"Eh?" cried Mr. Bagges. "Upon my word! One of these days we shall have you setting the river on fire!"
“嗯?”Bagges先生喊道。“我敢保证!总有一天我们会看到你让河水着火的!”
"Nothing more easy," said Harry. "When pure hydrogen burns, we get nothing but water. I should like to show you how light this hydrogen is; and I wish I had a small balloon to fill with it and send up to the ceiling; or a pipe full of it to blow soap-bubbles with, and show how much faster they rise than common ones blown with the breath."
“没有什么比这更容易,”哈利说。“纯氢燃烧时,除了水我们什么都不能得到。我想向您展示这氢气是如何的轻;,我希望我有一个小气球装满它，放到天花板上去,或一段管道充满它用来吹肥皂泡,并展示他们上升的速度比我们平时呼吸的气体快多少。”
"So do I," interposed Master Tom.
“我也一样,”汤姆插话到。
"And so," resumed Harry, "hydrogen, you know, uncle is part of water, and just one-ninth part. The other eight parts are a gas also, called oxygen. This is a very curious gas. It won't burn in air at all itself, like gas from a lamp; but it has a wonderful power of making things burn that are lighted and put into it. A lighted candle put into a jar of oxygen blazes up directly, and is consumed before you can say Jack Robinson. Charcoal burns away in it as fast, with beautiful bright sparks; phosphorus burns with a light that would dazzle you to look at; and a piece of iron or steel, just made red-hot at the end first, may be burned in oxygen more quickly than a stick could be in common air. The experiment of burning things in oxygen beats any fire-works."
“所以“哈利继续说,”氢,你知道的,是水的一部分,叔叔,它只是九分之一。其他八份气体也被称为氧。这是一个非常奇妙的气体。它不会在空气中燃烧本身,像从一盏灯产生的气体,但它有一个奇妙的力量，让点燃的东西燃烧并且保持那种状态。一根点燃的蜡烛放在一罐氧气直接燃烧起来,且它在你说完杰克罗宾逊之前就被消耗了。木炭在里面燃烧一样快,有美丽明亮的火花;磷燃烧的光看会让你眼花缭乱;一块铁或钢,炼到最后一步已经火热了,在氧中燃烧可能比一根棍子在平常的空气中更快。在氧气中的燃烧实验是打败任何火中作业的”。
"How funny that must be!" exclaimed Tom.
“那该多么有趣!”汤姆喊道。
"Now we see, uncle," Harry continued, "that water is hydrogen and oxygen united together; that water is got whenever hydrogen is burned in common air; that a candle won't burn without air; and that when a candle burns, there is hydrogen in it burning and forming water. Now, then, where does the hydrogen of the candle get the oxygen, to turn into water with it?"
“现在我们,叔叔,”哈利继续说道,“水是氢和氧联合在一起组成,不论何时氢在平常的空气中燃烧都会生成水,蜡烛没有空气不会燃烧,当蜡烛燃烧时,氢会燃烧,形成水。现在,然后,蜡烛里的氢在哪里获得的氧气,来变成水?”
"From the air, eh?"
“从空中,嗯?”
"Just so. It is the oxygen in the air that makes things burn; but if the air were noting but oxygen, a candle would not last above a minute.
“只是如此。它是空气中的氧气,让之燃烧;但如果空气中只有氧气,蜡烛持续燃烧不会超过一分钟。
"If a house were on fire in oxygen,' as Professor Faraday said, 'every iron bar, or, rather, every pillar, every nail and iron tool, and the grate itself; all the zinc and copper roofs, and leaden coverings, and gutters, and pipes, would consume and burn, increasing the combustion."
“如果房子在氧气里着火了,法拉第教授说,“每一个铁条,或者更确切地说,每一个支柱,每个指甲和铁工具,和炉篦本身;所有的锌和铜屋顶,铅灰色的覆盖物,排水沟,管道,都将消耗和燃烧,提高氧化。”
"That would be, indeed, 'burning like a house on fire,'" observed Mr. Bagges.
“确实是,事实上,燃烧就像是房子着火了,”Bagges先生评述到。”
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