新概念3老師

新概念英語第四冊課文原文：伽利略的復(fù)生

591. 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.

這些觀察當(dāng)時(shí)引起人們極大的興趣，具有重要的理論意義，并充分顯示出了儀表和儀器的潛在力量。

592. 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?

但是，如果我們想到，便用一架倍數(shù)有限的望遠(yuǎn)鏡需要長期的經(jīng)驗(yàn)和對自己儀器的熟悉程度，那么我們怎么能去責(zé)備觀察了天空但沒有看到伽利略所看到的東西的那些人呢?

593. 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?

某位哲學(xué)家曾拒絕使用伽利略的望遠(yuǎn)鏡去觀察天空;到了19世紀(jì)40年代，有人硬把羅斯勛爵高倍望遠(yuǎn)鏡觀測到的螺旋狀星云說成是磨鏡工留下的磨痕。難道反對伽利略的哲學(xué)家比詆毀羅斯勛爵造謠者應(yīng)受到更大的譴責(zé)嗎?

594. 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;

如果我們回想一下伽利略之前幾個(gè)世紀(jì)期間，曲面鏡一直是一種用于產(chǎn)生幻影而不是產(chǎn)生真象的把戲裝置，那么我們就會原諒那些當(dāng)時(shí)把伽利略觀察到的木星衛(wèi)生說成是伽利略用他的小望遠(yuǎn)鏡變出來的人們，

595. and if a single curved glass would distort nature, how much more would a pair of them?

何況一片曲面鏡就可歪曲自然，那么伽利略的兩片曲面鏡對自然的歪曲又該多大呢?