評論
打印
Listen to part of a conversation between a student and the professor of the history of technology class.
聽一段學生和科技歷史課教授的對話。
Student: Would it be okay to focus on something related to agriculture?
可以專注于和農業有關的東西嗎？
Professor: Sure, farming technology is fine, as long as it's pre-modern.
當然，農業科技是可以的，只要是現代以前的科技就行。
Professor: But this isn't a long paper, so you are gonna need to pick a specific area of pre-modern agriculture, like irrigation or food crops of ancient Greece.
但這不是一篇長論文，所以你要選定一個現代以前農業的特定領域，像是灌溉技術，或古希臘的糧食作物。
Student: I am actually interested in hydroponics.
事實上我對水培法很感興趣。
Professor: Hydroponics. Growing plants in water instead of soil.
水培法，在水里種植，而不是在土里。
Student: Well, not in pure water, in water that has the proper mix of nutrients.
不是在純水中，是在適當混合了營養素的水中。
Professor: OK. But is it a pre-modern technology?
好吧，但這是一項現代以前的科技嗎？
Professor: I mean, hydroponics isn't really my specialty but from the research I have read, we are talking the nineteenth century, maybe the seventeenth century if you really stretch it.
我是指，水培法不是我的專長，但從我度過的研究來看，我們涉及的是19世紀，如果你真的延伸開來，也許到17世紀。
Student: Oh? But the Aztec civilization back in the thirteenth century in basically where Mexico city is today …
噢？但在13世紀，差不多是現在的墨西哥市所在地，阿芝克特文化……
Student: An article I read said the Aztecs were using hydroponics in something they called …
我讀到過一篇文章，說阿芝克特人把水培法用在……
Student: I have got the word right here. Um. Chinampas.
我找到那個詞了。奇昂帕。
Professor: Chinampas, the so-called floating gardens.
奇昂帕，所謂的漂浮花園。
Student: Exactly. So yeah, the chinampas, the article said very clearly these floating gardens are proof that the Aztec invented hydroponic farming.
正確。對，奇昂帕，文章說這些漂浮花園就是阿芝克特人發明水培法耕種的證據。
Professor: Well, chinampas are artificial islands built up in shallow lakes, islands made from packed earth and weeds and uh, material from the bottom of the lake.
奇昂帕是在淺湖中的人造島，由包裝好的泥土和蘆葦組成，還有來自湖底的材料。
Professor: They may have appeared to be floating in the water, but in fact they reach all the way to the bottom of the lake.
這些小島看起來是漂浮于水面的，但事實上它們都直通湖底。
