物理學是托福聽力中比較高頻的一個考察題材，了解相關的背景知識可以有效助力備考。想要了解物理學，不如從物理學家開始，今天在這里給大家介紹的就是歷史上比較有名一位物理學家Archimedes，沒錯，就是大家熟知的洗澡時發現皇冠如何稱重的阿基米德。

阿基米德(Archimedes , 公元前287年 --- 公元前212年 )，偉大的古希臘哲學家、百科式科學家、數學家、物理學家、力學家，靜態力學和流體靜力學的奠基人，并且享有“力學之父”的美稱，阿基米德和高斯(Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss)、牛頓(Isaac Newton)并列為世界三大數學家。 阿基米德曾說過：“給我一個支點，我就能撬起整個地球?！?“Give me the place to stand, and I shall move the earth.”)

接下來我們就來看一個阿基米德的(中英文)小故事。公元前1世紀，羅馬作家維特魯威記敘了一件可能是虛構的故事……

Hieron II, the King of Sicily, had ordered a new gold crown. When the crown was delivered, Hieron suspected that the crown maker had substituted silver for some of the gold, melting the silver with the remaining gold so that the color looked the same as pure gold. The King asked his chief scientist, Archimedes, to investigate.

【關鍵詞】

Archimedes [?ɑrk??midiz] 阿基米德;

crown [kra?n] n. 王冠;

suspect [ s?sp?kt] vt. 懷疑;猜想;

investigate [?n'v?st?ɡet] v. 調查;研究;

melt [ m?lt] v. 融化,溶解;

傳說當時的西西里國王希倫二世,新打制了一頂純金的王冠。但是卻懷疑工匠們在制作過程中以次充好，摻了一部分銀子，于是命令他的首席科學家阿基米德來調查這件事。

Archimedes puzzled over the problem. The new crown was precious, and must not be damaged in any way. He went to the public baths in Syracuse to ponder the problem. The bath was full to the brim, and when he climbed in, he noticed two things: that water level rose, making some water slop over the side, and he felt weightless. He shouted “Eureka!” (I have found the answer!) and ran home stark naked.

【關鍵詞】

puzzle ['p?zl] vt. 使…困惑;

ponder the problem 思考問題;

brim [br?m] n.邊緣;v.溢出，滿溢;

stark [stɑrk] adv. 完全;明顯地

naked ['nek?d] adj. 裸體的;無裝飾的;無證據的;直率的

阿基米德受命解決這個難題，可是皇冠如此寶貴，無論如何都不能破壞。他去希臘庫扎的公共浴室思考這個問題，當他進入放滿水的浴缸，他注意到了兩件事情：一是水位升高，還有一些水溢了出來;另外他有種失重的感覺。他高喊著“找到了”跑回了家。

Archimedes had realized that if he lowered the crown into a bucket filled to the brim with water, it would displace some water – exactly the same amount as its own volume – and he could measure how much water spilled out. This would tell him the volume of the crown. Silver is less dense than gold, so a silver crown of the same weight would be bigger than a gold crown, and would displace more water. Therefore, an adulterated crown would displace more water than a pure gold crown—and more than a lump of gold of the same weight.

【關鍵詞】

volume ['vɑljum] n. 容量;

measure ['m???] v. 測量;

dense [d?ns] n.密度;

adulterated [?'d?lt?,ret] adj. 摻入次級品的;

阿基米德意識到，如果他把皇冠放入滿水中，那么有些水就會溢出來，這些水的體積等于皇冠的體積。也就能通過測量水的體積，來得到皇冠的體積。銀比金密度小，因此同等重量的銀子體積應該大，也就是說，會溢出更多的水。因此，摻入次級品的皇冠在同等重量下，會溢出更多的水。

Archimedes probably solved the puzzle by hanging the crown and an equal weight of pure gold on opposite ends of a stick, which he then suspended by its center so that the two weights balanced. Then he lowered the whole thing into a bath of water. If the crown was pure gold, it and the lump of gold would experience an equal upthrust, and the stick would stay horizontal. If the crown contained some silver, however, the volume of the crown would be greater than the volume of the lump of gold—the crown would displace more water, and the stick would tilt sharply.

【關鍵詞】

puzzle ['p?zl] n. 難題;謎;

suspend [s?'spend] v. 懸浮;暫停;

lump [l?mp] n. 塊; 團;

upthrust ['?pθr?st] n. 上推;

horizontal [?h??r?'zɑ?ntl] adj. 水平的;

displace [d?s'ple?s] v.替換;

tilt [t?lt] v.傾斜;

阿基米德可能通過以下方法解決了這個難題：他將皇冠以及相同重量的金塊掛在一根木棍的兩端，然后從木棍的中間懸掛起來，使得兩個重物達到平衡。然后他將皇冠和金塊同時浸到一盆水中，如果皇冠是純金制成，那么它和金塊將受到同樣的浮力，木棍將會保持水平。如果皇冠中摻雜了銀子，皇冠的體積將大于金塊，皇冠會溢出更多的水，木棍就會發生傾斜。

Archimedes’ idea became known as Archimedes’ principle, which states that the upthrust on an object in a fluid is equal to the weight of the fluid the object displaces.

【關鍵詞】

fluid ['flu??d] n. 液體;

阿基米德的這一想法就是我們所熟知的“阿基米德原理”，即物體在液體中受到的浮力等于溢出液體的重量。

維特魯威告訴我們，希倫二世的皇冠確實摻雜了銀，金匠也因此受到了懲罰。

好啦，故事講完了，雖然是耳熟能詳的故事，但是在用英文版陳述的時候，搖身一變，多了許多大家不太認識或者不太熟悉的單詞，其中的生詞你們都掌握了么?

在我們的TPO當中也提到了這位偉大的物理學家，比如TPO26-6中，就考察了有關阿基米德的重寫本(Palimpsest)的內容，現在不妨放下手機，找出這篇文章仔細研究一下吧!