Unit-4-Force-of-Nature课文翻译

Unit4Force ofNatureBarbara Goldsmith

1.While I was ateenager growingup inNew Rochelle,New York,I hadup onmy bulletinboard aphotoof MarieCurie sittingunder anelm tree,her armswrapped aroundher daughters,two-year-old Eveand nine-year-old Irene.I didntknow verymuch aboutCurie beyondthe basics:She andher husbandhad discoveredradioactivity.She wasthe firstperson towin twoNobel prizes.She wasbrilliant,single-minded,a legend.Iwasjust agirl withlittle direction,more drawnto wordsandmade-up storiesthan toformulas andlab experiments.

2.Looking back,I thinkI admiredthat photoso much,not because of MarieCurie andwhat shestoodfor butbecause sheseemed soexotic——or maybebecauseofhow herarms encircledhergirls.My ownmother layin thehospital,recovering froma graveinjury in a carcrash.I wantedher toholdme,but she couldnt.So,instead,I idolizedMarie,who inmy mindbecame thestrongest andmostcapable womanin theworld.

3.Like anygirls fantasy,mine containedat leasta shredof truth.Marie Curiesown daughtersgrewinto accomplishedwomen intheir ownright,though theirmother wasobsessively engagedinher researchbefore theywere born.Curie waswhat wemight todaycall asuper-competentmulti-tasker:Her workrevolutionized thestudy ofatomic energyand radioactivity,and shesone ofapitiful fewfemale scientistswhom schoolchildrenever study.Also she was awoman drivenbypassions,fighting battlesmuch of her lifewith whata doctornow wouldprobably diagnoseas severedepression.In theend,her mostbrilliant discoveryproved fatalfor bothher andher husband.

4.When Curiewas10years old,in1878,her motherdied oftuberculosis.The Polishgirl thenknown as ManyaSklodowska carriedon withher schoolworkas ifnothing hadhappened,but formonthsshed findplaces tohide so shecouldcry hereyes out.

5.At age18,she landeda jobas governessto awealthy familynear Warsaw.She woundup fallinginlove withCasimir Zorawski,an accomplishedstudent of19with whom she shareda loveof natureandscience.But whenCasimir announcedthat heand Manyawanted tomarry,his fatherthreatenedto disinherithim.She wasbeneath hisstation,poor,a commonnursemaid.Definitely no.Four yearsdraggedby.Finally,Manya toldCasimir;If youcannot decide,I cannotdecide foryou.1In whatstillseems tome aremarkable actof courage,Manya thengathered hermeager savingsand tooka traintoParis,where shechanged hername,enrolled atthe Sorbonne—and walkedinto history.

6.In1893,she becamethe firstwoman toearn adegree inphysics atthe Sorbonne.If youhaveever seen the1943film MadameCurie,you knowthe broadbrush strokesofherearly experimentstofind amysterious,hidden newelement.Theres ascene inwhich actressGreer Garson,as Marie,stirs aboiling vat,her faceglistening withsweat.Late atnight,Marie andher husband,Pierre,enterthe labto seea tinyluminous staincongealed ina dish.Oh,Pierre!Could itbe exclaimsMarie astearsroll downher cheeks.Yes,this wasit—radium!

7.The realitywas alot grittier——and alot lessromantic.Marie and Pierre,whomshemarried in1895,did indeedwork sideby sidelate into the night.But theirlab wasso shabbyand dankthat theirdaughterIrene,at agethree,called itthat sad,sad place.And oneprominent scientistsaid thathadhe notseentheworktable,he wouldhave thoughthewasinastable.

8.In time,the Curiesbecame worldfamous,especially after they wona NobelPrize inphysics in1903for thediscovery ofradioactivity.They werethe toastof theEuropean scientificcommunity,feted lavishlyand visitedat homein Parisby acolyteswho camefrom asfar awayas NewZealand topayhomage.

9.For theCuries,though,their triumphcontained theseeds oftheir tragedy.Remember,theyworked aroundradioactivity nearlyevery day.Even beforewinning theNobel,Pierre wasseverely illfromexposure tothis fierceenergy.He hadopen soreson hishands andfingers,and increasingdifficultywalking.In1906,he fellinto thepath ofa wagondrawn bytwo hugedraft horses,and awheelran overhis head.He diedinstantly.

10.Years later,Eve Curie,scarcely ayear oldwhen herfather died,wrote thatPierres deathmarkedthe definingmoment inher motherslife:HMarie Curiedid notchange froma happyyoungwife toan inconsolablewidow.The metamorphosiswas lesssimple,more serious.A capeof solitudeandsecrecy fellupon hershoulders forever.Marie wasjust

38.The Sundayafterthefuneral,insteadof stayingwith familyand friends,she retreatedto thelab.In herdiary shewrote Pierre:I wanttotalk toyou inthe silenceof thislaboratory,where Ididnt thinkI couldlive withoutyou.

11.The workthat MarieandPierrehad begunwent onafter hisdeath.A secondNobel inchemistrywent toMarie alonefor isolatingthe elementsradium andpolonium.

12.With theonset ofWorld WarI in1914,she recognizedthat mobileX-ray8units couldsave livesinbattlefield hospitals,soshe established afleet ofthese vehicles,knownaspetites Curies,or littleCuries.She andIrene droveone themselves.

13.Later shewent backtotheRadium Institutesheestablished,teaching,traveling andlecturinguntil herdeath,at age66,on July4,

1934.The causewas aplasticpernicious anemia,most likelydueto herlong,devastating exposureto radiumand otherradioactive elements.

14.The MarieCurie thatI discoveredwas noicon buta flesh-and-blood woman.She conqueredhugeprofessional obstaclesbut paida terriblepersonal price.I knownow howcomplex herlife was-truly gloriousand tragic.Chinese Translationof Paragraphs

1.十几岁的时候，我生活在纽约州新罗谢尔市我的记事牌上贴着一张玛丽•居里的照片,她坐在一棵榆树下面，怀里抱着女儿，两岁的爱娃和九岁的爱莲对居里夫人我所知甚少,除了一些基本的东西她和丈夫发现了放射性她是荣获两项诺贝尔奖的第一人她聪慧、执着，简直是一个传奇我当时还是一个小姑娘，还几乎没有人生的方向，与其说对公式和实验室里的实验好奇，还不如说对文字和编造出来的故事更有兴趣

2.回想起来，我认为自己十分欣赏那张照片，并非因为那是玛丽•居里以及她所象征的东西，而是因为她的那种异国情调，或者也许是因为她怀抱两个女儿的模样我自己的母亲因为车祸受到重伤，躺在医院里，正在康复我想要她抱抱我，但是她做不到因此，取而代之的是，我崇拜玛丽了，在我的心目中，她成了天底下最坚强、最有能力的女性

3.像其他女孩的奇思异想一样，我的想法里至少还有几分真实玛丽•居里夫人的女儿们都自力更生，成长为颇有成就的妇女，尽管她们的母亲在她们出生之前完全沉浸在研究工作之中居里是个我们今天可以称之为超有能力的多面手她的工作彻底改变了对原子能和放射性的研究，而且她是学生们学习的少得可怜的儿个女科学家之一她还是一个充满激情的女人，一辈子有很多时间要与现在医生可能诊断为严重抑郁症的病魔抗争最终，她那杰出的发现却让她和丈夫为之丧命

4.1878年，居里10岁，她母亲死于肺结核这个叫玛利亚・斯可罗多夫斯卡的波兰小姑娘继续求学，好像什么事情也没有发生过但是，连着好几个月她得找个地方躲起来，放声大哭

5.18岁那年，她在华沙附近一家有钱人家里当上了一名家庭教师结果，她爱上了查斯米尔•佐瓦斯基，一个19岁的学有所成的学生他们俩都热爱自然和科学但是，当查斯米尔宣布他和玛利亚想要步入婚姻殿堂时，他的父亲威胁要剥夺他的继承权她与他门不当户不对，出身贫寒，不过是个保姆绝对不行！拖了四年之后，终于，玛利亚对查斯米尔说:“如果你下不了决心，我也无法为你下决心”然后凭着现在对我而言是了不起的勇气，玛利亚带着微薄的积蓄乘火车去了巴黎在巴黎她改了名字，上了索邦大学一一于是走进了历史

6.1893年，她成了在索邦大学第一个获得物理学学位的女性如果您看过1943年拍摄的影片《居里夫人》，就会明白她早期做实验的大手笔，发现一个神秘的、隐藏着的新元素有一幕，扮演玛丽的女演员格里尔•加森在一个烧锅里搅动，满脸汗水晚上很迟的时候，玛丽和丈夫皮尔走进实验室看见试盘上凝结着一小块发光的东西“哦，皮尔!是那个吗？”玛丽惊呼道，泪水顺着面颊流淌下来是的，就是它一一镭！

7.现实却要艰苦得多一一也没有那么浪漫玛丽是在1895年嫁给皮尔的，他们确实并肩工作到深夜然而，她们的实验室是那么的简陋、潮湿，所以女儿爱莲把那儿叫做“那个糟糕的、糟糕透了的地方”曾经有位声名显赫的科学家说过，要不是见到那张工作台，他会以为自己身处马厩

8.终于，居里夫妇名扬全球，尤其他们于1903年因发现放射性荣获诺贝尔物理学奖之后在欧洲科学界，他们成了人们祝贺的对象，到处受到盛情款待，在巴黎家中受到来自远至新西兰的崇拜者的访问，来向他们致意

9.然而，对居里夫妇而言，他们的成功埋下了他们悲剧的种子记得吗，他们几乎天天都为着放射性工作甚至在获得诺贝尔奖之前，皮尔就因暴露在这种强大能量中而身患重病他的手上和手指上有开放性的溃疡，而且走路越来越困难1906年，他跌倒在两匹高大驮马拉着的马车的道上，一个车轮碾过他的头部，他当场身亡

10.父亲死的时候，爱娃•居里还不到一岁若干年以后，爱娃写道，皮尔的死注定了母亲生命大限的时•刻“玛丽•居里没有从年轻幸福的妻子转变为一个极度沮丧的寡妇这种蜕变并非一蹴而就而是根深蒂固孤寂和沉默的斗篷永远披在她的双肩上”玛丽年仅38岁葬礼后的星期天，她没有与家人和朋友们待在一起，而是躲进了实验室在日记里，她是这么对皮尔写的“在这鸦雀无声的实验室里，我想和你说话，实验室里没有了你，我无法应付呀”

11.在皮尔去世后，他和玛丽开始的工作并未停止因为分离了镭元素和针元素，第二个诺贝尔化学奖荣归玛丽一人

12.随着1914年第一次世界大战爆发，玛丽意识到流动的X光机器可以拯救战地医院里面的生命于是，她建立了一个称为“小居里”的车队，她和爱莲亲自驾驶一辆车

13.后来，她又回到自己建立的镭研究所，从事教学工作，也外出旅行、讲学，直至1934年7月4日谢世，终年66岁死因是恶性再生障碍性贫血，很可能是由于她长期暴露在致命的镭和其他放射性元素的辐射中

14.我所发现的玛丽•居里并非是一个偶像，而是一个有血有肉的女人她征服了职业上巨大的障碍，但是付出了巨大的个人代价现在我明白，她的一生何其复杂一一的确集荣光与悲壮于一身。