材料：A Brief HIstory of Time-- Chapter 2
1.elliptical：having an oval shape (adj)
(n) ellipse= an oval
2.spiral?
3. take up （intransive）= continue
原句：any body would take up if it were not driven by some force.
4.hold
(idm 習(xí)語)hold `goodremain true or valid 仍然適用; 仍然有效
原句:if one carried out experiments with moving bodies on the train, all Newton's laws would still hold.
5.stub
~ sth (against/on sth):strike (esp one's toe) accidentally against sth hard 使（尤指腳趾）碰到某物
eg:?I've stubbed my toe on a rock.我的腳趾碰到石頭上了.
6.separate from= independant of 尤其是后者可能想不起來用
7.propagation可以表示觀點(diǎn)（抽象）和光（具體）的傳播
propagation of light
8.crest
the top or highest part of?something such as a wave or a hill
wave crest:波峰
9.infrared adj 紅外線
a type of light that feels warm?but cannot be seen
10. ether=aether: upper sky
11.postulate
n?thing assumed to be true, or accepted as a basis for reasoningor calculation 假定; 假設(shè); 公設(shè)
12.pulse n.
single vibration of sound, light, electric current, etc （聲波﹑ 光波﹑ 電流等的）一次脈動(dòng)
也表示脈搏，所以診脈的表達(dá)是take/feel one's pulse
13.cesium
某種化學(xué)元素
14,.coordinate n.
either of two numbers or letters used to fix the position of a point on a graph
or map 坐標(biāo)
15.Piccadilly Circus
Piccadilly Circusis a famous traffic intersection and public space of?London's?West?End in the?City?of Westminster.
16.Alpha Centauri
半人馬座阿爾法星
17.emit v.
give or send (sth) out; discharge 發(fā)出光和熱
18.radius
19.warp v.
=bend?
curved、warped其實(shí)是近義詞
20.curvature n.
n?[U] curved form; curving 彎曲形狀; 彎曲:the curvature of the earth's surface地球表面的曲度
