时间:2018-12-08 作者:英语课 分类:英汉幽默故事选读


英语课
Archimedes was a Greek scientist. He lives in Syracuse nearly 200 years ago. The King of the land wanted to wear a Golden Crown. He gave some gold to a goldsmith to make a suitable crown. After few days, the goldsmith brought the finished crown to the King. The crown was weighed. The weight of the crown was equal to the gold given to the goldsmith by the King. The King looked at the color of the crown. He had a suspicion. The goldsmith could have stolen some gold from the gold given to him. The King wanted to find out the truth. He asked his court scientist Archimedes to find out. The King said, “Find out how much gold had been stolen?" 
 
How to find out the truth? Archimedes thought about the problem day and night. One day he was about to have his bath, but he was busy thinking. He did not notice the bathtub. The water in the bathtub was already full to the brim. He slid into the bathtub. Immediately a large quantity of water flowed over the brim of the bath tub. He noticed this suddenly. His brain wave worked suddenly. He jumped out of the bathtub, shouting, “Eureka! Eureka!" Eureka in Greek means “I have found it." 
 
Different metals of the same weight have different volumes. Objects, put in water, will displace water. The displaced water will be equal to their volume. 
 
For example, an iron cube weighing a kilogram will disperse 1 some water. But an aluminums cube of the same weight will displace more water than the iron cube. 
 
Archimedes knew all these theories. Using this as the basic knowledge, Archimedes worked out a plan to find out the purity of the crown. 
 
Archimedes took two bowls. He filled them with water to the brim. Then he placed each bowl separately in the middle of the large vessels 3. He placed the crown in one bowl. Water overflowed 5. It collected at the bottom of the outer vessel 2. Then he took a cube of pure gold. This cube of gold was equal in weight to the crown. He kept this gold cube in the middle of the second bowl. Here also water overflowed. Water got collected at the bottom of the outer bowl. 
 
Archimedes then measured the quantity of water in the two vessels. He found out the difference in the water overflow 4. The crown had sent out more water. The cube of gold had sent out less water. But both the crown and the gold cube were of the same weight. So, they should have sent out the same quantity of water. Therefore, the crown had some other metals mixed in it. These metals took up more space in the water than pure gold. 
 

Archimedes reported this finding to the King. The King demanded the truth from the goldsmith. The goldsmith then confessed. He had stolen some gold. He had added some other metals.  



1 disperse
vi.使分散;使消失;vt.分散;驱散
  • The cattle were swinging their tails to disperse the flies.那些牛甩动着尾巴驱赶苍蝇。
  • The children disperse for the holidays.孩子们放假了。
2 vessel
n.船舶;容器,器皿;管,导管,血管
  • The vessel is fully loaded with cargo for Shanghai.这艘船满载货物驶往上海。
  • You should put the water into a vessel.你应该把水装入容器中。
3 vessels
n.血管( vessel的名词复数 );船;容器;(具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的)人
  • The river is navigable by vessels of up to 90 tons. 90 吨以下的船只可以从这条河通过。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • All modern vessels of any size are fitted with radar installations. 所有现代化船只都有雷达装置。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
4 overflow
v.(使)外溢,(使)溢出;溢出,流出,漫出
  • The overflow from the bath ran on to the floor.浴缸里的水溢到了地板上。
  • After a long period of rain,the river may overflow its banks.长时间的下雨天后,河水可能溢出岸来。
5 overflowed
溢出的
  • Plates overflowed with party food. 聚会上的食物碟满盘盈。
  • A great throng packed out the theater and overflowed into the corridors. 一大群人坐满剧院并且还有人涌到了走廊上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
标签: 故事
学英语单词
Aboren
Achromobacter
Almeirim
anchor shackle pin
antitubercular antibiotics
aphicide caphidicide
Aqueductus vestibuli
arteriae epigastrica superior
beautiful fruit dove
betiatide
bioreactors
bloo
blow pipe welding
Britfags
burning cotton method
burning-out zone
ceramic flat package
cerium(iii) tungstate
church-yards
Colles' ligament
combating
copilia mediterranea
cost per call
cover eaves beam
cytomycin
Damno
database design
dinner theatres
dochmii
double ended retractors
douche bath unit
eese
electrotinning
employment training classes
ethyl dimethylacetoacetate
evergreen thorns
evolutionary conservatism
exp function
fear-of-fear hypothesis
Geneva stop work
gets hammered
glisse
hatch moulding
hellstedt
hybrid problem analysis
incentive operator
interruption code
intestinal stenosis
IVAA
ker-thump
keyhole saw
less - developed country
linked stack
Lychnis senno
mechanical ability
Methylophilaceae
mexican teas
microwave attenuative ceramics
missing release
Munday
nectria galligena
nonthermal radio source
out of their element
ovulation groove
paper moneys
pectinatoly
pepper-salt
PERCOIDAE
photometries
piccanin
pick the eyes out of
Poix
polar response curve
power factor compensation
pre-pay
psephicity
quintuple-clicking
quinupramine
raft davit
ray positive
separately locking
shroud shear
shrub rose
silica (silicon dioxide)
Slavuta
social security institute
subharmonic clock recovery
subline mode coding
syphilonychia exulcerans
Tashkeprinskoye Vdkh.
telescopic legs
thermosensitive food
tin-pan alley
to make ends meet
traditional marine industry
trunkmaking
unfinal
universal test bench
vlitional
waterton-glacier
Wickliffe, John
yarn count balance