很多小夥伴都想讀英文原著學英語，可每次看兩頁就放棄。為了幫助大家從閱讀中找到樂趣，曉梅老師就帶大家一起讀英文原著，
看看有意思的故事，學學地道表達，分析長難句。先從A Short History of Nearly Everything《萬物簡史》開始。這本書從宇宙大爆炸開始講現代科學史，穿插了很多科學家的生平故事，妙趣橫生。本書作者Bill Bryson喜歡用口語化的語言敘述，因而裡面的英語要比一般的原著通俗易懂。今天讀第4章關於觀察金星凌日的片段，有助於理解劍橋雅思9 Test 2 閱讀第2篇文章。
觀測金星凌日
Maskelyne and Mason had become friends eleven years earlier while engaged in a project to measure an astronomical event of great importance: the passage of the planet Venus across the face of the Sun.
馬斯基林和梅森早在11年前一起參加一個項目的時候就成了朋友，這個項目是為了測量重要的天文事件：金星凌日。
The tireless Edmond Halley had suggested years before that if you measured one of these passages from selected points on the Earth, you could use the principles of triangulation to work out the distance from the Earth to the Sun, and thence to calibrate the distances to all the other bodies in the solar system.
孜孜不倦的愛德蒙·哈雷幾年前就說過，要是從地球上選好的幾個點測量某次金星凌日，就能使用三角測量原理算出地球到太陽的距離，從而確定地球到太陽系中其他所有天體的距離。
Unfortunately, transits of Venus, as they are known, are an irregular occurrence. They come in pairs eight years apart, but then are absent for a century or more, and there were none in Halley's lifetime.
不幸的是，金星凌日的出現並不規律。它會以8年為間隔出現兩次，之後就要隔上一個世紀或者更長時間才出現。哈雷的一生中一次也沒出現過。（注：2004年和2012年分別出現過兩次。20世紀沒出現過。）
But the idea simmered and when the next transit fell due in 1761, nearly two decades after Halley's death, the scientific world was ready - indeed more ready than it had been for an astronomical event before.
但是用金星凌日測量地球到太陽距離的想法生根發芽了。當下一次凌日在哈雷去世快20年後的1761年到來的時候，科學界做好了準備，準備得比以往任何一次天文事件都充分。
With the instinct for ordeal that characterized the age, scientists set off for more than a hundred locations around the globe - to Siberia, China, South Africa, Indonesia, and the woods of Wisconsin, among many others. France dispatched thirty-two observers, Britain eighteen more, and still others set out from Sweden, Russia, Italy, Germany, Ireland and elsewhere.
由於瞭解當時環境的嚴酷，科學家們去了世界上100多個地方，其中有西伯利亞、中國、南非、印度尼西亞和美國威斯康星州的樹林。法國派出了32位觀測員，英國18位，還有一些從瑞典、俄國、意大利、德國、愛爾蘭和其他地方出發。
詞彙和短語
1. engage in/on/upon，從事或者牽涉於某事中
The two parties engaged upon an escalating political struggle. 雙方的政治鬥爭不斷升級。
2. work out，制定出計劃；計算出；理解
UN negotiators have worked out a set of compromise proposals. 聯合國談判代表已制定出一套折衷方案。
We'll have to work out how much food we'll need for the party. 我們得算出聚會需要多少食物。
The plot is very complicated - it'll take you a while to work it out. 情節很複雜，你得花點時間才能搞清楚。
3. solar system，太陽系。solar太陽的，lunar月亮的
solar calendar 陽曆
lunar calendar 陰曆
4. transits of Venus，金星凌日
5. set off，出發，引起某事發生，引發（警報）。放鞭炮放煙花的“放”可以用這個短語。
I'll set off early to avoid the traffic. 我要早點出發，避開交通堵塞。
News that the claims might be true set off widespread panic. 這些說法可能是真的的消息引起了廣泛的恐慌。
Smoke from a cigarette will not normally set off a smoke alarm. 香菸的煙霧通常不會觸發煙霧報警器。
長難句分析
The tireless Edmond Halley [主語] had suggested years before that [that引導的賓語從語] if [if引導的條件狀語從句] you measured one of these passages from selected points on the Earth, you could use the principles of triangulation to work out the distance from the Earth to the Sun, and thence to calibrate the distances to all the other bodies in the solar system.
孜孜不倦的愛德蒙·哈雷幾年前就說過，要是從地球上選好的幾個點測量某次金星凌日，就能使用三角測量原理算出地球到太陽的距離，從而確定地球到太陽系中其他所有天體的距離。
詞彙與短語11.m4a1:22
來自鳴謙英語
