Archimedes and the golden crown
阿基米德與金皇冠
One day in ancient Greece, King Hiero asked a crown maker to make him a golden crown.
古希臘的一天,希羅王請一位皇冠工匠的人給他打造了一頂金皇冠。
At first, he was very happy with it.
一開始,他(還是)對皇冠感到很滿意的。
“It's a nice crown, isn't it?” he asked his men.
“這是一項很漂亮的皇冠,不是嗎?”他問他的仆人。
Later, however, he began to doubt that it was a real golden crown.
可是后來,他開始懷疑皇冠是否確實是一頂純金皇冠。
“Is it made completely of gold?” he wondered.
“這確定是純金的嗎?”他納悶著。
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.
“這個問題似乎很棘手哩,我該怎么辦呢?”阿基米德想。
Archimedes was still thinking about this problem as he filled his bath with water.
當阿基米德往浴池里注水的時候他還在思考著這個難題。
When he got into the bath, some water ran over.
當他進入浴池時,一些水溢了出來。
“That's it!” shouted Archimedes. “I know how to solve the king's problem!”
“就是這樣!”阿基米德叫道,“我知道如何解決國王的難題了!”
Archimedes went straight to the palace to see the king.
阿基米德直接去了宮殿覲見國王。
First, he weighed the crown and asked the king for some gold of the same weight.
首先,他稱了稱皇冠,然后向國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.
接著,他在兩個大碗里放了兩個(相同的)罐子,然后把罐子注滿了水。
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個罐子,一些水溢到了碗里。然后他把皇冠放入另一個罐子。
This time, even more water ran into the bowl.
這一次,更多的水溢到了碗里。
“Look at this,” said Archimedes to King Hiero.
“快看。”阿基米德對希羅王說道。
“A crown made completely of gold displaces less water than a crown made of gold and another metal.
“一個完全由金子制作的皇冠比一個由金子和其他金屬制作的皇冠排開的水要更少些。
- This crown displaced more water than gold of the same weight, so I'm certain that it's not completely made of gold.”
- (而)這頂皇冠比同等質量的金子排出的水多,所以我確定這不是純金的。
“The crown maker tricked me, didn't he? What a bad man he is!” shouted King Hiero.
“金匠騙了我,對不對?他太壞了!”希羅王喊道。
He then sent the crown maker to prison.
于是他把金匠投進了監獄。