Butterfly in Bombay, Storm in Taipei 蝴蝶效应

 

課文朗讀

 

課文中英文講解

 

课文.pdf         繁體中文譯本

 

The drop of water falls from the glass and runs down a student’s hand like a frightened insect. “Don’t move an inch,” say the professor. “I’m going to drop another one on exactly the same spot.” ___1___ the drop, but this time it runs in a different direction. Why? Because some condition in the initial system had changed, even though it wasn’t noticeable. Perhaps the drop was smaller. Or perhaps there was a ___2___ change in the room, in the water, or on the student’s hand.

 

从玻璃杯倒出的这滴水滴到学生手中，就像只受到惊吓的小虫。「不要动，」教授说。「我要在你手上同一点再倒一滴水。」水滴流了下来，可是这一次它流往不同的方向。为什么？因为部分的初始条件已经改变，尽管这些改变看不太出来。也许，第二滴水较小，或者房间、水，甚或是学生的手的温度改变了。

 

This is chaos. Our world may seem orderly and predictable, but in reality it is ___3___ that. Everything that happens is the result of a series of interconnected events. It’s a little like the telephone game children play at school. At one end of the chain, someone ___4___ something to the next person. As the information moves down the chain, a letter gets lost, or a word is pronounced incorrectly. By the time it reaches the other end, the original sentence sounds quite ___5___. That’s chaos at play. One small change leads to another change, and so on.

 

这就是所谓的「浑沌效应」。我们所处的世界看似井然有序、凡事皆可预期，但事实上绝非如此。任何事情都是一连串事件交互影响的结果。这有点像小孩子在学校玩的传话游戏一样。在队伍的一端，一个小孩悄声地对下一个小孩说了一句话，当这句话顺着队伍传下去时，也许某个字母被漏掉了，或者某个字被念错了。当话传到队伍的末端时，听起来已经完全不像原来的句子了。这就是浑沌效应发挥了作用，一点小小的改变会导致一连串的转变。

 

Scientists call this phenomenon “the butterfly effect.” ___6___ it is tiny, when a butterfly bats its wings, it creates small changes in the atmosphere. These changes then interact with everything else. Just like the telephone game, they contribute to ___7___ changes down the chain – maybe even a tornado. Now imagine what two butterflies in Bombay could do to the weather in Taipei!

 

科学家将这种现象称为「蝴蝶效应」。蝴蝶身驱虽小，当牠拍动翅膀时，仍然会轻微改变气压。这些看似不起眼的改变会牵动大气层其它方面的转变，就像是传话游戏一样，会对最后的结果造成极大的影响，甚至会引发一场飓风。这时你不妨想想：要是「两」只蝴蝶在孟买拍动翅膀，台北的气候可会受到什么样的影响！

 

−by J. Michael Cole

 

1.	(A) Come down	(B) Coming down	(C) Down came	(D) Down comes
2.	(A) temperament	(B) temptation	(C) temperature	(D) tempest
3.	(A) anything but	(B) nothing but	(C) nothing to	(D) anything like
4.	(A) whistles	(B) whispers	(C) whirls	(D) whisks
5.	(A) similar	(B) singular	(C) different	(D) disciplinary
6.	(A) As if	(B) Even though	(C) As to	(D) Even as
7.	(A) major	(B) minor	(C) magnetic	(D) minimum

 

Vocabulary

noticeable [ˋnotɪsəb!] adj. 显而易见的

chaos [ˋkeɑs] n. 混乱

orderly [ˋɔrdɚlɪ] adj. 有条理的

contribute [kənˋtrɪbjut] to  促成

 

More Information

in reality 实际上

interconnected [͵ɪntɚkəˋnɛktɪd] adj. 互相关联的

pronounce [prəˋnaʊns] v. 发音

original [əˋrɪdʒən!] adj. 最初的，本来的

at play 在起作用

bat: [bæt] v. 拍打 flutter

atmosphere [ˋætməs͵fɪr] n. 大气

interact with 互相作用；互相影响

tornado [tɔrˋnedo] n. 龙卷风；旋风；飓风

Bombay [bɑmˋbe] 孟买（位于印度西部，1995年7月28日该省省政府将该市更名为Mumbai）

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Answer

1. ( D )	2. ( C )	3. ( A )	4. ( B )	5. ( C )
6. ( B )	7. ( A )