Unit 1 Reading

Archimedes and the golden crown 阿基米德与金皇冠

One day in ancient Greece, King Hiero asked a crown maker to make him a golden crown.

古希腊的一天，希罗王请一位皇冠工匠的人给他打造了一顶金皇冠。

At first, he was very happy with it.

一开始，他（还是）对皇冠感到很满意的。

“It's a nice crown, isn't it?” he asked his men.

“这是一项很漂亮的皇冠，不是吗？”他问他的仆人。

Later, however, he began to doubt that it was a real golden crown.

可是后来，他开始怀疑皇冠是否确实是一顶纯金皇冠。

“Is it made completely of gold?” he wondered.

“这确定是纯金的吗？”他纳闷着。

He sent it to Archimedes and asked him to find out the truth.

他把皇冠送到了阿基米德那里，叫他搞清楚真相。

“This problem seems difficult to solve. What should I do?” thought Archimedes.

“这个问题似乎很棘手哩，我该怎么办呢？”阿基米德想。

Archimedes was still thinking about this problem as he filled his bath with water.

当阿基米德往浴池里注水的时候他还在思考着这个难题。

When he got into the bath, some water ran over.

当他进入浴池时，一些水溢了出来。

“That's it!” shouted Archimedes. “I know how to solve the king's problem!”

“就是这样！”阿基米德叫道，“我知道如何解决国王的难题了！”

Archimedes went straight to the palace to see the king.

阿基米德直接去了宫殿觐见国王。

First, he weighed the crown and asked the king for some gold of the same weight.

首先，他称了称皇冠，然后向国王要了同等重量的金子。

Next, he put two pots into two big bowls and filled both pots with water.

接着，他在两个大碗里放了两个（相同的）罐子，然后把罐子注满了水。

He put the gold into one pot and some water ran into the bowl. Then he put the crown into the other pot.

他把金子放入其中一个罐子，一些水溢到了碗里。然后他把皇冠放入另一个罐子。

This time, even more water ran into the bowl.

这一次，更多的水溢到了碗里。

“Look at this,” said Archimedes to King Hiero.

“快看。”阿基米德对希罗王说道。

“A crown made completely of gold displaces less water than a crown made of gold and another metal.

“一个完全由金子制作的皇冠比一个由金子和其他金属制作的皇冠排开的水要更少些。

- This crown displaced more water than gold of the same weight, so I'm certain that it's not completely made of gold.”

- （而）这顶皇冠比同等质量的金子排出的水多，所以我确定这不是纯金的。

“The crown maker tricked me, didn't he? What a bad man he is!” shouted King Hiero.

“金匠骗了我，对不对？他太坏了！”希罗王喊道。

He then sent the crown maker to prison.

于是他把金匠投进了监狱。