学史家来说，伽利略只是在现代才变成了一个新的难题。

　　令人高兴的是，过去对伽利略的看法并不复杂。他首先是个实验工作者，他蔑视亚里士多德学派的偏见和空洞的书本知识。他向自然界而不是向古人提出问题，并大胆地得出结论。他是第一个把望远镜对准天空的人，观察到的论据足以把亚里士多德和托勒密一起**。他就是那个曾经爬上比萨斜塔，从塔顶向下抛掷各种重物的人;他是那个使球体沿斜面向下**，然后将多次实验结果概括成著名的自由落体定律的人。

　　但是，对那个时代的深化了解，尤其是以科学家**中哲学潜流的新意识为依据，进一步仔细研究，就会极大地改变对伽利略的看法。今天，虽然已故的伽利略继续活在许多通俗读物中，但在科学史家中间，一个新的更加复杂的伽利略形象出现了。与此同时，我们对伽利略的反对派的同情也有所**。伽利略用望远镜所作的观察确实是不朽的，这些观察当时引起人们极大的兴趣，具有重要的理论意义，并充分显示出了仪表和仪器的潜在力量。但是，如果我们想到，使用一架倍数有限的望远镜需要**的**和对自己仪器的熟悉程度，那么我们怎么能去责备观察了天空但没有看到伽利略所看到的东西的那些人呢?某位哲学家曾拒绝使用伽利略的望远镜去观察天空;到了19世纪40年代，有人硬把罗斯勋爵高倍望远镜观测到的螺旋状星云说成是磨镜工留下的磨痕。难道反对伽利略的哲学家比诋毁罗斯勋爵造谣者应受到更大的谴责吗?如果我们回想一下伽利略之前几个世纪期间，曲面镜一直是一种用于产生幻影而不是产生**的把戏装置，那么我们就会原谅那些当时把伽利略观察到的木星卫星说成是伽利略用他的小望远镜变出来的人们，何况一片曲面镜就可歪曲自然，那么伽利略的两片曲面镜对自然的歪曲又该多大呢?