小故事

What the Student Say in Science Classes
自然科学课上学生们都说了什么
The following quotations were gleaned from classroom discussions in 5th and 6th grade science classes.
下面的这些话都是从五六年级的自然科学课的课堂讨论中收集起来的。
You can listen to thunder after lighting and tell how close you came to getting hit. If you don't hear it, you got hit, so never mind.
闪电之后你就能听到雷声，并知道你距离雷的落点有多远。如果你没听到，就是你被击中了，所以没关系。
Isn't inertia when something is moving, then it stops moving and keeps moving?
某个东西在运动，然后它停止运动可还在继续运动时，是不是就是惯性了？
When they broke open molecules, they found they were only stuffed with atoms. But when they broke open atoms, they found them stuffed with explosions.
人们分解开分子，发现里面塞满了原子。可当人们再分解开原子时，发现里面塞满了爆炸。
When people run around and around in circles we say they are crazy. When planets do it we say they are orbiting.
人绕着圈没完没了地跑的时候，我们说他有病。行星这样做时，我们管这叫做绕轨道运行。
Rainbows are just to look at, not to really understand.
彩虹只是用来看的，不是用来了解的。
Someday we may discover how to make magnets that can point in any direction.
总有一天，我们会造出能指向任何方向的磁铁。
South America has cold summers and hot winters, but somehow they still manage.
南美洲的气候夏季寒冷，冬季炎热，不过他们还能过。
Water freeze at 32 degrees and boils at 212 degrees. There are 180 degrees between freezing and boiling because there are 180 degrees between north and south.
水在32度结冰，在212度沸腾。冰点和沸点间有180度的温差是因为南方和北方相差180度。（这里用的是华氏度F， 与摄氏度C的换算如下：F=9/5C+32，或C=5/9（F-32））
A vibration is a motion that cannot make up its mind which way it wants to go.
一次振动是拿不定主意走哪条路的动作。
There are 26 vitamins in all, but some of the letters are yet to be discovered. Finding them all means living forever.
一共有26种维生素，还有一些字母没被发现。把它们都发现了就能长生不死了。
There is a tremendous weight pushing down on the center of the Earth because of so much population stomping around up there these days.
有巨大的力在向地心挤压，那是因为现在有太多的人在地面上踩踏。
Many dead animals in the past changed to fossils, while others preferred to be oil.
过去，很多死掉的动物变成了化石，然而还有一些更愿意变成石油。
Genetics explain why you look like your father, and if you don't why you should.
遗传学解释了你为什么长得像你爸爸以及如果你长得不像时为什么要像。
Vacuums are nothings. We only mention them to let them know we know they're there.
真空就是什么都没有。我们只是要让他们知道我们知道他们在那儿才提及的。
Some oxygen molecules help fires burn, while others help make water, so sometimes it's brother against brother.
有些氧分子助燃，而另一些氧分子构成了水，所以有些时候真是兄弟之争啊。
Some people can tell what time it is by looking at the sun. But I have never been able to make out the numbers.
有些人看看太阳就知道时间了，可我就怎么也看不出钟点头。
We say the cause of perfume disappearing is evaporation. Evaporation gets blamed for a lot of things people forget to put the top on.
我们说是蒸发使香水减少了，蒸发为人们忘了盖上盖子承担了大部分罪责。
To most people, solutions mean finding the answers. But to chemists, solutions are things that are still all mixed-up.
对大多数的人来说，问题的解决意味着找到了答案。可对化学家来说，却意味着仍是一团乱糟糟（混合溶液）。（solution 问题、疑难等的解决；(化)溶液；mixed-up迷惑不解的；混合的）
In looking at a drop of water under a microscope, we find there are twice as many H's as O's.
在显微镜下看一滴水，我们会发现“H”是“O”的两倍。
I am not sure how clouds get formed. But the clouds know how to do it, and that is the important thing.
我不大清楚云是怎么形成的，可是云自己知道，这一点才是最重要的。
Clouds just keep circling the earth around and around. And around. There is not much else to do.
云就是围着地球绕啊，绕啊，绕啊。没别的什么事做。
Water vapor gets together in a cloud. When it is big enough to be called a drop, it does.
水蒸气在云里凝结，当它够大时，我们称之为一滴，确实是的。
We keep track of the humidity in the air so we won't drown when we breathe.
我们记录空气中的温度，这样我们呼吸时就不会淹死了。
Rain is often known as soft water, oppositely known as hail.
雨水是软水，相反的是冰雹。
Rain is saved up in cloud banks.
雨存在云银行里。
In some rocks you can find the fossil footprints of fishes.
在有些岩石上你能发现鱼的脚印的化石。
Cyanide is so poisonous that one drop of it on a dog's tongue will kill the strongest man.
氰化物是剧毒，滴一滴在狗的舌头上就能杀死一个最强壮的人。
It is so hot in some places that the people there have to live in other places.
有些地方实在是太热了，所以住在那里的人们不得不住在别的地方。
Most books now say our sun is a star. But it still knows how to change back into a sun in the daytime.
现在很多书上都说太阳是个星星。不过好在它还知道怎样在白天再变回太阳。

重点讲解

重点讲解：
1. never mind
没关系；不要紧；没什么；
eg. Never mind. Accident will happen.
没关系。难免会有意外。
eg. Never mind, next time I'm sure you can do better.
不要紧，我相信你下一次一定能做得好些的。
2. be stuffed with
填满；装满；塞满；
eg. My daughter asked me to buy her a pillow stuffed with feathers.
我女儿请求我给她买一个羽绒枕头。
eg. His head is stuffed with silly romantic ideas.
他满脑子天真的想法。
3. make up one's mind
拿定主意；下定决心；
eg. Once he made up his mind to do something, there was no stopping him.
一旦他下定决心做某件事，就没有什么能够阻止他。
eg. They gave me a week to make up my mind.
他们允许我有一周的时间作决定。
4. make out
把…弄清楚；理解；明白；（勉强地）辨认出，看出，听出；
eg. I could just make out a tall, pale, shadowy figure tramping through the undergrowth...
我只依稀看见一个高个的模糊身影穿过了矮树丛。
eg. I couldn't make it out at all.
我一头雾水。
5. mixed-up
（常指因情感或社会问题而）头脑混乱的，迷惑不解的；
eg. I think he's a rather mixed up kid...
我认为他是一个思想有障碍的孩子。
eg. I get mixed up about times and places.
我没有时间感和方位感。
6. keep track of
跟上…的进展；掌握…的最新消息；
eg. With eleven thousand employees, it's very difficult to keep track of them all.
对于一支 1。1 万人的员工队伍，很难及时了解到所有有人的动态。
eg. Keep track of the time you actually travel.
把你旅行的实际时间记录下来。
7. save up
储蓄；积攒；攒钱；
eg. Julie wanted to put some of her money aside for holidays or save up for something special.
朱莉打算把她的钱拿出一部分用于度假或者存起来作特殊用途。
eg. People often put money aside in order to save up enough to make one major expenditure.
人们常常为了一笔大的开销而存钱。