19世紀初，英國開始風行吸入一氧化二氮，或稱笑氣，因為有人發(fā)現(xiàn)，使用這種氣體會"給人一種高度的快感和刺激"。直到1846年，才有人有時間為一氧化二氮找到了一條實用途徑：用做麻醉藥。總的來說，化學是商人的科學，是與煤炭、鉀堿和染料打交道的人的科學，不是紳士的科學。紳士階層往往對地質(zhì)學、自然史和物理學感興趣。今天的章節(jié)篇幅難控制，所以有點長，大家辛苦學習一下哈
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?《萬物簡史》推出部落節(jié)目版，戳這里訂閱:http://bulo.hujiang.com/menu/6004/



書本的朗讀語音很charming的磁性英音~~~大家可以好好學著模仿哦~~~！！
因為原著為美國人所寫,單詞采用美式拼法,不抄全文，也不用寫序號。答完一空換行繼續(xù)下一空作答。文中需聽寫單詞或詞組用[-No-]表示，句子用[---No---]表示。請邊聽寫邊理解文意，根據(jù)下面的TIPS訓練聽寫。這樣可以提高聽力準確度，并為訓練聽譯打下基礎哦~~~

TIPS聽寫訓練點：單詞拼寫，時態(tài)，單復數(shù)，連讀，長難句（請邊聽邊用符號先記下內(nèi)容，然后自己回頭組織語句，最后校對，不要逐字逐句聽寫）



Hints:
Askesian Society
agony
surgeon
potash
Brownian
molecule
Robert Brown




In the early 1800s there arose in England a fashion for inhaling nitrous oxide, or laughing gas, after it was discovered that its use “was attended by a highly pleasurable thrilling.” For the next half century it would be the drug of choice for young people. [---1---] Theaters put on “l(fā)aughing gas evenings” where volunteers could refresh themselves with a [-2-] inhalation and then entertain the audience with their comical staggerings.

It wasn't until 1846 that anyone got around to finding a practical use for nitrous oxide, as an anesthetic. [---3---]

I mention this to make the point that chemistry, having come so far in the 18th century, rather lost its [-4-] in the first decades of the 19th, in much the way that geology would in the early years of the 20th. Partly it was to do with the limitations of equipment—there were, for instance, no centrifuges until the second half of the century, [-5-] restricting many kinds of experiments—and partly it was social. [---6---] (This was slightly less true in continental Europe than in Britain, but only slightly.) [---7---] (What Brown noticed, in 1827, was that tiny grains of pollen suspended in water remained indefinitely in motion no matter how long he gave them to settle. The cause of this perpetual motion—[---8---] the actions of invisible molecules—was long a mystery.)



One learned body, the Askesian Society, was for a time devoted to little else. robust Goodness knows how many tens of thousands of people suffered unnecessary agonies under the surgeon's knife because no one thought of the gas's most obvious practical application. bearings severely Chemistry was, generally speaking, a science for businesspeople, for those who worked with coal and potash and dyes, and not gentlemen, who tended to be drawn to geology, natural history, and physics. It is perhaps telling that one of the most important observations of the century, Brownian motion, which established the active nature of molecules, was made not by a chemist but by a Scottish botanist, Robert Brown. namely
19世紀初，英國開始風行吸入一氧化二氮，或稱笑氣，因為有人發(fā)現(xiàn)，使用這種氣體會"給人一種高度的快感和刺激"。在隨后的半個世紀里，它成了年輕人使用的一種高檔毒品。有個名叫阿斯克協(xié)會的學術團體一度不再致力于別的事情，專場舉辦"笑氣晚會"，志愿者可以在那里狠狠吸上一口，提提精神，然后以搖搖擺擺的滑稽姿態(tài)逗樂觀眾。 　　直到1846年，才有人有時間為一氧化二氮找到了一條實用途徑：用做麻醉藥。事情是明擺著的，過去怎么誰也沒有想到，害得天知道有多少萬人在外科醫(yī)生的刀下吃了不必要的苦頭。 　　我提這一點是為了說明，在18世紀得到如此發(fā)展的化學，在19世紀的頭幾十年里有點兒失去方向，就像地質(zhì)學在20世紀頭幾十年里的情況一樣。部分原因跟儀器的局限性有關系--比如，直到那個世紀末葉才有了離心機，極大地限制了許多種類的實驗工作。還有部分原因是社會?？偟膩碚f，化學是商人的科學，是與煤炭、鉀堿和染料打交道的人的科學，不是紳士的科學。紳士階層往往對地質(zhì)學、自然史和物理學感興趣。（與英國相比，歐洲大陸的情況有點兒不一樣，但僅僅是有點兒。）有一件事興許能說明問題。那個世紀最重要的一次觀察，即確定分子運動性質(zhì)的布朗運動，不是化學家做的，而是蘇格蘭植物學家羅伯特?布朗做的。（布朗在1827年注意到，懸在水里的花粉微粒永遠處于運動狀態(tài)，無論時間持續(xù)多久。這樣不停運動的原因--即看不見的分子的作用--在很長時間里是個謎。）