Atom的民主思想

What would the philosophers do?
::哲学家会怎么做?

People enjoy getting together to discuss things, whether it is how your favorite sports team is doing, what the best new movie is, the politics, or any number of other topics.  Often the question is raised about who is right and who is wrong.  If the football game is to be played this coming weekend, all we can do is offer opinions as to its outcome.  The game has not been played yet, so we don't know who will actually win.
::人们喜欢一起讨论事情,无论是你最喜欢的运动队在做什么,什么是最好的新电影,什么是政治,还是其他主题。 通常的问题是谁是正确的,谁错了。 如果下周末要玩足球,我们所能做的就是提供对比赛结果的意见。游戏还没有被玩,所以我们不知道谁真的会赢。

The ancient Greek philosophers did a lot of discussing, with part of their conversations concerning the physical world and its .  There were different opinions about what made up matter.  Some felt one thing was true while others believed another set of ideas.  Since these scholars did not have laboratories and had not developed the idea of the , they were left to debate.  Whoever could offer the best argument was considered right. However, often the best argument had little to do with reality.
::古希腊哲学家们进行了许多讨论,其中一部分是关于物质世界及其的谈话。对事情的构成有不同的看法。有些人认为一件事是真实的,另一些人则认为另一套想法是真实的。 由于这些学者没有实验室,也没有发展这个想法,所以他们只能进行争论。 谁能提出最好的论据,就被认为是对的。然而,最好的论据往往与现实无关。

One of the on-going debates had to do with sand.  The question posed was: into how small of pieces can you divide a grain of sand?  The prevailing thought at the time, pushed by Aristotle, was that the grain of sand could be divided indefinitely, that you could always get a smaller particle by dividing a larger one and there was no limit to how small the resulting particle could be.
::正在进行的辩论之一与沙子有关。 提出的问题是: 你究竟能分出多少块沙粒? 当时流行的想法是,在亚里士多德的推动下,沙粒可以无限期地分出,你总是可以用一个更大的粒子来获得一个较小的粒子,而由此产生的粒子的大小是没有限制的。

Since Aristotle was such an influential philosopher, very few people disagreed with him. However, there were some philosophers who believed that there was a limit to how small a grain of sand could be divided.  One of these philosophers was Democritus (~460-~370 B.C.), often referred to as the "laughing philosopher" because of his emphasis on cheerfulness.  He taught that there were substances called atoms and that these atoms made up all material things. The atoms were unchangeable, indestructible, and always existed.
::亚里士多德是一个如此有影响力的哲学家,很少有人不同意他的观点。 然而,有些哲学家认为沙粒可以分割多少是有限度的。 其中一位哲学家是民主党(~460-~370 B.C. ) , 因为他强调快乐,他经常被称为“笑哲学家 ” 。 他教导说,有些物质被称为原子,而这些原子由所有物质组成。 原子是不可改变的,是不可摧毁的,并且永远存在。

The word " " comes from the Greek atomos and means "indivisible."  The atomists of the time (Democritus being one of the leading atomists) believed there were two realities that made up the physical world: atoms and void. There was an infinite number of atoms, but different types of atoms had different sizes and shapes. The void was the empty space in which the atoms moved and collided with one another.  When these atoms collided with one another, they might repel each other or they might connect in clusters, held together by tiny hooks and barbs on the surface of the atoms.
::“ ” 这个词来自希腊的原子, 意思是“ 不可分离 ” 。 当时的原子学家( 民主论者是主要的原子学家之一 ) 认为物理世界有两个现实:原子和空虚。 原子数量无限, 但不同种类的原子大小和形状不同。 空虚在于原子相互移动和相撞的空空隙。 当这些原子相互相撞时, 他们可能会互相反射, 或被原子表面的小钩和小块捆绑在一起。

Aristotle disagreed with Democritus and offered his own idea of the composition of matter.  According to Aristotle, everything was composed of four : earth, air, fire, and water.  The theory of Democritus explained things better, but Aristotle was more influential, so his ideas prevailed.  We had to wait almost two thousand years before scientists came around to seeing the atom as Democritus did.
::亚里士多德不同意民主党的观点,并提出了他自己对物质构成的看法。 据亚里士多德说,一切都由四个组成:地球、空气、火和水。 民主理论更能解释问题,但亚里士多德更有影响力,因此他的想法占了上风。 我们不得不等了近两千年才让科学家们看到原子和民主一样。

How Right Was Democritus?
::民主是何等的权利?

It is very interesting that Democritus had the basic idea of atoms, even though he had no experimental evidence to support his thinking.  We now know more about how atoms hold together in "clusters" (compounds), but the basic concept existed over two thousand years ago.  We also know that atoms can be further subdivided, but there is still a lower limit to how small we can break up that grain of sand.
::令人非常感兴趣的是,民主党拥有原子的基本概念,尽管他没有实验证据支持他的思维。 我们现在知道更多关于原子如何在“集束”(communications)中聚集在一起的知识,但基本概念在两千多年前就已经存在了。 我们还知道原子可以进一步细分,但对于我们如何小小地分解沙粒,我们还有更低的限度。

Summary
::摘要

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• Greek philosophers debated about many things.
  ::希腊哲学家争论了很多事情。
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• Aristotle and others believed that a grain of sand could be divided indefinitely.
  ::亚里士多德和其他人认为,一粒沙可以无限期地分割。
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• Democritus believed there was a lower limit to the dividing of a grain of sand.
  ::民主党认为,沙粒的分解有一个较低的限度。

Review
::回顾

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1. How did the ancient Greek philosophers spend their time?
   ::古希腊哲学家们是怎么花时间的?
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2. What approach did they not have for studying nature?
   ::它们对于研究自然没有何种方法?
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3. Who was the most influential philosopher of that time?
   ::那个时代最有影响力的哲学家是谁?
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4. What was the major contribution Democritus made to the thinking of his day?
   ::民主党对他这一天的想法作出了什么主要贡献?
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5. List characteristics of atoms according to Democritus.
   ::根据民主党的原子特征清单。