0655翻译跨越百年的美丽.doc

0655翻译：跨越百年的美丽（梁衡）Translation: Beauty Spanning over A Hundred Years (Liang Heng)(translated by: alexcwlin; edited by: Adam Lam)1998年是居里夫人和她的丈夫发现放射性元素镭一百周年。The year 1998 was the 100th anniversary after Madame (1) Curie and her husband discovered radiuma radioactive element.-一百年前的1898年12月26日，法国科学院人声鼎沸，On December 26th, 1898, a hundred years back from today, French Academy of Sciences was bustling with voices and commotion.一位年轻漂亮、神色庄重又略显疲倦的妇人走上讲台，全场立即肃然无声。A young, beautiful, solemn-looking and slightly worn-out woman came on stage and the entire audience immediately turned dead silent.她叫玛丽居里，Her name was Mary Curie.她今天要和她的丈夫皮埃尔居里一起，在这里宣布一项惊人的发现：天然放射性元素镭。On that day, she and her husband together were going to announce a stunning discovery: radium a natural, radioactive element.本来这场报告，她想让丈夫来作，但皮埃尔居里坚持让她来讲。Originally she wanted to let her husband make the report, but Pierre Curie insisted that she spoke.在此之前还没有一个女子登上过法国科学院的讲台。Before that day, there was never a female who went up to the podium of French Academy of Sciences.玛丽居里穿着一袭黑色长裙，Mrs. Mary Curie was wearing a black long gown.白净端庄的脸庞显出坚定又略带淡泊的神情，Her fair-skinned and solemn face was showing a steadfast and mildly subdued expression.那双微微内陷的大眼睛，让你觉得能看透一切，看透未来。Her slightly indented big eyes conveyed the impression that she could see through everything as well as the future.她的报告使全场震惊，Her report shocked the entire audience.物理学进入了一个新的时代，The science of physics had entered a new era.而她那美丽、庄重的形象也就从此定格在历史上，定格在每个人的心中。Her lovely and serious image from thereon had a permanent place in history and everybodys mind. -关于放射性的发现，居里夫人并不是第一人，但她是关键的一人。In the discovery of radioactivity, Madame Curie was not the first person, but she was one of the key individuals.在她之前，1896年1月，德国科学家伦琴发现了X光，这是人工放射性；Before her on January 1896, German scientist Wilhelm Konrad Rontgen discovered X-ray, which was man-made radioactivity.1896年5月，法国科学家贝克勒尔发现了天然放射性。In May 1896, French scientist Henri Becquerel uncovered natural radioactivity.尽管这都还是偶然的发现，居里夫人却对此提出了新的思考：其他物质有没有放射性？Despite these were accidental discoveries, Madame Curie initiated a new thinking process: “Do other materials have radioactivity?”就像是在海滩上捡到一个贝壳，别人也许仅仅是把玩一下而已，It was like in picking up a seashell on the beach, other people might merely play around with it a little bit.可居里夫人却要研究一下这贝壳是怎样生、怎样长、怎样冲到海滩上来的。But Madame Curie would conduct studies on how this seashell was born, developed, and washed up to the beach?别人摸瓜她寻藤，别人摘叶她问根。Metaphorically it was like others were just feeling the melon, but she wanted to look for the vines, or similarly others were plucking the leaves while she was enquiring about the roots.是她提出了放射性这个词。It was she who proposed the term “radioactive”.两年后，她发现了钋，接着发现了镭。Two years later she discovered polonium and then radium.为了提炼纯净的镭，居里夫妇搞到一吨可能含镭的工业废渣。To refine pure radium, the married couple Mr. and Mrs. Curie obtained a ton of industrial waste residue that could contain radium.他们在院子里支起了一口大锅，一锅一锅地进行冶炼，Then they propped up a big caldron in a courtyard and proceeded in smelting the residue pot after pot.然后再送到化验室溶解、沉淀、分析。Then they took the refined materials to the laboratory for dissolution, sedimentation and analyses.化验室只是一个废弃的破棚子，The laboratory was only an abandoned dilapidated shed.玛丽终日在烟熏火燎中搅拌着锅里的矿渣。All day long, Mary was stirring mining dregs in the pot amid fumes and flames.她衣裙上，双手上，留下了酸碱的点点烧痕。Her dress and hands were peppered with burnt marks from caustic acid.一天，疲劳之极的玛丽揉着酸痛的后腰，隔着满桌的试管、量杯问皮埃尔：“你说这镭会是什么样子？”One day the exhausted Mary was rubbing the sore backside of her waist and asked Pierre through a table full of test-tubes and measuring flasks, “What do you say radium would look like?”皮埃尔说：“我只是希望它有美丽的颜色。”Pierre said: “I just hope it has a beautiful color.”经过三年又九个月，他们终于从成吨的矿渣中提炼出了0.1克镭。After three years and nine months, they finally extracted 0.1 gram of radium from a ton of mining dregs.它真的有极美丽的颜色，It really had an extremely gorgeous color.在幽暗的破木棚里发出略带蓝色的荧光。In the gloomily dark and run-down wooden shed, it was giving off slightly bluish fluorescent light.-这点美丽的淡蓝色的荧光，融入了一个女子美丽的生命和不屈的信念。This little bit of pretty faint blue fluorescence melded into a womans beautiful life and unwavering belief.玛丽的性格里天生有一种更可贵的东西，Marys personality was born with a type of more precious quality.她坚定、刚毅、顽强，有远大、执著的追求。She was steadfast, fortitudinous, and indomitable with far-reaching and purposeful pursuits.这种可贵的性格与高远的追求，使玛丽居里几乎在完成这项伟大自然发现的同时，也完成了对人生意义的发现。As a result of her praiseworthy disposition and lofty aspiration, she was able to find the meaning of her life at the same time in achieving the magnificent discovery breakthrough in nature.在发现镭之后的不断研究中，居里夫人也在不停地变化着。In the unceasing researches after the discovery of radium, Madame Curie was undergoing continuous changes personally.在工作卓有成效的同时，镭射线也在无声地侵蚀着她的肌体。At the same time while her work was highly prolific, radiation was quietly eating away her health.她美丽健康的容貌在悄悄地隐退，逐渐变得眼花耳鸣，浑身乏力。Her delightful and vigorous complexion was fading away inconspicuously, and she suffered blurred vision, hearing loss, and constant fatigue.皮埃尔不幸早逝，社会对女性的歧视，更加重了她生活和思想上的负担。Unfortunately Pierre died early, and societys discrimination against female added burden to her life and thinking.但她什么也不管，只是默默地工作。But she ignored everything else and continued to work without making a protest.她从一个漂亮的小姑娘，一个端庄坚毅的女学者，At certain times before she was a cute little girl and then a solemn, resolute female-scholar.变成科学教科书里的新名词“放射线”，变成物理学的一个新的计量单位“居里”，变成一条条科学定律，她变成了科学史上一块永远的里程碑。Now she had become synonymous with the new term “radiation” in science textbook, a new measurement unit “curie” in physics, representation of many scientific principles, and a permanent milestone in the history of science. -居里夫人的美名，从她发现镭那一刻起就流传于世，迄今已经百年。The good name of Madame Curie has been spread throughout the world from the moment she discovered radium, and a hundred years has passed since then.这是她用全部的青春、信念和生命换来的荣誉。This is an honor which she paid for with her entire youth, faith and life.她一生共得了10项奖金、16种奖章、107个名誉头衔，In her lifetime she received 10 prizes, 16 medals, and 107 honorary titles in total.特别是获得了两次诺贝尔奖。The two Nobel Prizes she received were particularly noteworthy.她本来可以躺在任何一项大奖或任何一个荣誉上尽情地享受，Anytime she could have chosen to live off any big prize or honor without a worry in the world.但是，她视名利如粪土，But she brushed off fame and fortune.她将奖金捐赠给科研事业和战争中的法国，而将那些奖章送给6岁的小女儿当玩具。Her prize money was donated to France for scientific research and war efforts, while the medals were given to her six-year-old daughter as toys.她一如既往，埋头工作到67岁离开人世，离开心爱的实验室。She maintained her old routine and dedicated herself to hard work until the age of 67 when she passed away from this world and her beloved laboratory.直到她死后40年，她用过的笔记本里，还有射线在不停地释放。Forty years after her death, the notebook which she used before was still emitting radiation continuously. -著名科学家爱因斯坦说过：“在所有的世界著名人物当中，玛丽居里是唯一没有被盛名宠坏的人。”The famous scientist Albert Einstein once said, “Of all the famous people in the world, Mary Curie was the only person who was not spoiled by celebrity status.”-附注：(1) “Madam” vs “Madame”女士英文是“Madam”，法文是”Madame”.