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As good a thinker as you evidently are, you have not thought on this subject, I suspect.
依我看，你这位显而易见的思想敏锐者，并未考虑这一论题。
It took me a week, in all, I presume, of hard thinking,
我整整花费一周时间进行仔细研究，
and making experiments at a blacksmith's shop, to discover the reason of this.
甚至在一家铁匠铺实地实验，以待查明事件的原因。
It is not the polish; for take two blades of equal polish,
问题答案与抛光没有关联，即使将两把刀片进行相同的抛光处理，
and the breath will disappear from one as much quicker than it does from the other, as the blade is better.
两把刀片上的气息散发快慢存在明显差异；优质刀片当然要快得多，
It is because the material of the blade is more compact or less porous in one case than in the other.
原因在于，优质刀片材料比劣质刀片材料更为密实，材质间隙更为细小。
In the first place, I ascertained that the steel was, made more compact by being hammered and tempered,
首先，我可以确定，通过锻打淬火，钢材才能变得密实，
and that the better it was tempered the more compact it would become;
所以，淬火处理愈好，材料就会愈发紧固；
the size of the pores being made, of course, less in the same proportion.
当然，相同面积比例的材料间隙亦愈为密实，
Well, then, I saw the reason I was in search of, at once.
这样，我便立即弄清了研究课题的缘由。
For we know a wet sponge is longer in drying than a wet piece of green wood, because the pores of the first are bigger.
众所周知，潮湿海绵比同等面积的湿木自然干燥时间要长，因为前者空隙更大；
A seasoned or shrunk piece of wood dries quicker than a green one, for the same reason.
同理，一块或小块木片要比湿木自然干燥得快。
Or you might bore a piece of wood with large gimlet holes, and another with small ones,
或许，你也可以拿大小不同缝隙的两块木块进行比较，
fill them both with water, and let them stand till the water evaporated,
将两块木头浸入水，然后取出使其直立到水蒸发干净；
and the difference of time it would take to do this would make the case still more plain.
两块木头所需时间不同，这一点将会更清楚地阐述其中道理；
So with the blades: the vapor lingers longest on the worst wrought and tempered one,
刀片亦然，锻造淬火差的那把刀片，蒸汽盘桓时间更长，
because the pores, being larger, take in more of the wet particles, and require more time in drying.
由于材料缝隙过大，潮湿微粒吸收更多，所需干燥的时间自然更长。
