万物简史 第339期:孤独的行星(4)

In the days of diving suitsthe sort that were connected to the surface by long hoses, 在使用潜水衣即用长管子连接水面的那种装备的年代， divers sometimes experienced a dreaded phenomenon known as the squeeze. 潜水员有时候会

万物简史 第340期:孤独的行星(5)

If the pressure is changed too rapidlyas with a too-quick ascent by a diver, 要是压力变化太大比如潜水员上升太快， the bubbles trapped within the body will begin to fizz in exactly the manner of a freshly opened bottle of champagne, 体

万物简史 第342期:孤独的行星(7)

His idea of a vacation was to travel to Cornwall to study hookworm in miners. 去康沃尔研究矿工们的钩虫病算是他的假日。 Aldous Huxley, the novelist grandson of T. H. Huxley, who lived with the Haldanes for a time, T.H.赫胥黎的孙

万物简史 第343期:孤独的行星(8)

Throughout his youth, the young Haldane helped his father with experiments. 在整个年轻时代，小霍尔丹一直是他父亲做实验的帮手。 By the time he was a teenager, the two often tested gases and gas masks together, taking turns to

万物简史 第344期:孤独的行星(9)

It has been suggested, not altogether cynically, that this was out of a purely contrarian instinct, 有人认为。而且不完全是挖苦地认为，这纯粹是出于一种敌对的本能。 and that if he had been born in the Soviet Union he woul

万物简史 第345期:孤独的行星(10)

Collapsed lungs were a routine hazard. 肺部坍缩是常有的危险， Perforated eardrums were quite common, but, as Haldane reassuringly noted in one of his essays, the drum generally heals up; 鼓膜穿孔也是家常便饭，但霍尔丹在一篇

万物简史 第346期:孤独的行星(11)

Under its influence divers had been known to offer their air hoses to passing fish or decide to try to have a smoke break. 据知，在氮的影响下，潜水员会把自己的空气管扔给从身边游过的鱼，或决定抽支烟歇息片刻。

万物简史 第347期:孤独的行星(12)

In terms of adaptability, humans are pretty amazingly useless. 就适应能力而言，我们人类是很没有本事的。 Like most animals, we don't much like really hot places, but because we sweat so freely and easily stroke, we are especially v

万物简史 第348期:孤独的行星(13)

So far space scientists have discovered about seventy planets outside the solar system, 据认为，外层空间有10亿亿亿颗行星。 out of the ten billion trillion or so that are thought to be out there, so humans can hardly claim to speak wit

万物简史 第338期:孤独的行星(3)

We have managed once, briefly, to send humans to that depth in a sturdy diving vessel, yet it is home to colonies of amphipods, 我们只有一次用坚固的潜水器成功地把人送到了那个深度，而且就一会儿，而那里却是端足目动

万物简史 第349期:孤独的行星(14)

The figures have since been refined and made a little more generous, 自那以后，这两个数字被更精确地测算了一遍，放宽了一点， 5 percent nearer and 15 percent farther are thought to be more accurate assessments for our zone of

万物简史 第350期:孤独的行星(15)

Its surface temperature is a roasting 470 degrees centigrade (roughly 900 degrees Fahrenheit), which is hot enough to melt lead, 它的表面温度高达470摄氏度，连铅都会熔化。 and the atmospheric pressure at the surface is ninety times

万物简史 第351期:孤独的行星(16)

Apart from much else, our lively interior created the outgassing that helped to build an atmosphere 不说别的，我们活跃的内部使大量气体喷涌而出，帮助建立了大气层， and provided us with the magnetic field that shields us

万物简史 第352期:孤独的行星(17)

The Moon's steady gravitational influence keeps the Earth spinning at the right speed and angle 由于月球持久的引力影响，地球能以合适的速度、合适的角度自转， to provide the sort of stability necessary for the long and suc

万物简史 第353期:孤独的行星(18)

We don't really know for sure because we have nothing else to compare our own existence to, 我们确实不知道，因为我们没有任何别的东西可以用来跟我们自己的存在进行比较。 but it seems evident that if you wish to end u

万物简史 第354期:孤独的行星(19)

As you might expect, oxygen is our most abundant element, accounting for just under 50 percent of the Earth's crust, 你也许会想到，氧是最丰富的元素，占地壳的将近50%。 but after that the relative abundances are often surprising.

万物简史 第355期:孤独的行星(20)

Nor does abundance necessarily relate to importance. 风度与重要程度也不一定有关系。 Carbon is only the fifteenth most common element, accounting for a very modest 0.048 percent of Earth's crust, but we would be lost without it. 碳只居

万物简史 第356期:孤独的行星(21)

We have evolved to utilize or tolerate these thingswe could hardly be here otherwise but even then we live within narrow ranges of acceptance. 我们已经逐步学会利用或忍受这些东西要不然我们几乎不可能在这里但即使那样，我

万物简史 第358期:孤独的行星(23)

The Romans also flavored their wine with lead, which may be part of the reason they are not the force they used to be. 罗马人也用铅来给酒调味，这也许是他们不再像以往那样强大的部分原因。 As we have seen elsewhere, our

万物简史 第359期:孤独的行星(24)

Any visitors to Earth from afar would almost certainly, at the very least, be bemused to find us living in an atmosphere composed of nitrogen, 任何光临地球的远方客人几乎肯定都会觉得好笑，发现我们生活在一种由氮和氧组成