时间:2018-12-26 作者:英语课 分类:自然百科2010年


英语课

 Here, the story goes, Oedipus first learned his fate. The Oracle 1 of Delphi, speaking for the god Apollo, told him he would kill his father and marry his mother. As many of us learned in school, despite all his efforts, Oedipus was unable to escape his disastrous 2 destiny in maybe the most famous of Greek tragedies. 


 
"In antiquity 3, just like today, people had a lot of uncertainties 4 in life and they presumed that the gods knew more than they did, and in particular, they thought Apollo knew a lot. So they would travel here basically to ask Apollo for advice or to ask him questions and hope that he give an answer."
 
If Apollo was a musician, then his priestess, the Pythia, was his instrument. Ancient records tell of mystical, sweet-smelling vapors 5 rising from the earth, putting the Pythia under Apollo's spell. But while the reciting of prophecies is historical fact, questions about those vapors remain. 
 
Archaeologist John Hale believes the answers lie deep underground. Analysis of the bedrock beneath the temple also shows the existence of petrochemicals, including ethylene. Ethylene has been used as an anesthetic 6 in modern days, but when administered in experimental small doses, induced a trance-like state. 
 
"And the trance state had a lot of similarities with the description of the Pythia there on the temple of Delphi." 
 
Scholars think water running underground could have carried gases up through the fault lines directly to the priestess. The ancients believed ordinary people could meet the gods at Delphi, a point of contact between man and mystery. In a way, they were right. Modern science suggests that here the supernatural was in fact simply natural.

1 oracle
n.神谕,神谕处,预言
  • In times of difficulty,she pray for an oracle to guide her.在困难的时候,她祈祷神谕来指引她。
  • It is a kind of oracle that often foretells things most important.它是一种内生性神谕,常常能预言最重要的事情。
2 disastrous
adj.灾难性的,造成灾害的;极坏的,很糟的
  • The heavy rainstorm caused a disastrous flood.暴雨成灾。
  • Her investment had disastrous consequences.She lost everything she owned.她的投资结果很惨,血本无归。
3 antiquity
n.古老;高龄;古物,古迹
  • The museum contains the remains of Chinese antiquity.博物馆藏有中国古代的遗物。
  • There are many legends about the heroes of antiquity.有许多关于古代英雄的传说。
4 uncertainties
无把握( uncertainty的名词复数 ); 不确定; 变化不定; 无把握、不确定的事物
  • One of the uncertainties of military duty is that you never know when you might suddenly get posted away. 任军职不稳定的因素之一是你永远不知道什么时候会突然被派往它处。
  • Uncertainties affecting peace and development are on the rise. 影响和平与发展的不确定因素在增加。 来自汉英非文学 - 十六大报告
5 vapors
n.水汽,水蒸气,无实质之物( vapor的名词复数 );自夸者;幻想 [药]吸入剂 [古]忧郁(症)v.自夸,(使)蒸发( vapor的第三人称单数 )
  • His emotions became vague and shifted about like vapors. 他的心情则如同一团雾气,变幻无常,捉摸不定。 来自辞典例句
  • They have hysterics, they weep, they have the vapors. 他们歇斯底里,他们哭泣,他们精神忧郁。 来自辞典例句
6 anesthetic
n.麻醉剂,麻药;adj.麻醉的,失去知觉的
  • He was given a general anesthetic.他被全身麻醉。
  • He was still under the influence of the anesthetic.他仍处在麻醉状态。
学英语单词
able rating
absolute measurement method
amphiprion perideraion
application for admission
approximate market
aquifar test
attachment site
back-basket store
backswimming
bin system
bituminic
Boolean operators
bother oneself with
Brummagems
Caledon River
chronic heat exhaustion
coddler
common base current gain
concurrent negligences
conduit connection
cyclic ignorable coordinate
dark-sided
deacetylranaconitine
deratization certificate
double resonance
Dänischenhagen
effused-reflexed
equal aquals
equiblast cupola
extra-quranic
fixed points method of calibration
free storage period
frost fog
gas show
green colour
greenlit
Gris-PEG
hamlock
heart-leaved aster
horizontal resolution bars
hot-mix plant
humitas
hypothec bands
income tax on joint venture
indirect analog
individualized manpower training
inquisitivenesses
integrated software line
Interdev
ipropethidine
levy en masse
logistic regression
machine-element
MacS.
make a poor appearance
medical-devices
milli-webers
Moorewood
moorstone
nanobe
neocolonialisms
neutron fluxes
newricall
numerical subroutine library
Orchis kunihikoana
origin of the atmosphere
pale-golds
para-pentyloxy-phenol
payment in arrears
peroxybenzoic acid
pharyngeal opening of eustachian tube
poisonou
propargylchloride
rotary cup atomizing oil burner
rouke
round-necked
sack lunches
sailwing wind generator
sand-castles
self-incompatibillity
sideyways
simple chancre
slow sticking
spanghewed
structural var (svar)
swell-shrink characteristics
tannin idioblast
taran
tedd
tensile stressed skin
third-generation phototypesetter
three-part harmony
transitivity of equivalence relation
ultrahigh voltage transformer oil
uniformly placed
use bit
vicka
vidas
weed control chemicals
wishful thinking
Yerkish