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Recording 42
录音42
You will hear a lecture about how the production of ceramics, such as plates, pots and glass first began.
你将会听到一段课程，讲的是陶制品（如碟子、锅和玻璃）最初是如何开始生产的。
First, you have some time to look at the questions 31 to 40.
首先，你有些时间看看第三十一题至第四十题。
Hi, everyone. Today I'm going to be talking about the origins of ceramics.
大家好。今天我要讲讲陶制品的起源。
So, first of all, let's start off with—what is a ceramic?
首先，我们从“陶是什么”讲起。
Well, generally speaking, ceramics are what you get when you apply heat to certain inorganic, non-metallic solids and then allow them to cool.
总体来说，陶是给某种无机非金属固体加热后冷却得到的产物。
And examples of ceramics are everyday things like earthenware pots, crockery, glassware and even concrete.
像陶盆、厨具、玻璃器皿，甚至混凝土，这些日常随处可见的事物都是陶制品的典例。
So how did it all begin?
这一切是怎么开始的呢？
Well, it all started around 29,000 years ago when humans discovered that if you dig up some soft clay from the ground,
这一切大约在两万九千年前开始。那时候人们发现，如果你从地里挖出一些软质黏土，倒入模具使之成型，
mould it into a shape and then heat it up to a very high temperature, when it cools the clay has been transformed into something hard and rigid.
并加以高温，等它冷却以后，黏土就转化成了一种又硬又脆的材料。
And so what did those first humans do with their discovery?
那么，最早的这些人是怎样利用这项发现的呢？
Well, they created figurines which were small statues and which depicted animals or gods or any shape that the clay could be moulded into.
他们创造出了小塑像，也就是小型雕像，描绘的都是动物、神明或任何黏土能塑成的形状。
And all this activity was centred around southern Europe where there is also evidence of ceramics that were created much later.
这项活动主要集中于欧洲南部，在此也有证据显示，许久之后人们也创造出了陶制品。
The early humans also found a practical use for their discovery, such as storing things like grain, although there were drawbacks.
早期的人们同时也给他们的发现派上了实际用场，比如用于贮存谷物一类的东西，尽管仍存在不少缺陷。
The pots were porous so that although they could carry water in them, it wasn't possible to store it over a long period.
这些罐子都是多孔渗水的，所以，尽管它们能用来装水，要想长期存水是不可能的。
And also, they were quite brittle and shattered very easily if they were dropped.
而且，这些器皿非常脆，一旦掉落在地，很容易就打碎了。
But despite these problems, it was many thousands of years before there were any improvements.
但是，尽管存在这些问题，要有任何改进也是几千年后的事情了。
In China at around 200 BC, they discovered that by adding minerals to the clay they could improve both the appearance and the strength of the ceramics.
在公元前两百年的中国，人们发现，在黏土中加入矿物质，能提升陶制品的外观和强度。
But it took nearly a thousand years before they perfected the process to produce high-quality ceramics known as porcelain.
但人们也花了几乎一千年的时间，才完善了生产过程，制造出高质量的陶制品，也就是人们所知的瓷器。
And once they had perfected the process, they kept it a secret — for another thousand years!
一旦他们彻底完善了生产过程，他们千年来秘而不宣。
Compared to the first ceramics, porcelain was lighter, finer, harder and whiter and became an important commodity in China's trading with the rest of the world for hundreds of years.
和最初的陶制品相比，瓷器更轻，更精细，更硬，而且颜色更白，成为了几百年来中国与外国贸易中重要的商品。
In fact, it became so valuable that it was known as "white gold" and spies were sent to China to discover what they did to the clay to produce such high-quality merchandise.
事实上，瓷器变得如此珍贵，人们称其为“白色的金子”，外国派出间谍潜入中国，查探到底他们对黏土作了怎样的处理，才生产出如此高质量的商品。
It wasn't until the eighteenth century that the secret began to unravel.
直到18世纪，人们才揭开了这个秘密。
A German alchemist called Johann Friedrich Bottger was asked by the king to make gold out of lead.
一位德国炼金术师，约翰?弗里德里希?博格，奉国王之命，要将铅变成金子。
Unfortunately, Bottger failed to achieve this and soon gave up, but in order to please the king, he attempted to make high-quality porcelain.
不幸的是，博格无法达到这个要求，很快就放弃了，但为了取悦国王，他尝试制造高质量的瓷器。
And after many years of experimentation, he discovered that by adding quartz and a material called china stone to very high-quality clay,
经过多年实验，博格发现，将石英和一种名为“瓷石”的物质加入高质量的黏土中，
he managed to get the same results that the Chinese had been achieving for the last 1,000 years.
他就能得到与中国在一千年前就得到的一样的结果了。
We'll now look at another ceramic which is made from mixing sand with minerals and heating to over 600 degrees Celsius.
我们吸纳子啊来看看另一种陶制品，通过将沙子与矿物混合，加热至超过600摄氏度后得到的。
When this mixture cools, the result is, of course, glass.
混合物冷却后，其结果自然是玻璃了。
The main difference between ceramics made from clay and glass is that clay is made up of crystalline plates which become locked together in the cooling process whereas glass cools too quickly for crystals to form.
黏土制成的陶制品与玻璃之间，其主要差别在于，
Apart from that, the process of heating up naturally occurring materials to transform them is the same.
除此之外，加热天然物质使其转化的这个过程是完全一致的。
The origins of glass date back to 3,500 BC, but it wasn't until the Roman Empire, 2,000 years ago,
玻璃的起源可追溯到公元前3500年，但直到两千年前罗马帝国时期，
that the art of glass-blowing and the practical uses of glass became more widespread.
玻璃吹制工艺和玻璃的实际用途才广泛传播开来。
One of the more innovative uses was to use it in windows as up until then, they had just been holes in walls.
其中一种创新性用途是将其装在窗户上，在此之前，窗户都只是墙上的几个洞而已。
It must have been very draughty in those days!
在那些日子里房子一定都很通风吧！
The Romans were also responsible for inventing concrete.
罗马人与混凝土的发明有关系。
And although the origins are uncertain, experts think that this is largely due to the high level of volcanic activity in the area.
尽管混凝土的起源仍不明确，专家认为，很大程度上是因为该地区的火山活动密集。
The Romans observed that when volcanic ash mixes with water and then cools, it gets extremely hard and almost impossible to break up.
罗马人发现，火山灰和水混合并冷却后，会变得极度坚硬，几乎是打不破的。
The chemical reaction that follows is very complex and continues for many years, and the concrete just keeps getting harder.
接下来的化学反应非常复杂，且持续很多年，混凝土也变得越来越硬。
Evidence of this are the numerous Roman remains that are still standing, many of which are almost completely intact.
而其证据便是大量的现存古罗马遗迹，至今仍然保持几乎无损的状态、
One of the most important facts about concrete for the Romans was that it can be created underwater.
对罗马人而言，关于混凝土的一项最重要的事实是，它可以在水下形成。
As the Roman Empire grew, the Romans needed to take control of the seas and for this they needed to build harbours capable of holding a fleet of ships.
随着罗马帝国的发展，罗马人需要控制海域，为此他们要建造海港来停放舰队。
Pouring concrete mixture into the sea immediately started the hardening process and rather than just dissolving in the mass of water, the substance was tough and long-lasting.
将混凝土混合物倒入海中，硬化过程马上启动，而且该物质非但不会在水中溶解，还保持坚硬耐久。
This strange characteristic of concrete made a significant contribution to the success of the Roman Empire.
混凝土的这个奇特的性质对罗马帝国的辉煌作出了重大贡献。
