Читать онлайн «Английский язык с Г. Уэллсом "Человек-невидимка"». Страница 71

translucency [trxnz`lHs(q)nsI], skeleton [`skelIt(q)n], hydrogen [`haIdrqGqn]

“Silver! A diamond box would neither absorb much of the light nor reflect much from the general surface, but just here and there where the surfaces were favourable the light would be reflected and refracted, so that you would get a brilliant appearance of flashing reflections and translucencies — a sort of skeleton of light. A glass box would not be so brilliant, not so clearly visible, as a diamond box, because there would be less refraction and reflection. See that?

“From certain points of view you would see quite clearly through it. Some kinds of glass would be more visible than others, a box of flint glass would be brighter than a box of ordinary window glass. A box of very thin common glass would be hard to see in a bad light, because it would absorb hardly any light and refract and reflect very little. And if you put a sheet of common white glass in water, still more if you put it in some denser liquid than water, it would vanish almost altogether, because light passing from water to glass is only slightly refracted or reflected or indeed affected in any way. It is almost as invisible as a jet of coal gas or hydrogen is in air. And for precisely the same reason!”

“Yes,” said Kemp, “that is pretty plain sailing (это все очень просто; plain sailing — простое, легкое дело, пустяки; проще простого: «простаянавигация»; sail — парус).”

“And here is another fact you will know to be true (а вот еще один факт, который, как вам известно, является правдой = который вы, несомненно, знаете). If a sheet of glass is smashed, Kemp (если лист стекла разбит, Кемп), and beaten into a powder (и истолчен в порошок), it becomes much more visible while it is in the air (оно станет гораздо более видимым, находясь на воздухе); it becomes at last an opaque white powder (в конце концов оно превратится в непрозрачный белый порошок). This is because the powdering multiplies the surfaces of the glass (это происходит потому, что превращение в порошок увеличивает /число/ поверхностей стекла) at which refraction and reflection occur (на которых происходит преломление и отражение). In the sheet of glass there are only two surfaces (в листе стекла только две поверхности); in the powder the light is reflected or refracted by each grain it passes through (в порошке свет отражается или преломляется каждой крупинкой, через которую проходит), and very little gets right through the powder (и очень мало /света/ проходит прямо через порошок). But if the white powdered glass is put into water (но если белый стеклянный порошок помещен в воду), it forthwith vanishes (он тотчас исчезает). The powdered glass and water have much the same refractive index (стеклянный порошок и вода имеют почти одинаковый коэффициент преломления); that is, the light undergoes very little refraction or reflection in passing from one to the other (то есть свет подвергается очень незначительному преломлению и отражению при переходе из одной /среды/ в другую).

true [trH], powder [`paudq], surface [`sq:fIs], multiply [`mAltIplaI]

“Yes,” said Kemp, “that is pretty plain sailing.”

“And here is another fact you will know to be true. If a sheet of glass is smashed, Kemp, and beaten into a powder, it becomes much more visible while it is in the air; it becomes at last an opaque white powder. This is because the powdering multiplies the surfaces of the glass at which refraction and reflection occur. In the sheet of glass there are only two surfaces; in the powder the light is reflected or refracted by each grain it passes through, and very little gets right through the powder. But if the white powdered glass is put into water, it forthwith vanishes. The powdered glass and water have much the same refractive index; that is, the light undergoes very little refraction or reflection in passing from one to the other.

“You make the glass invisible by putting it into a liquid of nearly the same refractive index (вы делаете стекло невидимым, помещая его в жидкость с примерно таким же коэффициентом преломления); a transparent thing becomes invisible (прозрачная вещь становится невидимой) if it is put in any medium of almost the same refractive index (если помещается в какую-либо среду, обладающую почти одинаковым с ней коэффициентом преломления). And if you will consider only a second (а если вы секунду подумаете), you will see also that the powder of glass might be made to vanish in air (вы также поймете, что стеклянный порошок можно сделать невидимым в воздухе: «может быть заставлен исчезнуть в воздухе»), if its refractive index could be made the same as that of air (если суметь сделать его коэффициент преломления таким же, как и у воздуха); for then there would be no refraction or reflection as the light passed from glass to air (поскольку тогда не будет ни преломления, ни отражения, когда свет переходит из стекла в воздух).”

“Yes, yes,” said Kemp. “But a man’s not powdered glass (но человек — не стеклянный порошок)!”

“No (нет),” said Griffin. “He’s more transparent (он прозрачнее)!”

“Nonsense (вздор: «бессмыслица»)!”

medium [`mJdIqm], consider [kqn`sIdq], transparent [trxn`spxrqnt]

“You make the glass invisible by putting it into a liquid of nearly the same refractive index; a transparent thing becomes invisible if it is put in any medium of almost the same refractive index. And if you will consider only a second, you will see also that the powder of glass might be made to vanish in air, if its refractive index could be made the same as that of air; for then there would be no refraction or reflection as the light passed from glass to air.”

“Yes, yes,” said Kemp. “But a man’s not powdered glass!”

“No,” said Griffin. “He’s more transparent!”

“Nonsense!”

“That from a doctor (и это /я слышу/ от врача)! How one forgets (как /легко все/ забывается)! Have you already forgotten your physics, in ten years (неужели вы уже забыли физику за десять лет)? Just think of all the things that are transparent and seem not to be so (просто подумайте обо всех этих вещах, которые прозрачны, но не кажутся таковыми). Paper, for instance, is made up of transparent fibres (бумага, например, состоит из прозрачных волокон), and it is white and opaque only for the same reason (и она белая и непрозрачная только по той же причине) that a powder of glass is white and opaque (по которой стеклянный порошок — белый и непрозрачный). Oil white paper, fill up the interstices between the particles with oil (промаслите белую бумагу, заполните маслом промежутки между ее частицами) so that there is no longer refraction or reflection except at the surfaces (так, чтобы /в ней/ больше не происходило преломления и отражения, кроме как на поверхностях), and it becomes as transparent as glass (и она станет такой же прозрачной, как стекло). And not only paper, but cotton fibre (и не только бумага, но и волокна хлопка), linen fibre (льна), wool fibre (шерстяные волокна), woody fibre (волокна дерева), and bone, Kemp, flesh, Kemp (и кости, Кемп, и плоть, Кемп), hair, Kemp, nails and nerves, Kemp (волосы, ногти и нервы, Кемп), in fact the whole fabric of a man (фактически весь организм человека; fabric — ткань, материя) except the red of his blood and the black pigment of hair (за исключением красных кровяных телец и темного пигмента волос), are all made up of transparent, colourless tissue (состоит из прозрачной, бесцветной ткани). So little suffices to make us visible one to the other (так мало необходимо, чтобы мы могли видеть друг друга; to suffice — быть достаточным, хватать). For the most part the fibres of a living creature are no more opaque than water (по большей части волокна живого существа не более непрозрачны, чем вода = неменеепрозрачны, чемвода).”

interstice [In`tq:stIs], fibre [`faIbq], creature [`krJCq]

“That from a doctor! How one forgets! Have you already forgotten your physics, in ten years? Just think of all the things that are transparent and seem not to be so. Paper, for instance, is made up of transparent fibres, and it is white and opaque only for the same reason that a powder of glass is white and opaque. Oil white paper, fill up the interstices between the particles with oil so that there is no longer refraction or reflection except at the surfaces, and it becomes as transparent as glass. And not only paper, but cotton fibre, linen fibre, wool fibre, woody fibre, and bone, Kemp, flesh, Kemp, hair, Kemp, nails and nerves, Kemp, in fact the whole fabric of a man except the red of his blood and the black pigment of hair, are all made up of transparent, colourless tissue. So little suffices to make us visible one to the other. For the most part the fibres of a living creature are no more opaque than water.”

“Great Heavens (Боже мой: «великие небеса»)!” cried Kemp (воскликнул Кемп). “Of course, of course (ну конечно)! I was thinking only last night of the sea larvae and all jelly-fish (только прошлой ночью я думал о морских личинках и всех этих медузах)!”