听力文本

This is Scientific American's 60-second Science, I'm Steve Mirsky.
"In the early years of the development of gunpowder, it was known as the devil's distillate because of its seemingly sinister properties. So where do those properties come from? Well, they come from the three principal ingredients of gunpowder, which are sulfur, charcoal and saltpeter: three naturally occurring materials, which, when combined, produce something much greater than the sum of their parts."
Stephen Ressler. He served 34 years in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and retired as a brigadier general. He spoke at sea onboard a Scientific American cruise August 17, off the coast of Scotland. His subject was how fortifications had to evolve once gunpowder was widely in use. Ressler revealed a little basic chemistry about the constituents of gunpowder and how they are represented in a familiar uniform.
"Sulfur, a mineral found in nature, yellowish or golden color, burns at a relatively low temperature. And that made it a material of intense interest in the Middle Ages, where alchemists were constantly looking for magical properties of materials. Sulfur seemed to be one of those materials that had magical properties because it was a stone that burned, and it burned at relatively low temperature."

"Charcoal, the product of the combustion of wood, typically hardwood, in an oxygen-starved environment produces pure carbon. But not just any old pure carbon, pure carbon with a very fine microscopic, latticelike structure that actually turns out to be absolutely essential to the functioning of gunpowder."
"And then, finally, the third and, really, in many ways, the most important ingredient in gunpowder—and that's saltpeter. The chemical composition is actually potassium nitrate. And it's a waste product of decomposing organic matter. That's all it is. It's a white material that appears on the surface of fermenting organic material—and turns out to be the absolutely essential ingredient in gunpowder."
"Okay, I have to pause for a totally unrelated diversion, because sulfur, charcoal and saltpeter have great personal significance to me above and beyond the fact that they are constituent materials of gunpowder. And that is they form the basis for the school colors of my alma mater, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Black, gray and gold, the school colors, are explicitly defined as the three materials of gunpowder. Black charcoal, gray is saltpeter and gold is the sulfur. So the next time you see that inevitable video on the evening news of the graduation at West Point and all the cadets throwing their hats up in the air, think about gunpowder. Because that's what the black, gray and the gold are meant to signify."
For Scientific American — 60-Second Science. I'm Steve Mirsky.

参考译文

这里是科学美国人——60秒科学系列，我是史蒂夫·米尔斯基n*PWNJ;I14&g.。
“在火药发展早期，它被认为是魔鬼的馏出物，因为它似乎具有可怕的特性TQX&()9ip.LjX6UWx;K。这些特性从何而来？它们来自火药的三种主要成分：硫磺、木炭和硝石，这是三种自然存在的物质，当它们结合在一起时，会产生比三者之和大得多的物质TdLRWMVI@U。”
这是斯蒂芬·雷斯勒所说Crcpg2yzqx1Ka7。他在美国陆军工兵部队服役34年，以准将身份退役*DhxF]L7InTj。8月17日，他在苏格兰海岸的科学美国人游轮上发表了讲话C-l-mxjDzR_~6+qf.K4。他的演讲主题是：一旦火药被广泛使用，防御工事应如何发展@B;T45irXBdfwya。雷斯勒揭示了火药成分的一点基本化学知识，并说明了它们如何在人们熟悉的制服中体现出来&ubl3528;sn|+qzV@。
“硫磺是在自然界发现的一种矿物质，呈黄色或金色，可在相对较低的温度下燃烧v^BNcf5puBYE0K。这些特点使硫磺这种材料在中世纪引起了人们的强烈兴趣，炼金术士一直在寻找各种材料的魔法性质l^]q*,nglk0MT%u7ggH。硫磺似乎是其中一种拥有魔法性质的材料，因为它是燃烧的石头，而且燃点相对较低tW(T8pxMz;BV#t2Qrp。”
“木炭是木材——通常是硬木——燃烧产生的产物，是木材在缺氧环境下经燃烧产生的纯碳NJ|fj!Kq;!(~aLO#S+g。但不仅仅是任何古老的纯碳，具有非常精密的网格结构的纯碳对火药作用来说是绝对必要的teX5;76OyvB2。”
“最后，第三个成分，也是从许多方面来说火药中最重要的成分——硝石xhee!EcJt_T-HCNBT(%(。化学成分实际上是硝酸钾(^S-A7p_9kqpyE8+。它是分解有机物的废物QmJph7@%HCTsqlgc+。就是这样N1AF9V^yaqF。硝酸钾是发酵有机物表面出现的一种白色物质，事实证明，它是火药中绝对必要的成分;cqHBIOksc。”
“好，我得暂停一下，说个完全不相关的话题，因为硫磺、木炭和硝石对我个人来说具有非常重要的意义，不仅仅是火药的成分2E4nVgh&#hnpq,aY9。这种物质构成了我的母校西点军校校色的基础kcywD=(2K0uW&w。黑色、灰色和金色组成的校色，被明确定义为火药三种成分的颜色[T]7[X[92gz.。黑色是木炭，灰色是硝石，金色是硫磺e8!ykg^XcUZW#。因此，下次你在晚间新闻看到西点军校毕业典礼上不可避免的视频画面时，即所有学员将帽子扔向空中，想想火药吧yPFOGeGN6kD。因为那就是黑色、灰色和金色要表达的东西lTNk1!s@gN,。”
谢谢大家收听科学美国人——60秒科学qaV6&EfkaU。我是史蒂夫·米尔斯基Q)vj-QX9]xVcyDFgT9f。

译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！

重点讲解

重点讲解：
1. be known as 称为；叫做；
He was known as Mad Shelley partly because of his eccentricity and partly because of his violent temper.
大家都叫他“疯子谢利”，部分因为他的古怪，部分因为他火爆的脾气ypwEc]Tx3unTjS+eo。
2. come from 来自；
Correct ideas come from social practice.
正确的思想来自社会实践ng5.sDC*Tb=)&uej)。
3. in use 在使用；
This was sod's law: when the spare tyre is in use, you will have a puncture.
这真是墨菲法则：一用备用轮胎，保准扎孔bJYd+2*cU~r.x。
4. in many ways 在许多方面；
In many ways, Brett and Bernard are polar opposites.
在许多方面，布雷特和伯纳德截然不同gCNI=6wPhsE5XToM。