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The fumes of burning sulphur will bleach straw, silk, and other things, and make them white and clean. These fumes are also useful for killing the germs which cause fevers and other diseases.
燃燒的硫磺冒出的煙，可以“漂白”稻草、絲綢和其他的物品，讓它們變得又白又干凈。這種煙，還能殺死那些導致發燒和其他疾病的細菌。
Let us put some bits of roll sulphur in an iron spoon, and hold the spoon over a clear fire. The sulphur soon melts into a clear yellow liquid. If we let this melted sulphur get hotter, it will become thick, and nearly black in colour.
咱們把一根硫棒的一些碎屑，放進一個鐵勺子里。把鐵勺子舉到明火上，硫很快就會熔化，變成一種清澈的黃色液體。要是繼續加熱這種熔化的硫，它就會變得粘稠，顏色也會幾乎變成黑色。
With more heat still, the sulphur will become thin again; and if we then pour it into cold water, it will change into a soft brown mass almost like india-rubber. After a few days, this will become hard and yellow again. If the sulphur is made very hot indeed, it will turn into yellow sulphur vapour.
繼續加熱，硫會再次變?。话阉惯M冷水中，會變成一種棕色的軟東西，差不多有點像天然橡膠。幾天之后，這東西就會變回又硬又黃的狀態。如果把硫磺加熱到極高的溫度，會化作黃色的硫蒸汽。
Sulphur is a mineral. It is found near volcanoes, and must have been brought up by them from a very great depth. It is also found in the earth joined with other elements, in the form of stony masses called ores.
硫是一種礦物，可以在火山附近找到，顯然是火山從地球深處帶上來的。在地下也可以找到跟其他元素混在一起的硫磺，形態是類似石頭的東西，叫做“礦石”。
But sulphur is not a metal. It has qualities very different from those of the metals. A metal conducts heat well. If you put one end of a metal rod into the fire, the other end soon grows hot also. But sulphur conducts heat very badly.
但硫磺并不是金屬，它的特性跟金屬的特性很不一樣。金屬的“導熱性”非常好，如果把一根金屬棒的一頭放到火中，另一頭很快也會變熱。但是硫磺的導熱性卻很差。
Metals have also a lustrous or shining surface, but sulphur has no lustre. For these reasons sulphur is said to be a non-metal—that is, an element which is not a metal.
金屬也有一種“有光澤的”或是“亮閃閃的”表面，但硫卻沒有光澤。所以人們把硫磺叫做“非金屬”，也就是“不是金屬的元素”。
