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章關於觀察金星凌日的片段，與劍橋雅思9 Test 2 閱讀第2篇文章講同樣的事。
地球在宇宙中的位置最終確定
In comparison, the disappointments experienced by Britain's eighteen scattered observers were mild. Mason found himself paired with a young surveyor named Jeremiah Dixon and apparently they got along well, for they formed a lasting partnership. Their instructions were to travel to Sumatra and chart the transit there, but after just one night at sea their ship was attacked by a French frigate. (Although scientists were in an internationally co-operative mood, nations weren't.)
相比而言，18位分散在各處的英國觀測員所經歷的失望就不算一回事。梅森與一位名叫裡邁亞·迪克森年輕測量員搭夥，相處得顯然不錯，因為他們結成了持久的夥伴關係。他們奉命去蘇門答臘島測繪金星凌日，但在海上只過了一夜，他們的船就受到了法國護衛艦的攻擊。（雖然科學家們有國際合作精神，各個國家並沒有。）
Mason and Dixon sent a note to the Royal Society observing that it seemed awfully dangerous on the high seas and wondering if perhaps the whole thing oughtn't to be called off. In reply, they received a swift and chilly rebuke, noting that they had already been paid, that the nation and scientific community were counting onthem, and that their failure to proceed would result in the irretrievable loss of their reputations.
梅森和迪克森給皇家學會發了封信，說看來公海上似乎非常危險，不知道整個計劃是不是應該取消。他們很快收到答覆，在冷漠的斥責中，回信指出他們已經拿了錢，國家和科學界對他們寄予厚望，如果不繼續向前，他們就會顏面掃地。
Chastened, they sailed on, but en route word reached them that Sumatra had fallen to the French and so they observed the transit inconclusively from the Cape of Good Hope. On the way home they stopped on the lonely Atlantic outcrop of St Helena, where they met Maskelyne, whose observations had been thwarted by cloud cover. Mason and Maskelyne formed a solid friendship and spent several happy, and possibly even mildly useful, weeks charting tidal flows.
認識到自己的過錯後，他們繼續前進，但是在路上他們聽說蘇門答臘島落入了法國手中，所以他們從好望角觀測金星凌日，效果不是很好。回家路上，他們在孤零零的大西洋聖赫倫那島停留，在那裡他們遇到了被雲彩破壞了觀測的馬斯基林。梅森和馬斯基林建立了牢固的友誼，一起繪製潮流圖，度過了愉快、甚至有點意義的幾周。
Back in Europe, Maskelyne and his counterparts in Germany and French were forced to the conclusion that transit measurements of 1761 were essentially a failure. One of the problems, ironically, was that there were too many observations, which when brought together often proved a contradictory and impossible to resolve.
在歐洲，馬斯基林和他在德國、法國的同行們被迫得出結論，1761年的金星凌日觀測基本上以失敗告終。具有諷刺意味的是，問題之一是觀察數據太多，這些數據放到一起後得出的結論互相矛盾，無法統一。
The successful charting of a Venusian transit fell instead to a little-known Yorkshire-born sea captain named James Cook, who watched the 1769 transit from a sunny hilltop in Tahiti, and then went on to chart and claim Australia for the British crown.
結果，成功繪製金星凌日的人成了默默無聞的約克郡人詹姆斯·庫克船長。在一個晴天，庫克船長從大溪地島的小山頂觀測了1769年的金星凌日，接著又繪製了澳大利亞的地圖，宣布它為英國殖民地。
Upon his return there was now enough information for the French astronomer Joseph Lalande to calculate that the mean distance from the Earth to the Sun was a little over 150 million kilometers. (Two further transit in the nineteenth century allowed astronomers to put the figure at 149.59 million kilometers, where it has remained ever since. The precise distance, we now know is, 149.597870691 million kilometers.) The Earth at last had a position in space.
他回到英國後，法國天文學家約瑟夫·拉朗德就有足夠的信息計算出，地球到太陽的平均距離是150億公裡多一點。（19世紀的另外兩次金星凌日讓天文學家們把這個數字更正到了149.59億公裡，並一直保持不變。我們現在知道準確的距離是149.597870691億公裡。）地球在宇宙中的位置最終得以確定。
詞彙與短語
1. in comparison (with/to something)，（與……）相比而言
In comparison toother recent video games, this one isn't very exciting. 與最近的其他電子遊戲相比，這款遊戲並不是那麼令人興奮。
He was a loud friendly man. In comparison, his brother was rather shy. 他是一個大聲友好的人。相比之下，他的哥哥就害羞多了。
2. get along，相處愉快
We've alwaysgot along quite well. 我們一直相處得很好。
They seem toget along with each other. 他們似乎相處得很好。
3. call off，取消
The trip to Italy might be called off. 去義大利的旅行可能會取消。
4. count on/upon somebody/something，指望某人/某事
With luck, you might cover your costs, but don't count on it. 如果運氣好的話，你可以負擔你的費用，但不要指望它。
5. contradictory，[kntrdktri]，adj. 矛盾的
The public is being fed contradictorymessages about the economy. 公眾得到的有關經濟的信息相互矛盾。
長難句分析
The successful charting of a Venusian transit fell instead to a little-known Yorkshire-born sea captain named James Cook, who [定語從句，修飾James, Cook] watched the 1769 transit from a sunny hilltop in Tahiti, and then went [與watched並列] on to chart and claim [與chart並列] Australia for the British crown.
結果，成功繪製金星凌日的成就落到了默默無聞的約克郡人詹姆斯·庫克船長肩上。在一個晴天，庫克船長從大溪地島的小山頂觀測了1769年的金星凌日，接著又繪製了澳大利亞的地圖，宣布它為英國殖民地。