酷兔英语
    当前位置:
  1. 首页
  2. 文章
  3. 娱乐英语
  4. 原版小说
  5. 正文

Off on a Comet-Part38_JULES VERNE(1828-1905)_Translated Works(翻译文学)-第2页

0 收藏 0 分享 0 赞

章节正文
文章总共2页
which has been estimated by Sir William Herschel as scarcely 100



miles in thickness, must have the appearance of a narrow band

of light passing through the zenith 12,000 miles above his head.



As the observer, however, increases his latitude either north

or south, the band will gradually widen out into three detached



and concentric rings, of which the innermost, dark though transparent,

is 9,625 miles in breadth; the intermediate one, which is brighter



than the planet itself, being 17,605 miles broad; and the outer,

of a dusky hue, being 8,660 miles broad.



Such, they read, is the general outline of this strange appendage,

which revolves in its own plane in 10 hours 32 minutes.



Of what matter it is composed, and how it resists disintegration,

is still an unsettled question; but it might almost seem



that the Designer of the universe, in permitting its existence,

had been willing to impart to His intelligent creatures the manner



in which celestial bodies are evolved, and that this remarkable

ring-system is a remnant of the nebula from which Saturn



was himself developed, and which, from some unknown cause,

has become solidified. If at any time it should disperse,



it would either fall into fragments upon the surface of Saturn,

or the fragments, mutually coalescing, would form additional



satellites to circle round the planet in its path.

To any observer stationed on the planet, between the extremes of lat.



45 degrees on either side of the equator, these wonderful rings would

present various strange phenomena. Sometimes they would appear as an



illuminated arch, with the shadow of Saturn passing over it like the hour-hand

over a dial; at other times they would be like a semi-aureole of light.



Very often, too, for periods of several years, daily eclipses of the sun

must occur through the interposition of this triple ring.



Truly, with the constant rising and setting of the satellites,

some with bright discs at their full, others like silver crescents,



in quadrature, as well as by the encircling rings, the aspect

of the heavens from the surface of Saturn must be as impressive



as it is gorgeous.

Unable, indeed, the Gallians were to realize all the marvels of this



strange world. After all, they were practically a thousand times

further off than the great astronomers have been able to approach



by means of their giant telescopes. But they did not complain;

their little comet, they knew, was far safer where it was;



far better out of the reach of an attraction which, by affecting

their path, might have annihilated their best hopes.



The distances of several of the brightest of the fixed stars have

been estimated. Amongst others, Vega in the constellation Lyra



is 100 millions of millions of miles away; Sirius in Canis Major,

123 millions of millions; the Pole-star, 282 millions of millions;



and Capella, 340 millions of millions of miles, a figure represented

by no less than fifteen digits.



The hard numerical statement of these enormous figures, however,

fails altogether in any adequate way to convey a due impression



of the magnitude of these distances. Astronomers, in their ingenuity,

have endeavored to use some other basis, and have found "the



velocity of light" to be convenient for their purpose.

They have made their representations something in this way:



"Suppose," they say, "an observer endowed with an infinite length of vision:

suppose him stationed on the surface of Capella; looking thence



towards the earth, he would be a spectator of events that had happened

seventy years previously; transport him to a star ten times distant,



and he will be reviewing the terrestrial sphere of 720 years back;

carry him away further still, to a star so remote that it requires



something less than nineteen centuries for light to reach it,

and he would be a witness of the birth and death of Christ;



convey him further again, and he shall be looking upon the dread




文章总共2页
文章标签:翻译  译文  翻译文  

章节正文
Copyright © 2023 Qeto All rights reserved.
商务合作 | 联系我们 | 关于我们 | 版权声明 | 隐私条款 | 如果智培

京ICP备05059198号-1 京公网安备 11011202003401号