剑桥大学校园英语情景对话08：牛顿的苹果树（mp3+中英）

H:As a mathematician and physicist, Sir Isaac Newton is one of the foremost scientific intellects of all time.

H：作为一位数学家和物理学家，艾萨克?牛顿爵士是有史以来最著名的科学家之一。

R:I can’t agree with you more. And Newton remains influential to scientists, as demonstrated by a 2005 survey of members of Britain's Royal Society.

R：我非常同意你的观点。2005年对英国皇家学会的调查显示，牛顿仍然对现在的 科学家有一定的影响。

H:Newton’s study lays the groundwork for most of classical mechanics.In one of his books, Newton described universal gravitation and the three laws of motion which dominated⑦ the physical world for the next three centuries.

H:牛顿的研究为经典力学的大部分内容打下了基础。在他的一本书中，牛顿描述了万有引力和三大运动 定律，主宰了接下来三个世纪的物理世界。

R:Speaking of the universal gravitation, do you know how Newton comes up with this law?

R：说到万有引力，你知道牛顿是怎么想到这个定律的 吗？

H:Of course. Newton himself often told the story that he was inspired to formulate his theory of gravitation by watching the fall of an apple from a tree.

H:我当然知道。牛顿自己就经常说他是看到苹果从树 上落下受到启发而构想出万有引力定律的。

R： Cartoons have gone further to suggest the apple actually hit Newton’s head, and that its impact somehow made him aware of the force of gravity.

R:漫画还更夸张地暗示那个苹果其实是掉在牛顿的头 上，被苹果砸到的牛顿开始注意到万有引力的存在。

H： It is known from his notebooks that he was grappling in the late 1660s with the idea of terrestrial gravity. However it took him two decades to develop the full-fledged theory.

H:从牛顿的笔记中我们知道他是在17世纪60年代晚期提出"地球重力”这个概念 的，但是他花了 20多年时间才构建出一个成熟、全面的理论体系。

R: In the year 1666 Newton retired again from Cambridge to his hometown in Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire. Observing a fully formed apple drop from the tree prompted Newton to ask the vital questions.

R: 1666年，牛顿再次从剑桥大学"退休”回到他的家乡：林肯郡伍尔索坡。观察到 一个成熟的苹果从树上落下，牛顿心中疑惑重重。

H： I heard that Newton asked himself; “Why should that apple always descend perpendicularly to the ground? Why should it not go sideways or upwards, but constantly to the earth’s centre?’，

H:我听说牛顿自问道为什么苹果会永远垂直地落到地上呢？它为什么不斜向一边 或是往上窜，而是朝着地心的方向坠落呢？"

R： In the popular myth we all grew up with, Newton was hit on the head by the apple, its impact suggestively knocking a  moment of enlightened inspiration into him.

R：在我们从小听到大的传说中，牛顿被苹果砸到，受到了极大的启发。

H: John Conduitt, Newton's assistant at the Royal Mint and husband of Newton’s niece, described the event when he wrote about Newton’s life.

H:约翰?孔杜伊特是牛顿在皇家铸币厂的助手，同时也是牛顿外甥女的丈夫。当他 描述牛顿的生活时，提到了这一事件。

R： John Conduitf's version is different from those stories we heard, right?

R:约翰?孔杜伊特的版本和我们听到的那些故事不同，对吗？

H: Yes. According to Conduitt, Newton was pensively meandering in a garden and it came into his thought that the power of gravity was not limited to a certain distance from earth, but that this power must extend much further than was usually thought.

H:是的。根据孔杜伊特的描述，牛顿闷闷不乐地在花园里散步，他突然想到引力的 作用并不是局限在一定的距离之内的，它的作用肯定比之前人们认为的要大。

R： Although there are many versions, the apple tree at Newton’s home became well-known around the world.

R：虽然有很多不同的版本，但牛顿家乡的苹果树已经闻名于世了。

H: It's true. And in the back garden of the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences in Cambridge is an apple tree. There is another in the University Botanic Gardens.

H:的确如此。在剑桥大学艾萨克?牛顿数学研究所的后花园就有一棵苹果树，另外在剑桥大学植物园也有一棵。

R: Each is said to be a descendant of the apple tree at Woolsthorpe Manor that inspired the founder of modem physics to inquire into the nature of gravitation and the laws of motion.

R:正是受到位于家乡的伍尔索坡庄园的一棵苹果树启发，现代物理学之父牛顿开始 对万有弓I力的本质和运动三大定律进行探索研究。据说剑桥的两棵苹果树之一就 是那棵苹果树的后代。

H: But some people said that a descendant of the original tree can be seen growing outside the main gate of Trinity College, Cambridge, below the room Newton lived in when he studied there.

H:但是有些人说那棵苹果树的后代长在剑桥大学三一学院的主门外，上方就是牛顿 当时住的房间。

R： Wow, it’s really confusing. Any apple trees in Cambridge may be the descendant of the apple tree inspiring Newton in his hometown.
 

R：哇，这真令人感到困惑。牛顿家乡的苹果树给予了他灵感，剑桥大学的任何一棵 苹果树都有可能是它的后代。