Butterfly in Bombay, Storm in Taipei 蝴蝶效应
- 详细资料
- 创建于 2006年8月16日
- 最后更新于 2023年12月18日
- 发布于 2011年11月23日
- 作者：Mike Lee
- 点击数：400
課文朗讀
課文中英文講解
The drop of water falls from the glass and runs down a student’s hand like a frightened insect. “Don’t move an inch,” say the professor. “I’m going to drop another one on exactly the same spot.” ___1___ the drop, but this time it runs in a different direction. Why? Because some condition in the initial system had changed, even though it wasn’t noticeable. Perhaps the drop was smaller. Or perhaps there was a ___2___ change in the room, in the water, or on the student’s hand.
从玻璃杯倒出的这滴水滴到学生手中，就像只受到惊吓的小虫。「不要动，」教授说。「我要在你手上同一点再倒一滴水。」水滴流了下来，可是这一次它流往不同的方向。为什么？因为部分的初始条件已经改变，尽管这些改变看不太出来。也许，第二滴水较小，或者房间、水，甚或是学生的手的温度改变了。
This is chaos. Our world may seem orderly and predictable, but in reality it is ___3___ that. Everything that happens is the result of a series of interconnected events. It’s a little like the telephone game children play at school. At one end of the chain, someone ___4___ something to the next person. As the information moves down the chain, a letter gets lost, or a word is pronounced incorrectly. By the time it reaches the other end, the original sentence sounds quite ___5___. That’s chaos at play. One small change leads to another change, and so on.
这就是所谓的「浑沌效应」。我们所处的世界看似井然有序、凡事皆可预期，但事实上绝非如此。任何事情都是一连串事件交互影响的结果。这有点像小孩子在学校玩的传话游戏一样。在队伍的一端，一个小孩悄声地对下一个小孩说了一句话，当这句话顺着队伍传下去时，也许某个字母被漏掉了，或者某个字被念错了。当话传到队伍的末端时，听起来已经完全不像原来的句子了。这就是浑沌效应发挥了作用，一点小小的改变会导致一连串的转变。
Scientists call this phenomenon “the butterfly effect.” ___6___ it is tiny, when a butterfly bats its wings, it creates small changes in the atmosphere. These changes then interact with everything else. Just like the telephone game, they contribute to ___7___ changes down the chain – maybe even a tornado. Now imagine what two butterflies in Bombay could do to the weather in Taipei!
科学家将这种现象称为「蝴蝶效应」。蝴蝶身驱虽小，当牠拍动翅膀时，仍然会轻微改变气压。这些看似不起眼的改变会牵动大气层其它方面的转变，就像是传话游戏一样，会对最后的结果造成极大的影响，甚至会引发一场飓风。这时你不妨想想：要是「两」只蝴蝶在孟买拍动翅膀，台北的气候可会受到什么样的影响！
−by J. Michael Cole
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1. |
(A) Come down |
(B) Coming down |
(C) Down came |
(D) Down comes |
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2. |
(A) temperament |
(B) temptation |
(C) temperature |
(D) tempest |
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3. |
(A) anything but |
(B) nothing but |
(C) nothing to |
(D) anything like |
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4. |
(A) whistles |
(B) whispers |
(C) whirls |
(D) whisks |
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5. |
(A) similar |
(B) singular |
(C) different |
(D) disciplinary |
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6. |
(A) As if |
(B) Even though |
(C) As to |
(D) Even as |
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7. |
(A) major |
(B) minor |
(C) magnetic |
(D) minimum |
Vocabulary
noticeable [ˋnotɪsəb!] adj. 显而易见的
chaos [ˋkeɑs] n. 混乱
orderly [ˋɔrdɚlɪ] adj. 有条理的
contribute [kənˋtrɪbjut] to 促成
More Information
in reality 实际上
interconnected [͵ɪntɚkəˋnɛktɪd] adj. 互相关联的
pronounce [prəˋnaʊns] v. 发音
original [əˋrɪdʒən!] adj. 最初的，本来的
at play 在起作用
bat: [bæt] v. 拍打 flutter
atmosphere [ˋætməs͵fɪr] n. 大气
interact with 互相作用；互相影响
tornado [tɔrˋnedo] n. 龙卷风；旋风；飓风
Bombay [bɑmˋbe] 孟买（位于印度西部，1995年7月28日该省省政府将该市更名为Mumbai）
Answer
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1. ( D ) |
2. ( C ) |
3. ( A ) |
4. ( B ) |
5. ( C ) |
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6. ( B ) |
7. ( A ) |
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