美国国家公共电台 NPR How A Wave Is Unlike An Armadillo: One Reporter's Summer Puzzle
时间：2019-01-17 作者：英语课 分类：2016年NPR美国国家公共电台8月
How A Wave Is Unlike An Armadillo: One Reporter's Summer Puzzle
AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:
This summer, NPR's science desk has been obsessing 1 over waves - ocean waves, sound waves, even the wave you sometimes see fans doing at sporting events. Science correspondent Joe Palca steps back and asks the big question. What is a wave anyway?
JOE PALCA, BYLINE 2: Yes, I know. A scientist can tell you all about waves, but I wasn't sure a scientist could answer my questions about waves because if you think about it, waves are kind of puzzling. At least I think they're kind of puzzling.
Is a wave a thing, or is it the description of a thing? Well, rather than pester 3 a scientist with my somewhat philosophical 4 questions, I decided 5 to pester a philosopher. S. Marc Cohen is emeritus 6 professor of philosophy at the University of Washington. He's sympathetic to my befuddlement 8.
S MARC COHEN: There's something about waves that can get you into kind of a mental funk because you look at a wave. You can see them. You look out on the water, and the wave moves across the water. Something's moving through space.
PALCA: OK, I get that.
COHEN: But what is the wave exactly? So you'll scurry 9 off to a physics textbook, and it'll say that a wave is a disturbance 10 that moves through a medium from one location to another.
PALCA: OK, I get that, too.
COHEN: So it's really not a thing. It's not made of stuff like a chair is made of wood or a football is made of leather. But when a wave moves through the water, it's not really made of water. It's a wave in the water.
PALCA: Oh, OK. So Cohen says from a philosophical standpoint, you're better off thinking of a wave as a phenomenon, a thing that happens, sort of like an event.
COHEN: Not what we Aristotelians would call a substance like a football or an armadillo.
PALCA: So a wave in the water is not like an armadillo - got it. But hold on a minute. If a wave is a disturbance moving through a medium, what about light waves? They're a disturbance, and they can travel through empty space. Cohen says his explanation only applies to physical waves, not electromagnetic waves or light waves.
COHEN: It's really mysterious how they get to move through empty space where there is no medium. But if you want the answer to that question, you'd better talk to a scientist, not a philosopher.
PALCA: I was afraid it might come to that. But I note in closing that waves have elusive 11 properties that can befuddle 7 philosophers, too. I feel a wave of relief. Joe Palca, NPR News.
- Why is everyone obsessing over system specs right now? 为啥现在人人都对系统配置情有独钟？ 来自互联网
- A nitpicker, obsessing over dimes, is too stiff to place orders. 一个连一毛钱都舍不得亏的人，因太过拘谨而不能下单。 来自互联网
- His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
- We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。
- He told her not to pester him with trifles.他对她说不要为小事而烦扰他。
- Don't pester me.I've got something urgent to attend to.你别跟我蘑菇了，我还有急事呢。
- The teacher couldn't answer the philosophical problem.老师不能解答这个哲学问题。
- She is very philosophical about her bad luck.她对自己的不幸看得很开。
- This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
- There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
- "Perhaps I can introduce Mr.Lake Kirby,an emeritus professor from Washington University?"请允许我介绍华盛顿大学名誉教授莱克柯尔比先生。
- He will continue as chairman emeritus.他将会继续担任荣誉主席。
- This is clearly designed to befuddle the public.这显然是为了蒙蔽舆论。
- Don't befuddle me with all those masses of detail.不要拿一大堆琐事把我搞迷糊。
- To add to the befuddlement, the expansion of the universe now seems to be accelerating, a process with truly mind-stretching consequences. 更叫人迷糊的是，现今宇宙的膨胀似乎正在加速之中，这真是让人连脑子也一起跟着膨胀。 来自辞典例句
- I jumped on the sofa after I saw a mouse scurry by.看到一只老鼠匆匆路过,我从沙发上跳了起来。
- There was a great scurry for bargains.大家急忙着去抢购特价品。
- He is suffering an emotional disturbance.他的情绪受到了困扰。
- You can work in here without any disturbance.在这儿你可不受任何干扰地工作。