Day 4-5
A Brief History of Time
chapter1 : time and space
阅读时间：50分钟
1.the leaning tower of Pisa 比萨斜塔
2.air resistance 空气阻力
3.Newton’s first law 牛顿第一定律
4.gravitational attraction， gravity, gravitation
5.refute
1. to say that a statement is not true or accurate without giving proof
The police said he was drunk, a claim refuted by his attorney.
2. to prove that a statement is false
The evidence refutes all claims that the student loan scheme is not working.
He observed that the times at which the moons of Jupiter appeared to pass
behind Jupiter were not evenly spaced, as one would expect if the moons
went round Jupiter at a constant rate.
6.moon 卫星
7.space
v [Tn, Tn.p] ~ sth (out) set sth out with regular spaces between
将某事物均匀隔开:
space out the posts three metres apart
把这些柱子间隔三米排开 *
8.propagation 传播
9.wave crest 波峰
10.thousandth 千分之一
11.ether 以太
The fundamenta lpostulate of the theory of relativity, as it was called, was that the laws of science should be the same for all freely moving observers, no matter what their speed.
12.postulate
an idea that is an important part of a theory, argument, or explanation 假定，基本原理
13.the special / general theory of relativity狭义/广义相对论
Only light, or other waves that have no intrinsic mass, can move at the speed of light.
14.intrinsic:
relating to the essential qualities or features of something or someone
the intrinsic beauty of the Italian language
15.pulse 脉冲
16.velocity
the speed that something moves at in one direction速度
17.cesium clock 铯原子钟， 铯钟
18.铂杆（platinum metre bar），以此杆两端之间的距离定为1米
19.坐标系 Coordinate system
20.Piccadilly Circus 皮卡迪利圆环
皮卡迪利圆环（Piccadilly Circus），伦敦最有名的圆形广场，兴建于1819年，早期是英国零售商店所在地，今日为英国伦敦市中心购物街道的圆心点，有五条主要道路交错于此。
21.diagonal line对角线
22.radius 半径
23.snapshot n,快照
24.geodesic 测地线
25.elongated
longer and narrower than is normal or natural
elongated fingers
26.curvature 弯曲
Brilliant ideas:
In Newton’s theory, if a pulse of light is sent from one place to another, different observers would agree on the time that the journey took (since time is absolute), but will not always agree on how far the light traveled (since space is not absolute). Since the speed of the light is just the distance it has traveled divided by the time it has taken, different observers would measure different speeds for the light.
In relativity, on the other hand, all observers must agree on how fast light travels. They still, however, do not agree on the distance the light has traveled, so they must therefore now also disagree over the time it has taken.
The theory of relativity put an end to the idea of absolute time!!!
That space-time is not flat, as had been previously assumed: it is curved, or “warped,” by the distribution of mass and energy in it.
The mass of the sun curves space-time in such a way that although the earth follows a straight path in four-dimensional space-time, it appears to us to move along a circular orbit in three-dimensional space.
day 5
Chapter 1 Our Picture of the Universe
1.spherical 球形的
SYNONYM:ball-shaped,globular, rotund, round,
2.hull
the part of a ship or boat that floats on the water. 船壳
The front part is called the bow and the back part is called the stern .
3.heretic 异教徒
4.Copernicus 哥白尼
5.repugnant
extremely unpleasant or offensive 令人厌恶的
6.reconcile
使……一致，和谐
to find a way to make ideas, beliefs, needs etc that are opposed to each other capable of existing together
There seems to be no possibility of reconciling the two versions of what happened.
Management and labour are attempting to reconcile their differences.
reconcile something with something:
Research is being undertaken in how to reconcile conservation needs with growing demand for water.
7.postulate 假定
to claim or imagine that something is true or that it exists
The theory postulates two reasons for the spread of the disease.
8.The story that Newton was inspired by an apple hitting his head is almost certainly apocryphal.
a‘pocryphal
probably not true, but believed by a lot of people to be true
不足凭信的
9.But he reasoned that if, on the other hand, there were an infinite number of stars, distributed more or less uniformly over infinite space, this would not happen, because there would not be any central point for them to fall to.
uniform
adj. the same everywhere
The policy ensures a uniform standard of health care throughout the country.
10.It is an interesting reflection on the general climate of thought before the twentieth century that no one had suggested that the universe was expanding or contracting.
climate:the general situation or attitudes that people have at a particular time
economic/political/moral/intellectual climate:
We are unable to increase wages in the current economic climate.
climate of:The election is being organized in a climate of fear and mistrust.
the climate of opinion: The climate of opinion is now changing on that subject.
11.repulsive 排斥的，斥力的
12.ascribe to
1. to believe something is the cause of something else
Their defeat was ascribed to a poor defence.
2.to believe that a particular person wrote a book or a piece of music, painted a picture etc so that people generally accept this to be true
Another objection to an infinite static universe is normally ascribed to the German philosopher Heinrich Olbers, who wrote about this theory in 1823.
13.Hubble’s observations suggested that there was a time, called the big bang, when the universe was infini'tesimally极小地 small and infinitely dense.
14.preclude
if one thing precludes another, the first thing prevents the second one from happening
This policy precludes the routine use of chemicals.
Tercek’s interviewing style precluded any long-winded answers.
15.Any physical theory is always provisional, in the sense that it is only a hypothesis: you can never prove it.
provisional
intended to be temporary, and likely to be changed when other arrangements are made
a provisional government
16.The eventual goal of science is to provide a single theory that describes the whole universe.
17.quantum mechanics 量子力学 ：extremely small scales, such as a millionth of a millionth of an inch.
The general theory of relativity 广义相对论 ：from only a few miles to as large as a million million million million (1 with twenty-four zeros after it) miles
Unfortunately, however, these two theories are known to be inconsistent with each other – they cannot both be correct.
quantum theory of gravity
18.inexplicable：impossible to explain
Day 6: 思维导图
space and time
day 7:
看了第四天的关于宇宙和空间的材料，我就和好朋友说，这是我这么久以来看过最有趣的材料的。不仅是内容有趣，更重要的是作者的叙述方式，并不故作高深，而是用朴实的语言讲一些复杂的道理，这应该是这本书最出彩的地方了。
结构方面作者也把握地十分到位，将知识一点点讲出来，按时间顺序，也按照复杂程度，不急不缓，使得文章的节奏良好，只要愿意思考就能够跟上作者的思路。虽然作者讲述的内容已经很平易近人，但还是有一些不好理解的地方，这时候作者就开始使用类比的方式，将复杂的情况与简单的情况类比，比如作者讲到四维空间里的直线并不是三维空间的直线，四维空间是难以想象的，于是作者就用了飞行员开飞机的例子，告诉我们三维空间的直线在二维也是弯曲的，这就让我们有了更加直观的了解。
作为一个理科生，在大学学习了英语专业，每天都被泡在文学和概况里，需要思考，需要逻辑的地方其实并不多。但这篇文章给了我不一样的阅读体验，它的写作方式是很重要，但最重要的还是其中的内容，关于宇宙，时间，空间。试问这样的内容，怎么会不吸引人呢。正式因为被吸引，所以在第二天的作业的基础上，我便自行又增加了一部分阅读，读了这本书的第一章。好久没有这种迫切地汲取知识的感觉。这么说来好像有点夸张，但确实是事实。为了读懂并理解内容，我愿意花一个小时来泛读，再花更多的时间来精读，在读完后，精神上的愉悦就是第二天继续读书的动力。这就是开班第一天所说的active reading的意思吧。
这几天的阅读之后，我觉得active reading不仅仅是指愿意读，更是指愿意主动去思考，只有思考是主动的，知识的积累或者是一定量的输出都是被动的，所以说，在阅读中一定要体会到思考的乐趣，这是我学习语言这么久以来第一次想到这个问题。
另外，希望自己能坚持下去，每天一定的文字输入是很大的财富。
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