評(píng)論
打印
Recording 42
錄音42
You will hear a lecture about how the production of ceramics, such as plates, pots and glass first began.
你將會(huì)聽(tīng)到一段課程，講的是陶制品（如碟子、鍋和玻璃）最初是如何開(kāi)始生產(chǎn)的。
First, you have some time to look at the questions 31 to 40.
首先，你有些時(shí)間看看第三十一題至第四十題。
Hi, everyone. Today I'm going to be talking about the origins of ceramics.
大家好。今天我要講講陶制品的起源。
So, first of all, let's start off with—what is a ceramic?
首先，我們從“陶是什么”講起。
Well, generally speaking, ceramics are what you get when you apply heat to certain inorganic, non-metallic solids and then allow them to cool.
總體來(lái)說(shuō)，陶是給某種無(wú)機(jī)非金屬固體加熱后冷卻得到的產(chǎn)物。
And examples of ceramics are everyday things like earthenware pots, crockery, glassware and even concrete.
像陶盆、廚具、玻璃器皿，甚至混凝土，這些日常隨處可見(jiàn)的事物都是陶制品的典例。
So how did it all begin?
這一切是怎么開(kāi)始的呢？
Well, it all started around 29,000 years ago when humans discovered that if you dig up some soft clay from the ground,
這一切大約在兩萬(wàn)九千年前開(kāi)始。那時(shí)候人們發(fā)現(xiàn)，如果你從地里挖出一些軟質(zhì)黏土，倒入模具使之成型，
mould it into a shape and then heat it up to a very high temperature, when it cools the clay has been transformed into something hard and rigid.
并加以高溫，等它冷卻以后，黏土就轉(zhuǎn)化成了一種又硬又脆的材料。
And so what did those first humans do with their discovery?
那么，最早的這些人是怎樣利用這項(xiàng)發(fā)現(xiàn)的呢？
Well, they created figurines which were small statues and which depicted animals or gods or any shape that the clay could be moulded into.
他們創(chuàng)造出了小塑像，也就是小型雕像，描繪的都是動(dòng)物、神明或任何黏土能塑成的形狀。
And all this activity was centred around southern Europe where there is also evidence of ceramics that were created much later.
這項(xiàng)活動(dòng)主要集中于歐洲南部，在此也有證據(jù)顯示，許久之后人們也創(chuàng)造出了陶制品。
The early humans also found a practical use for their discovery, such as storing things like grain, although there were drawbacks.
早期的人們同時(shí)也給他們的發(fā)現(xiàn)派上了實(shí)際用場(chǎng)，比如用于貯存谷物一類的東西，盡管仍存在不少缺陷。
The pots were porous so that although they could carry water in them, it wasn't possible to store it over a long period.
這些罐子都是多孔滲水的，所以，盡管它們能用來(lái)裝水，要想長(zhǎng)期存水是不可能的。
And also, they were quite brittle and shattered very easily if they were dropped.
而且，這些器皿非常脆，一旦掉落在地，很容易就打碎了。
But despite these problems, it was many thousands of years before there were any improvements.
但是，盡管存在這些問(wèn)題，要有任何改進(jìn)也是幾千年后的事情了。
In China at around 200 BC, they discovered that by adding minerals to the clay they could improve both the appearance and the strength of the ceramics.
在公元前兩百年的中國(guó)，人們發(fā)現(xiàn)，在黏土中加入礦物質(zhì)，能提升陶制品的外觀和強(qiáng)度。
But it took nearly a thousand years before they perfected the process to produce high-quality ceramics known as porcelain.
但人們也花了幾乎一千年的時(shí)間，才完善了生產(chǎn)過(guò)程，制造出高質(zhì)量的陶制品，也就是人們所知的瓷器。
And once they had perfected the process, they kept it a secret — for another thousand years!
一旦他們徹底完善了生產(chǎn)過(guò)程，他們千年來(lái)秘而不宣。
Compared to the first ceramics, porcelain was lighter, finer, harder and whiter and became an important commodity in China's trading with the rest of the world for hundreds of years.
和最初的陶制品相比，瓷器更輕，更精細(xì)，更硬，而且顏色更白，成為了幾百年來(lái)中國(guó)與外國(guó)貿(mào)易中重要的商品。
In fact, it became so valuable that it was known as "white gold" and spies were sent to China to discover what they did to the clay to produce such high-quality merchandise.
事實(shí)上，瓷器變得如此珍貴，人們稱其為“白色的金子”，外國(guó)派出間諜潛入中國(guó)，查探到底他們對(duì)黏土作了怎樣的處理，才生產(chǎn)出如此高質(zhì)量的商品。
It wasn't until the eighteenth century that the secret began to unravel.
直到18世紀(jì)，人們才揭開(kāi)了這個(gè)秘密。
A German alchemist called Johann Friedrich Bottger was asked by the king to make gold out of lead.
一位德國(guó)煉金術(shù)師，約翰?弗里德里希?博格，奉國(guó)王之命，要將鉛變成金子。
Unfortunately, Bottger failed to achieve this and soon gave up, but in order to please the king, he attempted to make high-quality porcelain.
不幸的是，博格無(wú)法達(dá)到這個(gè)要求，很快就放棄了，但為了取悅國(guó)王，他嘗試制造高質(zhì)量的瓷器。
And after many years of experimentation, he discovered that by adding quartz and a material called china stone to very high-quality clay,
經(jīng)過(guò)多年實(shí)驗(yàn)，博格發(fā)現(xiàn)，將石英和一種名為“瓷石”的物質(zhì)加入高質(zhì)量的黏土中，
he managed to get the same results that the Chinese had been achieving for the last 1,000 years.
他就能得到與中國(guó)在一千年前就得到的一樣的結(jié)果了。
We'll now look at another ceramic which is made from mixing sand with minerals and heating to over 600 degrees Celsius.
我們吸納子啊來(lái)看看另一種陶制品，通過(guò)將沙子與礦物混合，加熱至超過(guò)600攝氏度后得到的。
When this mixture cools, the result is, of course, glass.
混合物冷卻后，其結(jié)果自然是玻璃了。
The main difference between ceramics made from clay and glass is that clay is made up of crystalline plates which become locked together in the cooling process whereas glass cools too quickly for crystals to form.
黏土制成的陶制品與玻璃之間，其主要差別在于，
Apart from that, the process of heating up naturally occurring materials to transform them is the same.
除此之外，加熱天然物質(zhì)使其轉(zhuǎn)化的這個(gè)過(guò)程是完全一致的。
The origins of glass date back to 3,500 BC, but it wasn't until the Roman Empire, 2,000 years ago,
玻璃的起源可追溯到公元前3500年，但直到兩千年前羅馬帝國(guó)時(shí)期，
that the art of glass-blowing and the practical uses of glass became more widespread.
玻璃吹制工藝和玻璃的實(shí)際用途才廣泛傳播開(kāi)來(lái)。
One of the more innovative uses was to use it in windows as up until then, they had just been holes in walls.
其中一種創(chuàng)新性用途是將其裝在窗戶上，在此之前，窗戶都只是墻上的幾個(gè)洞而已。
It must have been very draughty in those days!
在那些日子里房子一定都很通風(fēng)吧！
The Romans were also responsible for inventing concrete.
羅馬人與混凝土的發(fā)明有關(guān)系。
And although the origins are uncertain, experts think that this is largely due to the high level of volcanic activity in the area.
盡管混凝土的起源仍不明確，專家認(rèn)為，很大程度上是因?yàn)樵摰貐^(qū)的火山活動(dòng)密集。
The Romans observed that when volcanic ash mixes with water and then cools, it gets extremely hard and almost impossible to break up.
羅馬人發(fā)現(xiàn)，火山灰和水混合并冷卻后，會(huì)變得極度堅(jiān)硬，幾乎是打不破的。
The chemical reaction that follows is very complex and continues for many years, and the concrete just keeps getting harder.
接下來(lái)的化學(xué)反應(yīng)非常復(fù)雜，且持續(xù)很多年，混凝土也變得越來(lái)越硬。
Evidence of this are the numerous Roman remains that are still standing, many of which are almost completely intact.
而其證據(jù)便是大量的現(xiàn)存古羅馬遺跡，至今仍然保持幾乎無(wú)損的狀態(tài)、
One of the most important facts about concrete for the Romans was that it can be created underwater.
對(duì)羅馬人而言，關(guān)于混凝土的一項(xiàng)最重要的事實(shí)是，它可以在水下形成。
As the Roman Empire grew, the Romans needed to take control of the seas and for this they needed to build harbours capable of holding a fleet of ships.
隨著羅馬帝國(guó)的發(fā)展，羅馬人需要控制海域，為此他們要建造海港來(lái)停放艦隊(duì)。
Pouring concrete mixture into the sea immediately started the hardening process and rather than just dissolving in the mass of water, the substance was tough and long-lasting.
將混凝土混合物倒入海中，硬化過(guò)程馬上啟動(dòng)，而且該物質(zhì)非但不會(huì)在水中溶解，還保持堅(jiān)硬耐久。
This strange characteristic of concrete made a significant contribution to the success of the Roman Empire.
混凝土的這個(gè)奇特的性質(zhì)對(duì)羅馬帝國(guó)的輝煌作出了重大貢獻(xiàn)。
