法國人認為牛頓的理論是錯的，他們認為橢球狀的地球突出部分在兩極而不是赤道，可是費盡周折測量的結(jié)果卻證明了牛頓是對的，自己錯了~~

?《萬物簡史》推出部落節(jié)目版，戳這里訂閱:http://bulo.hujiang.com/menu/6004/



書本的朗讀語音很charming的磁性英音~~~大家可以好好學(xué)著模仿哦~~~！！
因為原著為美國人所寫,單詞采用美式拼法,不抄全文,然后聽寫單詞或詞組(用[-No-]表示)以及句子(用[---No---]表示)。請邊聽寫邊理解文意，根據(jù)上下文注意各句標號，這樣有助于提高正確率。



Hints:
the Andes
sphericity
equatorially




[-1-], after Picard's death the father-and-son team of Giovanni and Jacques Cassini repeated Picard's experiments over a larger area and [-2-] results that suggested that [-3-]—that Newton, in other words, was exactly wrong. It was this that prompted the Academy of Sciences to dispatch Bouguer and La Condamine to South America to take new measurements.

[---4---] In fact, the mountains of Peru were so constantly lost in cloud that the team often had to wait weeks for an hour's clear surveying. On top of that, they had selected one of the most nearly impossible terrains on Earth. Peruvians refer to their landscape as muy accidentado —"[-5-]" — and this it most certainly is. The French had not only to scale some of the world's most challenging mountains—mountains that defeated even their mules—but to reach the mountains they had to ford wild rivers, hack their way through jungles, and cross miles of high, [-6-] desert, nearly all of it uncharted and far from any source of supplies. But Bouguer and La Condamine were nothing if not tenacious, and they stuck to the task for nine and a half long, grim, sun-blistered years. Shortly before concluding the project, they received word that a second French team, taking measurements in northern Scandinavia (and facing notable discomforts of their own, from squelching bogs to dangerous ice floes), had found that a degree was in fact longer near the poles, as Newton had promised. [---7---]



To complicate matters came up with the Earth was fatter not at the equator but at the poles They chose the Andes because they needed to measure near the equator, to determine if there really was a difference in sphericity there, and because they reasoned that mountains would give them good sightlines. much accidented stony The Earth was 43 kilometers stouter when measured equatorially than when measured from top to bottom around the poles.
更為復(fù)雜的是，皮卡爾死后，喬瓦尼和雅克?卡西尼父子在更大的區(qū)域內(nèi)重復(fù)了皮卡爾的實驗。他們得出的結(jié)果顯示，地球鼓起的地方不是在赤道，而是在兩極--換句話說，牛頓完全錯了。正因為如此，科學(xué)院才派遣布格和孔達米納去南美洲重新測量。 　　他們選擇了安第斯山脈，因為他們需要測量靠近赤道的地方，以確定那里的圓度是否真有差異，還因為他們認為山區(qū)的視野比較開闊。實際上，秘魯?shù)拇笊浇?jīng)常云霧籠罩，這個小組常常不得不等上幾個星期，才等得上一個小時的晴天來進行測量。不僅如此，他們選了個地球上幾乎最難對付的地形。秘魯人稱這種地形是"非常少見"的--這話絕對沒錯兒。兩個法國人不僅不得不翻越幾座世界上最具挑戰(zhàn)性的大山--連他們的騾子也過不去的大山--而且，若要抵達那些大山，他們不得不涉過幾條湍急的河流，鉆過密密的叢林，穿越幾公里高高的卵石沙漠，這些地方在地圖上幾乎沒有標記，遠離供給來源。但是，布格和孔達米納是堅忍不拔的人。他們不屈不撓，不怕風(fēng)吹日曬，堅持執(zhí)行任務(wù)，度過了漫長的九年半時間。在這個項目快要完成的時候，他們突然得到消息，說另一個法國考察隊在斯堪的納維亞半島北部進行測量（面對自己的艱難困苦，從寸步難行的沼澤地，到危機四伏的浮冰），發(fā)現(xiàn)1度經(jīng)線在兩極附近果真要長，正如牛頓斷言的那樣。地球在赤道地區(qū)的測量結(jié)果，要比環(huán)繞兩極從上到下測量的結(jié)果厚出43公里。