时间:2018-12-08 作者:英语课 分类:英汉幽默故事选读


英语课
Archimedes was a Greek scientist. He lives in Syracuse nearly 200 years ago. The King of the land wanted to wear a Golden Crown. He gave some gold to a goldsmith to make a suitable crown. After few days, the goldsmith brought the finished crown to the King. The crown was weighed. The weight of the crown was equal to the gold given to the goldsmith by the King. The King looked at the color of the crown. He had a suspicion. The goldsmith could have stolen some gold from the gold given to him. The King wanted to find out the truth. He asked his court scientist Archimedes to find out. The King said, “Find out how much gold had been stolen?" 
 
How to find out the truth? Archimedes thought about the problem day and night. One day he was about to have his bath, but he was busy thinking. He did not notice the bathtub. The water in the bathtub was already full to the brim. He slid into the bathtub. Immediately a large quantity of water flowed over the brim of the bath tub. He noticed this suddenly. His brain wave worked suddenly. He jumped out of the bathtub, shouting, “Eureka! Eureka!" Eureka in Greek means “I have found it." 
 
Different metals of the same weight have different volumes. Objects, put in water, will displace water. The displaced water will be equal to their volume. 
 
For example, an iron cube weighing a kilogram will disperse 1 some water. But an aluminums cube of the same weight will displace more water than the iron cube. 
 
Archimedes knew all these theories. Using this as the basic knowledge, Archimedes worked out a plan to find out the purity of the crown. 
 
Archimedes took two bowls. He filled them with water to the brim. Then he placed each bowl separately in the middle of the large vessels 3. He placed the crown in one bowl. Water overflowed 5. It collected at the bottom of the outer vessel 2. Then he took a cube of pure gold. This cube of gold was equal in weight to the crown. He kept this gold cube in the middle of the second bowl. Here also water overflowed. Water got collected at the bottom of the outer bowl. 
 
Archimedes then measured the quantity of water in the two vessels. He found out the difference in the water overflow 4. The crown had sent out more water. The cube of gold had sent out less water. But both the crown and the gold cube were of the same weight. So, they should have sent out the same quantity of water. Therefore, the crown had some other metals mixed in it. These metals took up more space in the water than pure gold. 
 

Archimedes reported this finding to the King. The King demanded the truth from the goldsmith. The goldsmith then confessed. He had stolen some gold. He had added some other metals.  



1 disperse
vi.使分散;使消失;vt.分散;驱散
  • The cattle were swinging their tails to disperse the flies.那些牛甩动着尾巴驱赶苍蝇。
  • The children disperse for the holidays.孩子们放假了。
2 vessel
n.船舶;容器,器皿;管,导管,血管
  • The vessel is fully loaded with cargo for Shanghai.这艘船满载货物驶往上海。
  • You should put the water into a vessel.你应该把水装入容器中。
3 vessels
n.血管( vessel的名词复数 );船;容器;(具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的)人
  • The river is navigable by vessels of up to 90 tons. 90 吨以下的船只可以从这条河通过。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • All modern vessels of any size are fitted with radar installations. 所有现代化船只都有雷达装置。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
4 overflow
v.(使)外溢,(使)溢出;溢出,流出,漫出
  • The overflow from the bath ran on to the floor.浴缸里的水溢到了地板上。
  • After a long period of rain,the river may overflow its banks.长时间的下雨天后,河水可能溢出岸来。
5 overflowed
溢出的
  • Plates overflowed with party food. 聚会上的食物碟满盘盈。
  • A great throng packed out the theater and overflowed into the corridors. 一大群人坐满剧院并且还有人涌到了走廊上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
标签: 故事
学英语单词
approximate sampling distribution
arm pain
Asian Semi-longhair
assuncao
azabicyclo
Babar Island
balance weight for crankshaft
Baliospermum
be (of) sb's age
Brunton compass
butt seam weld
c-f
carene
centrifuge casting (centrifuging)
chloronitrobenzenes
clerking
compound stomach
condition of molding
contemplativeness
critical cases
dereifies
Dictyospermum scaberrimum
diversity converter
dizdarevic
doubly primitive lattice
drive-chain guard
eighthour
electric slot
electroencephalophones
emission vacuum spectroscopy
epistolean
ethanol vehicle
euryhaline plant
fibre harness
flat end milling machine
fleet boat
fleet by tow
floor broker
fraley
front-back interference
game-winners
giganteums
gyro input axis
have no objection to
headlight sight distance
heat mirror
heres
high temperature brittleness
high viscosity triple screw pump
hislop
hook approach
horizontal-flow settling basin(tank)
I-shape cursor
intelligence cell
known accumulation
krasa
laboratory microscope
linen press
logical negative operator
magnetic inspection paste
make up for it
maneuver margine
methylguanidine nitrate
miniature schnauzers
minibreaks
modal legacy
Nitredipine
nonreal revenue
nonrecognition
official reserve transaction
oil of pimenta
on the score
overspread
oxidized heme
Pharsalus
photoelectronic warfare
propending
quantity-control governing
quantum soliton
raw bonemeal
real time fringe
reboiler condenser
removable hatch cover
root canal cleaner
saintenies
saryarkite- (y)
shrimp seed rearing
stability theory of flow
stop lever
sunseeker
tachygenesis acceleration
tenebrificous
the school year
transvasations
trip summary log
tripodalic thoracopagus
tronometer
tungu
vortex tube refrigerator
vv. thymic?
witchety grubs
without par value