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Lesson 64 The Red Metal Called Copper
第64課 紅色金屬——銅
There is only one metal which is red in colour. Its name is copper. On the shores of Lake Superior in North America, lumps of pure copper are found in the rocks; but in Cornwall , and in Australia, and in many other places, we find copper as an ore.
世界上只有一種紅色金屬，它的名字就叫做銅。在北美蘇必利爾湖岸邊的巖石中，人們可以看到成塊的純銅。然而，無論是在康沃爾、澳大利亞還是其他眾多地區，銅都以礦石的形式存在。
An ore is a metal united with one or two other substances. Copper ore looks like a stone of a black, or a green, or a red colour. Looking at a lump of the ore, no one would think that there was any copper in it.
某種金屬與其他一種或兩種物質結合在一起便形成了礦石。銅礦石看起來就是一塊黑色、綠色或紅色的石頭。無論是誰，看到一塊銅礦石的話都不會想到其中有銅。
The other substances which are combined with the copper to form the stony-looking ore are sulphur, iron, and oxygen. These substances are got rid of by first roasting the ore in a furnace, and then smelting or melting it in a much hotter furnace. This is repeated three times, until at last the pure copper is left by itself.
與銅結合并形成礦石的其他物質包括硫、鐵、氧。去除這些物質的方法是：首先將礦石在熔爐中進行加熱，然后再將其放入到溫度更高的熔爐之中進行融化。這樣的流程需要重復三次，直到最后剩下純銅。
The smelting of copper ore is chiefly carried on in the town of Swansea, in South Wales, to which port ships bring copper ore from all parts of the world.
銅礦的煉化主要在威爾士南部的斯旺西進行，來自世界各地的銅礦用輪船送到這個港口。
