很多小夥伴都想讀英文原著學英語，可每次看兩頁就放棄。為了幫助大家從閱讀中找到樂趣，曉梅老師就帶大家一起讀英文原著，看看有意思的故事，學學地道表達，分析長難句。先從A Short History of Nearly Everything《萬物簡史》開始。這本書從宇宙大爆炸開始講現代科學史，穿插了很多科學家的生平故事，妙趣橫生。本書作者Bill Bryson喜歡用口語化的語言敘述，因而裡面的英語要比一般的原著通俗易懂。今天讀第4章關於哈雷的片段。
哈雷沒做過的一件事是發現哈雷彗星
Halley was an exceptional figure. In the course of a long and productive career, he was a sea captain, a cartographer, a professor of geometry at the university of Oxford, deputy controller of the Royal Mint, Astronomer Royal and the inventor of the deep-sea diving bell. He wrote authoritatively on magnetism, tides and the motions of the planets and fondly on the effects of opium. He invented the weather map and actuarial table, proposed methods for working out the age of the Earth and its distance from the Sun, even devised a practical method for keeping fish fresh out of season.
哈雷是位非凡的人物。在其漫長而富有成果的職業生涯中，他曾是船長、製圖師、牛津大學 (university of Oxford) 幾何學教授、皇家鑄幣局 (Royal Mint) 副局長、皇家天文學家（譯註：英國授予皇家格林尼治天文臺臺長的頭銜）、深海潛水鐘的發明者。他寫了關於磁力、潮汐和行星運動的權威著作，還寫了鴉片的好處。他發明了天氣圖和精算表，提出了計算地球年齡和地球到太陽的距離的方法，甚至還發明了一種在淡季讓魚保鮮的實用方法。
The one thing he didn't do was discover the comet that bears his name. He merely recognized that the comet he saw in 1682 was the same one that had been seen by others in 1456, 1531 and 1607. It didn't become Halley's cometuntil 1758, some 16 years after his death.
他沒做過的一件事是發現以他名字命名的彗星。他只是發現他在1682年看到的那顆彗星和其他人在1456年、1531年和1607年看到的是同一顆。那顆彗星直到1758年，大約在他去世16年後才成為哈雷彗星。
For all his achievements, however, Halley's greatest contribution to human knowledge may simply have been to take part in a modest scientific wagerwith two other wothies of his day. Robert Hooke, who is perhaps best remembered now as the first person to describe a cell, and the great and stately Sir Christopher Wren, who was actually an astronomer first and an architect second, though that is not often generally remembered now.
雖然哈雷取得了那麼多成就，但他對人類知識的最大貢獻可能只是與他同時代的另外兩位科學家打了個小小的科學賭。（這兩位科學家分別是）羅伯特·胡克，人們對他印象最深的可能是第一個描述細胞的人，以及偉大莊嚴的克裡斯多佛·雷恩爵士，他實際上首先是天文學家，其次是建築師，儘管這一點現在經常被人們遺忘。
In 1683 Halley, Hooke and Wren were dining in London when the conversation turned to the motions of celestial objects. It was known that planets were inclined to orbit in a particular kind of ovalknown as an ellipse - 'a very specific and precise curve', to quote Richard Feynman - but it wasn't understood why. Wren generously offered a prize worth 40 shillings (equivalent to a couple of weeks' pay) to whichever of the men could provide a solution.
1683年，哈雷、胡克和雷恩在倫敦吃飯時，話題轉到了天體運動上。那時大家都知道行星傾向於在一種特殊的扁圓 (oval) 軌道上運行，這種扁圓被稱為橢圓 (ellipse)，用理察·費曼的話來說就是「一種非常特殊和精確的曲線」，但沒人知道為什麼會是這樣。雷恩慷慨地提供了價值40先令（在當時相當於幾周的工資）的獎品給任何一個能提供答案的人。
Hooke, who was well known for taking credit for ideas that weren't necessarily his own, claimed that he had solved the problem already, but declined now to share it on the interesting and inventive grounds that it would rob others of the satisfaction of discovering the answer for themselves. He would instead 'conceal it for some time that others might know how to value it'. If he thought any more on the matter, he left no evidence of it.
胡克以把並不一定是他自己的想法據為己有而聞名，他聲稱自己已經解決了這個問題，但當時拒絕分享，理由是分享出來會剝奪別人自己發現答案的滿足感。相反，他會「隱藏一段時間，讓別人知道如何珍視它」。沒有證據顯示他後來再考慮過這件事。
Halley, however, became consumed withfinding the answer, to the point that the following year he travelled to Cambridge and boldly called upon the university's Lucasian Professor of mathematics, Isaac Newton, in the hope that he could help.
然而，哈雷為找到這個問題的答案絞盡了腦汁。打賭的第二年，他來到劍橋大學，大膽地拜訪了該校的盧卡斯數學教授（譯註：英國劍橋大學的一個榮譽職位）艾薩克·牛頓，希望他能幫上忙。
詞彙與短語
1. during/in/throughout/over the course of something，在……的過程中
During the course of our conversation, it emerged that Bob had been in prison. 在我們談話的過程中，鮑勃被關進了監獄。
2. Halley's comet，哈雷彗星
Halley's Comet is arguably the most famous comet. 哈雷彗星可以說是最著名的彗星。
3. equivalent，[kwvlnt]，adj. 相當的
I had no dollars, but offered him an equivalentamount of sterling. 我沒有美元，但給了他等值的英鎊。
4. be well known for，因……而出名
He was well known forhis extreme political views. 他的極端政治觀點是出了名的。
5. be consumed with，（為某或或某種感情）而不斷受折磨
He was consumed with guiltafter the accident. 事故發生後，他深感內疚。
長難句分析
Hooke [主句主語], who [who引導的定語從句修飾Hooke] was well known fortaking credit for ideas that [that引導的定語從句修飾ideas] weren't necessarily his own, claimed [主句謂語] that [that引導的賓語從句] he had solved the problem already, but [but引導的並列句，省略he] declined now to share it on the interesting and inventive grounds that [that引導的同位語從句] it would rob others of the satisfaction of discovering the answer for themselves.
胡克以把並不一定是他自己的想法據為己有而聞名，他聲稱自己已經解決了這個問題，但當時拒絕分享，理由是分享出來會剝奪別人自己發現答案的滿足感。
詞彙發音