第一冊第10篇：科學(xué)實驗的重要性

10 The Importance of Scientific Experiments 科學(xué)實驗的重要性

William Stanley Jevons 威廉·斯坦利·杰文斯

The rise of modern science may perhaps be considered to date as far back as the time of Roger Bacon(1), the wonderful monk1 and philosopher of Oxford2(2), who lived between the years 1214 and 1292. He was probably the first, in the mid- tide ages to assert3 that we must learn science by observing and experimenting on the things around us, and he himself made many remarkable4 discoveries. Galileo(3), however, who lived more than 800 years later (1564 to 1642), was the greatest of several great men, who in Italy, France, Germany, or Eng- land, began by degrees to show how many important truths could be discovered by well-directed observation. Before the time of Galileo, learned men believed that large bodies fall more rapidly towards the earth than small ones, because Aristotle(4) said so. But Galileo, going to the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa(5), let fall two unequal stones, and proved to some friends, whom he had brought there to see his experiment, that Aristotle was in error. It is Galileo’s spirit of going direct to Nature, and verifying our opinions and theories by experiment, that. has led to all the great discoveries of modern science.(6)

中文譯文：

現(xiàn)代科學(xué)的興起也許要追溯到羅杰·培根的時代.羅杰·培根是牛津杰出的僧侶和哲學(xué)家，他出生于1214年，死于 1292年。他可能是中世紀第一個提出我們必須通過對周圍事物進行觀察和實驗來學(xué)習(xí)科學(xué)的人，他自己也有許多卓越的發(fā)現(xiàn)。然而，生活在三百多年之后的伽利略(1564-1642),卻是好幾個偉大人物中最偉大的一個，這些人在意大利，法國，德國和英國開始逐步使人們看到許多重要的真理是可以通過掌握得當(dāng)?shù)挠^察去發(fā)現(xiàn)的。在伽利略之前，學(xué)者們相信大的物體掉到地面比小的物體要快，因為亞理斯多德是這樣說的?？墒?，伽利略登上比薩斜塔的頂端，讓兩塊體積不相等的石頭同時落地，從而向一些他帶去觀看實驗的朋友們證明，亞理斯多德錯了。正是伽利略的這種直接到大自然中去通過實驗來證明我們的判斷和理論的精神，導(dǎo)致了所有現(xiàn)代科學(xué)的偉大發(fā)現(xiàn)。

英文注釋：

(1)Roger Bacon： 羅杰·培根(1214-1292)，英國僧侶及哲學(xué)家，實驗科學(xué)的先驅(qū)。

(2) Oxford： 牛津，舉世聞名的英國的一所大學(xué)城。牛津大學(xué)(Oxford University)位于此。

(3) Galileo： 伽利略(1564--1642)，意大利物理學(xué)家及天文學(xué)家。

(4) Aristotle： 亞理斯多德(公元前384-322)，古希臘哲學(xué)家和科學(xué)家。

(5) the Leaning Tower of Pisa： 比薩斜塔。Pisa：意大利中部城市。

(6) It is Galileo’s spirit…that has led to…：這是強調(diào)主語的結(jié)構(gòu)。