很多小伙伴都想读英文原著学英语，可每次看两页就放弃。为了帮助大家从阅读中找到乐趣，晓梅老师就带大家一起读英文原著，
看看有意思的故事，学学地道表达，分析长难句。先从A Short History of Nearly Everything《万物简史》开始。这本书从宇宙大爆炸开始讲现代科学史，穿插了很多科学家的生平故事，妙趣横生。本书作者Bill Bryson喜欢用口语化的语言叙述，因而里面的英语要比一般的原著通俗易懂。今天读第4章关于观察金星凌日的片段，与剑桥雅思9 Test 2 阅读第2篇文章讲同样的事。
地球在宇宙中的位置最终确定
In comparison, the disappointments experienced by Britain's eighteen scattered observers were mild. Mason found himself paired with a young surveyor named Jeremiah Dixon and apparently they got along well, for they formed a lasting partnership. Their instructions were to travel to Sumatra and chart the transit there, but after just one night at sea their ship was attacked by a French frigate. (Although scientists were in an internationally co-operative mood, nations weren't.)
相比而言，18位分散在各处的英国观测员所经历的失望就不算一回事。梅森与一位名叫里迈亚·迪克森年轻测量员搭伙，相处得显然不错，因为他们结成了持久的伙伴关系。他们奉命去苏门答腊岛测绘金星凌日，但在海上只过了一夜，他们的船就受到了法国护卫舰的攻击。（虽然科学家们有国际合作精神，各个国家并没有。）
Mason and Dixon sent a note to the Royal Society observing that it seemed awfully dangerous on the high seas and wondering if perhaps the whole thing oughtn't to be called off. In reply, they received a swift and chilly rebuke, noting that they had already been paid, that the nation and scientific community were counting on them, and that their failure to proceed would result in the irretrievable loss of their reputations.
梅森和迪克森给皇家学会发了封信，说看来公海上似乎非常危险，不知道整个计划是不是应该取消。他们很快收到答复，在冷漠的斥责中，回信指出他们已经拿了钱，国家和科学界对他们寄予厚望，如果不继续向前，他们就会颜面扫地。
Chastened, they sailed on, but en route word reached them that Sumatra had fallen to the French and so they observed the transit inconclusively from the Cape of Good Hope. On the way home they stopped on the lonely Atlantic outcrop of St Helena, where they met Maskelyne, whose observations had been thwarted by cloud cover. Mason and Maskelyne formed a solid friendship and spent several happy, and possibly even mildly useful, weeks charting tidal flows.
认识到自己的过错后，他们继续前进，但是在路上他们听说苏门答腊岛落入了法国手中，所以他们从好望角观测金星凌日，效果不是很好。回家路上，他们在孤零零的大西洋圣赫勒拿岛停留，在那里他们遇到了被云彩破坏了观测的马斯基林。梅森和马斯基林建立了牢固的友谊，一起绘制潮流图，度过了愉快、甚至有点意义的几周。
Back in Europe, Maskelyne and his counterparts in Germany and French were forced to the conclusion that transit measurements of 1761 were essentially a failure. One of the problems, ironically, was that there were too many observations, which when brought together often proved a contradictory and impossible to resolve.
在欧洲，马斯基林和他在德国、法国的同行们被迫得出结论，1761年的金星凌日观测基本上以失败告终。具有讽刺意味的是，问题之一是观察数据太多，这些数据放到一起后得出的结论互相矛盾，无法统一。
The successful charting of a Venusian transit fell instead to a little-known Yorkshire-born sea captain named James Cook, who watched the 1769 transit from a sunny hilltop in Tahiti, and then went on to chart and claim Australia for the British crown.
结果，成功绘制金星凌日的人成了默默无闻的约克郡人詹姆斯·库克船长。在一个晴天，库克船长从塔希提岛的小山顶观测了1769年的金星凌日，接着又绘制了澳大利亚的地图，宣布它为英国殖民地。
Upon his return there was now enough information for the French astronomer Joseph Lalande to calculate that the mean distance from the Earth to the Sun was a little over 150 million kilometers. (Two further transit in the nineteenth century allowed astronomers to put the figure at 149.59 million kilometers, where it has remained ever since. The precise distance, we now know is, 149.597870691 million kilometers.) The Earth at last had a position in space.
他回到英国后，法国天文学家約瑟夫·拉朗德就有足够的信息计算出，地球到太阳的平均距离是150亿公里多一点。（19世纪的另外两次金星凌日让天文学家们把这个数字更正到了149.59亿公里，并一直保持不变。我们现在知道准确的距离是149.597870691亿公里。）地球在宇宙中的位置最终得以确定。
词汇与短语
1. in comparison (with/to something)，（与……）相比而言
In comparison to other recent video games, this one isn't very exciting. 与最近的其他电子游戏相比，这款游戏并不是那么令人兴奋。
He was a loud friendly man. In comparison, his brother was rather shy. 他是一个大声友好的人。相比之下，他的哥哥就害羞多了。
2. get along，相处愉快
We've always got along quite well. 我们一直相处得很好。
They seem to get along with each other. 他们似乎相处得很好。
3. call off，取消
The trip to Italy might be called off. 去意大利的旅行可能会取消。
4. count on/upon somebody/something，指望某人/某事
With luck, you might cover your costs, but don't count on it. 如果运气好的话，你可以负担你的费用，但不要指望它。
5. contradictory，[ˌkɒntrəˈdɪktəri]，adj. 矛盾的
The public is being fed contradictory messages about the economy. 公众得到的有关经济的信息相互矛盾。
长难句分析
The successful charting of a Venusian transit fell instead to a little-known Yorkshire-born sea captain named James Cook, who [定语从句，修饰James, Cook] watched the 1769 transit from a sunny hilltop in Tahiti, and then went [与watched并列] on to chart and claim [与chart并列] Australia for the British crown.
结果，成功绘制金星凌日的成就落到了默默无闻的约克郡人詹姆斯·库克船长肩上。在一个晴天，库克船长从塔希提岛的小山顶观测了1769年的金星凌日，接着又绘制了澳大利亚的地图，宣布它为英国殖民地。
词汇与短语13.m4a0:36
来自鸣谦英语
關鍵字: comparison 原著 金星
