為了方便同學(xué)們的學(xué)習(xí)，為大家整理了新概念英語(yǔ)第四冊(cè)學(xué)習(xí)手冊(cè)，新概念英語(yǔ)作為一套世界聞名的英語(yǔ)教程，以其全新的教學(xué)理念，有趣的課文內(nèi)容和全面的技能訓(xùn)練，深受廣大英語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)者的歡迎和喜愛(ài)。希望以下內(nèi)容能夠?yàn)榇蠹业男赂拍钣⒄Z(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)提供幫助!
Lesson 28
Patients and doctors
病人與醫(yī)生
What are patients looking for when they visit the doctor?
This is a sceptical age, but although our faith in many of the things in which our forefathers fervently believed has weakened, our confidence in the curative properties of the bottle of medicine remains the same a theirs. This modern faith in medicines is proved the fact that the annual drug bill of the Health Services is mounting to astronomical figures and shows no signs at present of ceasing to rise. The majority of the patients attending the medical out-patients departments of our hospitals feel that they have not received adequate treatment unless they are able to carry home with them some tangible remedy in the shape of a bottle of medicine, a box of pills, or a small jar of ointment, and the doctor in charge of the department is only too ready to provide them with these requirements. There is no quicker method of disposing of patients then by giving them what they are asking for, and since most medical men in the Health Services are overworked and have little time for offering time-consuming and little-appreciated advice on such subjects as diet, right living, and the need for abandoning bad habits etc., the bottle, the box, and the jar are almost always granted them.
Nor is it only the ignorant and ill-educated person who was such faith in the bottle of medicine. It is recounted of Thomas Carlyle that when him in his pocket what remained of a bottle of medicine formerly prescribed for an indisposition of Mrs. Carlyle's. Carlyle was entirely ignorant of what the bottle in his pocket contained, of the nature of the illness from which his friend was suffering, and of what had previously been wrong with his wife, but a medicine that had worked so well in one form of illness would surely be of equal benefit in another, and comforted by the thought of the help he was bringing to his friend, he hastened to Henry Taylor's house. History does not relate whether his friend accepted his medical help, but in all probability he did. The great advantage of taking medicine is that it makes no demands on the taker beyond that of putting up for a moment with a disgusting taste, and that is what all patients demand of their doctors -- to be cured at no inconvenience to themselves.
New words and expressions 生詞和短語(yǔ)
sceptical
adj. 懷疑的
forefathers
n. 祖先
fervently
adv. 熱情地
curative
adj. 治病的
astronomical
adj. 天文學(xué)的
tangible
adj.實(shí)實(shí)在在的
remedy
n. 藥物
ointment
n. 藥膏
prescribe
v. 開藥方
indisposition
n. 小病
inconvenience
n. 令人討厭的
inconvenience
n. 不便
參考譯文
這是一個(gè)懷疑一切的時(shí)代，可是雖然我們對(duì)我們祖先篤信的許多事物已不太相信，我們對(duì)瓶裝藥品療效的信心仍與祖輩一樣堅(jiān)定。衛(wèi)生部門的處度藥費(fèi)上升到了天文數(shù)字，并且目前尚無(wú)停止上升的跡象，這個(gè)事實(shí)證實(shí)了現(xiàn)代人對(duì)藥物的依賴。在醫(yī)院門診部看病的大多數(shù)人覺(jué)得，如果不能帶回一些看得見、摸得著的藥物，如一瓶藥水，一盒藥丸、一小瓶藥膏回家的話，就沒(méi)算得到了充分的治療。負(fù)責(zé)門診的醫(yī)生也非常樂(lè)意為前來(lái)看病的人提供他們想要得到的藥物，病人要什么就給什么，沒(méi)有比這樣處理病人更快的方法了。因?yàn)樾l(wèi)生部門的大多數(shù)醫(yī)生超負(fù)荷工作，所以沒(méi)有多少時(shí)間提出一些既費(fèi)時(shí)而又不受人歡迎的忠告，如注意飲食、生活有規(guī)律，需要克服壞習(xí)慣等等，結(jié)果就是把瓶藥、盒藥、罐藥開給看病的人而完事大吉。
并不只是那些無(wú)知和沒(méi)受過(guò)良好教育的人才迷信藥瓶子。據(jù)說(shuō)托馬斯.卡萊爾有過(guò)這么一件事：他聽說(shuō)朋友亨利.泰勒病了，就立刻跑去看他，衣袋里裝上了他妻子不舒服時(shí)吃剩下的一瓶藥?？ㄈR爾不知道藥瓶子里裝的是什么藥，不知道他的朋友得的是什么病，也不知道妻子以前得的是什么病，只知道一種藥對(duì)一種病有好處，肯定對(duì)另一種病也會(huì)有好處。想到能對(duì)朋友有所幫助，他感到很欣慰，于是急急忙忙來(lái)到了亨利.泰勒的家里，他的朋友是否接受了他的藥物治療，歷史沒(méi)有記載，但很可能接受了。服藥的大優(yōu)點(diǎn)是：除了暫時(shí)忍受一下令人作嘔的味道外，對(duì)服藥人別無(wú)其他要求。這也正是病人對(duì)醫(yī)生的要求 -- 病要治好，但不要太麻煩。
Lesson 29
The hovercraft
氣墊船
What is a hovercraft riding on when it is in motion?
Many strange new means of transport have been developed in our century, the strangest of them being perhaps the hovercraft. In 1953, a former electronics engineer in his fifties, Christopher Cockerell, who had turned to boat-building on the Norfolk Broads, suggested an idea on which he had been working for many years to the British Government and industrial circles. It was the idea of supporting a craft on a 'pad', or cushion, of low-pressure air, ringed with a curtain of higher pressure air. Ever since, people have had difficulty in deciding whether the craft should be ranged among ships, planes, or land vehicles -- for it is something in between a boat and an aircraft. As a shipbuilder, Cockerell was trying to find a solution to the problem of the wave resistance which wastes a good deal of a surface ship's power and limits its speed. His answer was to lift the vessel out of the water by a great number of ring-shaped air jets on the bottom of the craft. It 'flies', therefore, but it cannot fly higher -- its action depends on the surface, water or ground, over which it rides.
The first tests on the Solent in 1959 caused a sensation. The hovercraft travelled first over the water, then mounted the beach, climbed up the dunes, and sat down on a road. Later it crossed the Channel, riding smoothly over the waves, which presented no problem.
Since that time, various types of hovercraft have appeared and taken up regular service. The hovercraft is particularly useful in large areas with poor communications such as Africa or Australia; it can become a 'flying fruit-bowl', carrying bananas from the plantations to the ports; giant hovercraft liners could span the Atlantic; and the railway of the future may well be the 'hovertrain', riding on its air cushion over a single rail, which it never touches, at speeds up to 300 m.p.h. -- the possibilities appear unlimited.
EGON LARSEN The Pegasus Book of Inventors
New words and expressions 生詞和短語(yǔ)
hovercraft
n. 氣墊船
Norfolk Broads
n. 諾福克郡的湖泊地區(qū)
cushion
n. 座墊
ring
v. 圍
Solent
n. (英國(guó)的)蘇倫特海峽
sensation
n. 轟動(dòng)
dune
n. 沙丘
plantation
n. 種植園
hovertrain
n. 氣墊火車
參考譯文
本世紀(jì)已研制出許多新奇的交通工具，其中新奇的要數(shù)氣墊船了。1953年，有一位50多歲名叫克里斯托弗.科克雷的原電子工程師，改行在諾?？丝さ暮吹貐^(qū)從事造船業(yè)，他向英國(guó)政府和工業(yè)界提出了他研究多年的一項(xiàng)計(jì)劃。他的設(shè)想是：用一個(gè)低壓空氣或軟墊來(lái)支撐船體，軟墊周圍用高壓空氣環(huán)繞。自那以后，人們很難決定是否應(yīng)該將這種運(yùn)載工具列為輪船、飛機(jī)，或是陸上交通工具，因?yàn)樗墙橛诖惋w機(jī)之間。作為一個(gè)船舶技師，科克雷爾在尋找解決波浪阻力的方法，因?yàn)椴ɡ俗枇速M(fèi)掉了船在水面行駛的大量動(dòng)力，從而限制了船的速度。他的解決辦法是把船體提離水面，讓船在一個(gè)氣墊上行駛，氣墊只有一兩英尺厚。船底裝上大量環(huán)狀噴氣嘴以實(shí)現(xiàn)這一目的。這樣，船就能飛了，但飛不高。它的飛行限決于它所懸浮的水面或地面。
1959年，在蘇倫特海峽進(jìn)行的首次試航引起了轟動(dòng)，氣墊船先是在水面上行駛，后又登上海岸，爬上沙丘，后停在路上。后來(lái)氣墊船跨越英吉利海峽，平衡地在波浪上方行駛，波浪不再產(chǎn)生阻力。
從那以后，各種各樣的氣墊船出現(xiàn)了，并開始了定期航行服務(wù)。氣墊船在非洲、澳大利亞等交通不發(fā)達(dá)地區(qū)特別有用。它能成為“飛行水果盤子”，把香蕉從種植園動(dòng)到港口。大型的氣墊班輪或許能跨越大西洋。未來(lái)的火車或許能成為“氣墊火車”，靠氣墊在單軌上行駛而不接觸軌道，時(shí)速可達(dá)每小時(shí)300英里。氣墊船的前途是不可限量的。
Lesson 30
Exploring the sea-floor
海底勘探
How did people probably imagine the sea-floor before it was investigated?
Our knowledge of the oceans a hundred years ago was confined to the two-dimensional shape of the sea surface and the hazards of navigation presented by the irregularities in depth of the shallow water close to the land. The open sea was deep and mysterious, and anyone who gave more than a passing thought to the bottom confines of the oceans probably assumed that the sea bad was flat. Sir James Clark Ross had obtained a sounding of over 2,400 fathoms in 1839, but it was not until of deep soundings was obtained in the Atlantic and the first samples were collected by dredging the bottom. Shortly after this the famous H. M. S. Challenger expedition established the study of the sea-floor as a subject worthy of the most qualified physicists and geologists. A burst of activity associated with the laying of submarine cables soon confirmed the challenger's observation that many parts of the ocean were two to there miles deep, and the existence of underwater features of considerable magnitude.
Today, enough soundings are available to enable a relief map of the Atlantic to be drawn and we know something of the great variety of the sea bed's topography. Since the sea covers the greater part of the earth's surface, it is quite reasonable to regard the sea floor as the basic form of the crust of the earth, with, superimposed upon, it the continents, together with the islands and other features of the oceans. The continents form rugged tablelands which stand nearly three miles above the floor of the open ocean. From the shore line, out a distance which may be anywhere from a few miles to a few hundred miles, runs the gentle slope of the continental shelf, geologically part of the continents. The real dividing line between continents and oceans occurs at the foot a steeper slope.
This continental slope usually starts at a place somewhere near the 100-fatheom mark and in the course of a few hundred miles reaches the true ocean floor at 2,500-3,500 fathoms. The slope averages about 1 in 30. but contains steep, probably vertical, cliffs, and gentle sediment-covered terraces, and near its lower reaches there is a long tailing-off which is almost certainly the result of material transported out to deep water after being eroded from the continental masses.
T.F.GASKELL Exploring the Sea-floor from Science Survey
New words and expressions 生詞和短語(yǔ)
navigation
n. 航海
sounding
n. 水深度
fathom
n. 尋(1尋等于1.8米)
porcupine
n. 箭豬
dredge
v. 挖掘
expedition
n. 遠(yuǎn)征
physicist
n. 物理學(xué)家
magnitude
n. 很多
topography
n. 地形
crust
n. 地殼
rugged
adj.崎嶇不平
tableland
n. 高地
sediment
n. 沉淀物
terrace
n. 階地
erode
v. 侵蝕
參考譯文
100年前，我們只知道海洋是二維平面形的，以及靠近陸地淺水區(qū)的深淺不一能給航行帶來(lái)危險(xiǎn)。無(wú)邊無(wú)際的海洋深邃而又神秘，凡是稍稍想過(guò)大海海底的人大概都會(huì)認(rèn)為海底是平坦的。1839年，詹姆斯.克拉克.羅斯爵士曾測(cè)得海水深度超過(guò)2，400英尋;但直到1869年，皇家學(xué)會(huì)用英國(guó)“豪豬”號(hào)艦艇進(jìn)行了幾次巡航后，才在大西洋測(cè)得一個(gè)海水深度，同時(shí)能過(guò)挖掘海底，取得了研究海底的首批樣品。此后不久，英國(guó)的“挑戰(zhàn)者”號(hào)艦艇對(duì)海底的那次考察，把對(duì)海床的研究確立為一個(gè)值得一流物理學(xué)家和地質(zhì)學(xué)家從事的研究課題，鋪設(shè)海底電纜的熱潮很快證實(shí)了“挑戰(zhàn)者”號(hào)的觀察結(jié)果：海洋中很多地方可深達(dá)兩三英里，水下特征差異極大。
現(xiàn)在已有足夠的水深測(cè)量數(shù)據(jù)來(lái)繪制一張大西洋洋底地形圖，而且我對(duì)海底地形的千變?nèi)f化也有了一定的了解。既然海洋覆蓋著地球的大部分表面，因此完全有理由把海床看作地殼的基本模殼，上面附加著大陸以及島嶼和海洋的其他形態(tài)。大陸是崎嶇不平的高地，高出遼闊的海洋海底近三英里。從海岸線向大海延伸幾英里到幾百英里的區(qū)域是大陸架慢坡，從地質(zhì)學(xué)上來(lái)說(shuō)，它是大陸的一部分。大陸和海洋的真正分界線是在陡破腳下。
大陸架慢坡一般是從差不多100英尋水深的地方開始的，一直延伸到幾百英里遠(yuǎn)深達(dá)2，500至3，500的地方，那里才是真正的海底。坡度平均約為1/30，但其中包括陡峭的、乃至垂直的峭壁和沉積物覆蓋的緩和的階梯地帶，在這個(gè)地帶的低處是很長(zhǎng)的一段尾沙地段，基本上可以斷定這個(gè)地段是大陸塊體上侵蝕下來(lái)的物質(zhì)被水沖到深水處形成的。
Lesson 28
Patients and doctors
病人與醫(yī)生
What are patients looking for when they visit the doctor?
This is a sceptical age, but although our faith in many of the things in which our forefathers fervently believed has weakened, our confidence in the curative properties of the bottle of medicine remains the same a theirs. This modern faith in medicines is proved the fact that the annual drug bill of the Health Services is mounting to astronomical figures and shows no signs at present of ceasing to rise. The majority of the patients attending the medical out-patients departments of our hospitals feel that they have not received adequate treatment unless they are able to carry home with them some tangible remedy in the shape of a bottle of medicine, a box of pills, or a small jar of ointment, and the doctor in charge of the department is only too ready to provide them with these requirements. There is no quicker method of disposing of patients then by giving them what they are asking for, and since most medical men in the Health Services are overworked and have little time for offering time-consuming and little-appreciated advice on such subjects as diet, right living, and the need for abandoning bad habits etc., the bottle, the box, and the jar are almost always granted them.
Nor is it only the ignorant and ill-educated person who was such faith in the bottle of medicine. It is recounted of Thomas Carlyle that when him in his pocket what remained of a bottle of medicine formerly prescribed for an indisposition of Mrs. Carlyle's. Carlyle was entirely ignorant of what the bottle in his pocket contained, of the nature of the illness from which his friend was suffering, and of what had previously been wrong with his wife, but a medicine that had worked so well in one form of illness would surely be of equal benefit in another, and comforted by the thought of the help he was bringing to his friend, he hastened to Henry Taylor's house. History does not relate whether his friend accepted his medical help, but in all probability he did. The great advantage of taking medicine is that it makes no demands on the taker beyond that of putting up for a moment with a disgusting taste, and that is what all patients demand of their doctors -- to be cured at no inconvenience to themselves.
New words and expressions 生詞和短語(yǔ)
sceptical
adj. 懷疑的
forefathers
n. 祖先
fervently
adv. 熱情地
curative
adj. 治病的
astronomical
adj. 天文學(xué)的
tangible
adj.實(shí)實(shí)在在的
remedy
n. 藥物
ointment
n. 藥膏
prescribe
v. 開藥方
indisposition
n. 小病
inconvenience
n. 令人討厭的
inconvenience
n. 不便
參考譯文
這是一個(gè)懷疑一切的時(shí)代，可是雖然我們對(duì)我們祖先篤信的許多事物已不太相信，我們對(duì)瓶裝藥品療效的信心仍與祖輩一樣堅(jiān)定。衛(wèi)生部門的處度藥費(fèi)上升到了天文數(shù)字，并且目前尚無(wú)停止上升的跡象，這個(gè)事實(shí)證實(shí)了現(xiàn)代人對(duì)藥物的依賴。在醫(yī)院門診部看病的大多數(shù)人覺(jué)得，如果不能帶回一些看得見、摸得著的藥物，如一瓶藥水，一盒藥丸、一小瓶藥膏回家的話，就沒(méi)算得到了充分的治療。負(fù)責(zé)門診的醫(yī)生也非常樂(lè)意為前來(lái)看病的人提供他們想要得到的藥物，病人要什么就給什么，沒(méi)有比這樣處理病人更快的方法了。因?yàn)樾l(wèi)生部門的大多數(shù)醫(yī)生超負(fù)荷工作，所以沒(méi)有多少時(shí)間提出一些既費(fèi)時(shí)而又不受人歡迎的忠告，如注意飲食、生活有規(guī)律，需要克服壞習(xí)慣等等，結(jié)果就是把瓶藥、盒藥、罐藥開給看病的人而完事大吉。
并不只是那些無(wú)知和沒(méi)受過(guò)良好教育的人才迷信藥瓶子。據(jù)說(shuō)托馬斯.卡萊爾有過(guò)這么一件事：他聽說(shuō)朋友亨利.泰勒病了，就立刻跑去看他，衣袋里裝上了他妻子不舒服時(shí)吃剩下的一瓶藥?？ㄈR爾不知道藥瓶子里裝的是什么藥，不知道他的朋友得的是什么病，也不知道妻子以前得的是什么病，只知道一種藥對(duì)一種病有好處，肯定對(duì)另一種病也會(huì)有好處。想到能對(duì)朋友有所幫助，他感到很欣慰，于是急急忙忙來(lái)到了亨利.泰勒的家里，他的朋友是否接受了他的藥物治療，歷史沒(méi)有記載，但很可能接受了。服藥的大優(yōu)點(diǎn)是：除了暫時(shí)忍受一下令人作嘔的味道外，對(duì)服藥人別無(wú)其他要求。這也正是病人對(duì)醫(yī)生的要求 -- 病要治好，但不要太麻煩。
Lesson 29
The hovercraft
氣墊船
What is a hovercraft riding on when it is in motion?
Many strange new means of transport have been developed in our century, the strangest of them being perhaps the hovercraft. In 1953, a former electronics engineer in his fifties, Christopher Cockerell, who had turned to boat-building on the Norfolk Broads, suggested an idea on which he had been working for many years to the British Government and industrial circles. It was the idea of supporting a craft on a 'pad', or cushion, of low-pressure air, ringed with a curtain of higher pressure air. Ever since, people have had difficulty in deciding whether the craft should be ranged among ships, planes, or land vehicles -- for it is something in between a boat and an aircraft. As a shipbuilder, Cockerell was trying to find a solution to the problem of the wave resistance which wastes a good deal of a surface ship's power and limits its speed. His answer was to lift the vessel out of the water by a great number of ring-shaped air jets on the bottom of the craft. It 'flies', therefore, but it cannot fly higher -- its action depends on the surface, water or ground, over which it rides.
The first tests on the Solent in 1959 caused a sensation. The hovercraft travelled first over the water, then mounted the beach, climbed up the dunes, and sat down on a road. Later it crossed the Channel, riding smoothly over the waves, which presented no problem.
Since that time, various types of hovercraft have appeared and taken up regular service. The hovercraft is particularly useful in large areas with poor communications such as Africa or Australia; it can become a 'flying fruit-bowl', carrying bananas from the plantations to the ports; giant hovercraft liners could span the Atlantic; and the railway of the future may well be the 'hovertrain', riding on its air cushion over a single rail, which it never touches, at speeds up to 300 m.p.h. -- the possibilities appear unlimited.
EGON LARSEN The Pegasus Book of Inventors
New words and expressions 生詞和短語(yǔ)
hovercraft
n. 氣墊船
Norfolk Broads
n. 諾福克郡的湖泊地區(qū)
cushion
n. 座墊
ring
v. 圍
Solent
n. (英國(guó)的)蘇倫特海峽
sensation
n. 轟動(dòng)
dune
n. 沙丘
plantation
n. 種植園
hovertrain
n. 氣墊火車
參考譯文
本世紀(jì)已研制出許多新奇的交通工具，其中新奇的要數(shù)氣墊船了。1953年，有一位50多歲名叫克里斯托弗.科克雷的原電子工程師，改行在諾?？丝さ暮吹貐^(qū)從事造船業(yè)，他向英國(guó)政府和工業(yè)界提出了他研究多年的一項(xiàng)計(jì)劃。他的設(shè)想是：用一個(gè)低壓空氣或軟墊來(lái)支撐船體，軟墊周圍用高壓空氣環(huán)繞。自那以后，人們很難決定是否應(yīng)該將這種運(yùn)載工具列為輪船、飛機(jī)，或是陸上交通工具，因?yàn)樗墙橛诖惋w機(jī)之間。作為一個(gè)船舶技師，科克雷爾在尋找解決波浪阻力的方法，因?yàn)椴ɡ俗枇速M(fèi)掉了船在水面行駛的大量動(dòng)力，從而限制了船的速度。他的解決辦法是把船體提離水面，讓船在一個(gè)氣墊上行駛，氣墊只有一兩英尺厚。船底裝上大量環(huán)狀噴氣嘴以實(shí)現(xiàn)這一目的。這樣，船就能飛了，但飛不高。它的飛行限決于它所懸浮的水面或地面。
1959年，在蘇倫特海峽進(jìn)行的首次試航引起了轟動(dòng)，氣墊船先是在水面上行駛，后又登上海岸，爬上沙丘，后停在路上。后來(lái)氣墊船跨越英吉利海峽，平衡地在波浪上方行駛，波浪不再產(chǎn)生阻力。
從那以后，各種各樣的氣墊船出現(xiàn)了，并開始了定期航行服務(wù)。氣墊船在非洲、澳大利亞等交通不發(fā)達(dá)地區(qū)特別有用。它能成為“飛行水果盤子”，把香蕉從種植園動(dòng)到港口。大型的氣墊班輪或許能跨越大西洋。未來(lái)的火車或許能成為“氣墊火車”，靠氣墊在單軌上行駛而不接觸軌道，時(shí)速可達(dá)每小時(shí)300英里。氣墊船的前途是不可限量的。
Lesson 30
Exploring the sea-floor
海底勘探
How did people probably imagine the sea-floor before it was investigated?
Our knowledge of the oceans a hundred years ago was confined to the two-dimensional shape of the sea surface and the hazards of navigation presented by the irregularities in depth of the shallow water close to the land. The open sea was deep and mysterious, and anyone who gave more than a passing thought to the bottom confines of the oceans probably assumed that the sea bad was flat. Sir James Clark Ross had obtained a sounding of over 2,400 fathoms in 1839, but it was not until of deep soundings was obtained in the Atlantic and the first samples were collected by dredging the bottom. Shortly after this the famous H. M. S. Challenger expedition established the study of the sea-floor as a subject worthy of the most qualified physicists and geologists. A burst of activity associated with the laying of submarine cables soon confirmed the challenger's observation that many parts of the ocean were two to there miles deep, and the existence of underwater features of considerable magnitude.
Today, enough soundings are available to enable a relief map of the Atlantic to be drawn and we know something of the great variety of the sea bed's topography. Since the sea covers the greater part of the earth's surface, it is quite reasonable to regard the sea floor as the basic form of the crust of the earth, with, superimposed upon, it the continents, together with the islands and other features of the oceans. The continents form rugged tablelands which stand nearly three miles above the floor of the open ocean. From the shore line, out a distance which may be anywhere from a few miles to a few hundred miles, runs the gentle slope of the continental shelf, geologically part of the continents. The real dividing line between continents and oceans occurs at the foot a steeper slope.
This continental slope usually starts at a place somewhere near the 100-fatheom mark and in the course of a few hundred miles reaches the true ocean floor at 2,500-3,500 fathoms. The slope averages about 1 in 30. but contains steep, probably vertical, cliffs, and gentle sediment-covered terraces, and near its lower reaches there is a long tailing-off which is almost certainly the result of material transported out to deep water after being eroded from the continental masses.
T.F.GASKELL Exploring the Sea-floor from Science Survey
New words and expressions 生詞和短語(yǔ)
navigation
n. 航海
sounding
n. 水深度
fathom
n. 尋(1尋等于1.8米)
porcupine
n. 箭豬
dredge
v. 挖掘
expedition
n. 遠(yuǎn)征
physicist
n. 物理學(xué)家
magnitude
n. 很多
topography
n. 地形
crust
n. 地殼
rugged
adj.崎嶇不平
tableland
n. 高地
sediment
n. 沉淀物
terrace
n. 階地
erode
v. 侵蝕
參考譯文
100年前，我們只知道海洋是二維平面形的，以及靠近陸地淺水區(qū)的深淺不一能給航行帶來(lái)危險(xiǎn)。無(wú)邊無(wú)際的海洋深邃而又神秘，凡是稍稍想過(guò)大海海底的人大概都會(huì)認(rèn)為海底是平坦的。1839年，詹姆斯.克拉克.羅斯爵士曾測(cè)得海水深度超過(guò)2，400英尋;但直到1869年，皇家學(xué)會(huì)用英國(guó)“豪豬”號(hào)艦艇進(jìn)行了幾次巡航后，才在大西洋測(cè)得一個(gè)海水深度，同時(shí)能過(guò)挖掘海底，取得了研究海底的首批樣品。此后不久，英國(guó)的“挑戰(zhàn)者”號(hào)艦艇對(duì)海底的那次考察，把對(duì)海床的研究確立為一個(gè)值得一流物理學(xué)家和地質(zhì)學(xué)家從事的研究課題，鋪設(shè)海底電纜的熱潮很快證實(shí)了“挑戰(zhàn)者”號(hào)的觀察結(jié)果：海洋中很多地方可深達(dá)兩三英里，水下特征差異極大。
現(xiàn)在已有足夠的水深測(cè)量數(shù)據(jù)來(lái)繪制一張大西洋洋底地形圖，而且我對(duì)海底地形的千變?nèi)f化也有了一定的了解。既然海洋覆蓋著地球的大部分表面，因此完全有理由把海床看作地殼的基本模殼，上面附加著大陸以及島嶼和海洋的其他形態(tài)。大陸是崎嶇不平的高地，高出遼闊的海洋海底近三英里。從海岸線向大海延伸幾英里到幾百英里的區(qū)域是大陸架慢坡，從地質(zhì)學(xué)上來(lái)說(shuō)，它是大陸的一部分。大陸和海洋的真正分界線是在陡破腳下。
大陸架慢坡一般是從差不多100英尋水深的地方開始的，一直延伸到幾百英里遠(yuǎn)深達(dá)2，500至3，500的地方，那里才是真正的海底。坡度平均約為1/30，但其中包括陡峭的、乃至垂直的峭壁和沉積物覆蓋的緩和的階梯地帶，在這個(gè)地帶的低處是很長(zhǎng)的一段尾沙地段，基本上可以斷定這個(gè)地段是大陸塊體上侵蝕下來(lái)的物質(zhì)被水沖到深水處形成的。