“Now air forms all around the earth an envelope fifteen leagues thick. It is the a?rial sea or atmosphere, in which the clouds swim. Its soft blue tint8 causes the sky’s color. It is in fact the atmosphere that produces the appearance of a celestial9 vault10.
“Do you know, my children, what is the use of this a?rial sea at the bottom of which we live as fish live in water?”
“Not very well,” Jules replied.
“Without this ocean of air life would be impossible, plant life as well as animal. Listen. Chief of those imperious needs to which we are subjected are those of eating, drinking, and sleeping. As long as hunger is only its diminutive11, appetite, that savory12 seasoning13 of the grossest viands14; as long as thirst is only that nascent15 dryness of the mouth that gives so great a charm to a glass of cold water; as long as sleepiness is nothing more than that gentle lassitude that makes us desire the night’s rest, so long is it the attraction of pleasure rather than the rude prick16 of pain that urges the satisfaction of these primordial17 needs. But if their satisfaction is too long delayed, they impose themselves as inexorable masters and command by torture. Who can think without terror of the agonies of hunger and thirst! Hunger! Ah! you do not know what it is, my children, and God preserve you from ever knowing it! Hunger! If you could have any idea of its tortures, your heart would be oppressed at the thought of the unhappy ones who experience it. Ah! my dear children, always help those that are hungry; help them, and give, give; you will never do a nobler deed in this world. Giving to the poor is lending to the Lord.”
Claire had put her hand before her eyes to hide a tear of emotion. She had observed a flash on her uncle’s face that spoke18 from the depth of his heart. After a moment’s pause Uncle Paul continued:
“There is, however, a need before which hunger and thirst, however violent they may be, are mute; a need always springing up afresh and never satisfied, which continually makes itself felt, awake or asleep, night or day, every hour, every moment. It is the need of air. Air is so necessary to life that it has not been given us to regulate its use, as we do with eating and drinking, so as to guard us from the fatal consequences that the slightest forgetfulness would cause. It is, as it were, without consciousness or volition19 on our part that the air enters our body to perform its wonderful part. We live on air more than anything else; ordinary nourishment20 comes second. The need of food is only felt at rather long intervals21; the need of air is felt without ceasing, always imperious, always inexorable.”
“And yet, Uncle,” said Jules, “I have never thought of feeding myself with air. It is the first time I ever heard that air is so necessary for us.”
“You have not given it a thought, because all that is done for you; but try a moment to prevent air entering into your body: close the ways to it, the nose and mouth, and you will see!”
Jules did as his uncle told him, shut his mouth and pinched his nose with his fingers. At the end of a moment, his face red and puffed22 up, the little boy was obliged to put an end to his experiment.
“It is impossible to keep it up, Uncle; it suffocates23 a person and makes him feel as if he should certainly die if it kept on a little longer.”
“Well, I hope you are convinced of the necessity of air in order to live. All animals, from the tiniest mite24, hardly visible, to the giants of creation, are in the same condition as you: on air, first of all, their life depends. Even those that live in the water, fish and others, are no exception to this rule. They can live only in water into which air infiltrates25 and dissolves. When you are older you shall see a striking experiment which proves how indispensable to life is the presence of air. You put a bird under a glass dome26, shut tight everywhere; then with a kind of pump the air is drawn27 out. As it is withdrawn28 from the inside of the glass cage, the bird staggers, struggles a moment in an anguish29 horrible to see, and falls dead.”
“It must take a lot of air,” was Emile’s comment, “to supply the needs of all the people and animals in the world. There are so many!”
“Yes, indeed; a great quantity is needed. One man needs nearly 6000 liters of air an hour. But the atmosphere is so vast that there is plenty of air for all. I will try to make you understand it.
“Air is one of the most subtle of substances; a liter of it weighs only one gram and three decigrams. That is very little: the same volume of water weighs 1000 grams; that is to say, 769 times as much. However, such is the enormous extent of the atmosphere that the weight of all the air composing it outstrips30 your utmost powers of imagination. If it were possible to put all the air of the atmosphere into one of the pans of an immense pair of scales, what weight do you think it would be necessary to put into the other pan to make it equal the air? Don’t be afraid of exaggerating; you can pile up thousands on thousands of kilograms; if air is very light, the a?rial sea is very vast.”
“Let us put on a few millions of kilograms,” suggested Claire.
“That is a mere31 trifle,” her uncle replied.
“Let us multiply it by ten, by a hundred.”
“It is not enough, the pan would not be raised. But let me tell you the answer, for in this calculation numerical terms would fail you. For the great weight I am supposing, the heaviest counterweights would be insignificant32. New ones must be invented. Imagine, then, a copper33 cube, a kilometer in each dimension; this metallic34 die, measuring a quarter of a league on its edge, shall be our unit of weight. It represents nine thousand millions of kilograms. Well, to balance the weight of the atmosphere, it would be necessary to put into the other pan 585,000 of these cubes!”
“Is it possible!” Claire exclaimed.
“I told you so! Imagination vainly seeks to picture the stupendous mass of the layer of air wound like a scarf by the Creator around the earth. Now do you know what relation it bears to the terrestrial globe—this ocean of air having a weight represented by half a million of copper cubes a quarter of a league each way? Scarcely what the imperceptible velvety35 down of a peach is to the peach itself. What, then, are we, materially, we poor beings of a day, who move about at the bottom of this atmospheric36 sea! But how great we are through thought, which makes game of weighing the atmosphere and the earth itself! In vain does the material universe overwhelm us with its immensity; the mind is superior to it, because it alone knows itself, and it alone, by a sublime37 privilege, has knowledge of its divine author.”
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1
repose
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| v.(使)休息；n.安息 | |
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caress
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| vt./n.爱抚，抚摸 | |
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brutal
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| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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uproots
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| v.把（某物）连根拔起( uproot的第三人称单数 )；根除；赶走；把…赶出家园 | |
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5
overthrows
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| n.推翻，终止，结束( overthrow的名词复数 )v.打倒，推翻( overthrow的第三人称单数 )；使终止 | |
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transparent
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| adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的 | |
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7
strata
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| n.地层（复数）；社会阶层 | |
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8
tint
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| n.淡色，浅色；染发剂；vt.着以淡淡的颜色 | |
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9
celestial
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| adj.天体的；天上的 | |
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vault
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| n.拱形圆顶，地窖，地下室 | |
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diminutive
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| adj.小巧可爱的，小的 | |
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12
savory
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| adj.风味极佳的，可口的，味香的 | |
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seasoning
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| n.调味；调味料；增添趣味之物 | |
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14
viands
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| n.食品，食物 | |
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nascent
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| adj.初生的，发生中的 | |
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16
prick
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| v.刺伤，刺痛，刺孔；n.刺伤，刺痛 | |
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primordial
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| adj.原始的；最初的 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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volition
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| n.意志；决意 | |
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nourishment
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| n.食物，营养品；营养情况 | |
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21
intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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22
puffed
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| adj.疏松的v.使喷出( puff的过去式和过去分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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23
suffocates
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| （使某人）窒息而死( suffocate的第三人称单数 )； （将某人）闷死； 让人感觉闷热； 憋气 | |
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mite
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| n.极小的东西；小铜币 | |
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infiltrates
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| n.（使）渗透，（指思想）渗入人的心中( infiltrate的名词复数 )v.（使）渗透，（指思想）渗入人的心中( infiltrate的第三人称单数 ) | |
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dome
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| n.圆屋顶，拱顶 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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withdrawn
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| vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出 | |
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anguish
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| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
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outstrips
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| v.做得比…更好，（在赛跑等中）超过( outstrip的第三人称单数 ) | |
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31
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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insignificant
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| adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的 | |
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copper
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| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
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34
metallic
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| adj.金属的；金属制的；含金属的；产金属的；像金属的 | |
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velvety
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| adj. 像天鹅绒的, 轻软光滑的, 柔软的 | |
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atmospheric
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| adj.大气的，空气的；大气层的；大气所引起的 | |
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37
sublime
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| adj.崇高的，伟大的；极度的，不顾后果的 | |
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