A Short History of Nearly Everything(002)

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1、AShortHistoryofNearlyEverythingCONTENTSACKNOWLEDGMENTSINTRODUCTIONPARTILOSTINTHECOSMOS1HowtoBuildaUniverse2WelcometotheSolarSystem3TheReverendEvans'sUniversePARTIITHESIZEOFTHEEARTH4TheMeasureofThings5TheStone-Breakers6ScienceRedinToothandClaw7ElementalMattersPARTIII

2、ANEWAGEDAWNS8Einstein'sUniverse9TheMightyAtom10GettingtheLeadOut11MusterMark'sQuarks12TheEarthMovesPARTIVDANGEROUSPLANET13Bang!14TheFireBelow15DangerousBeautyPARTVLIFEITSELF16LonelyPlanet17IntotheTroposphere18TheBoundingMain19TheRiseofLife20SmallWorld21LifeGoesOn22G

3、ood-byetoAllThat23TheRichnessofBeing24Cells25Darwin'sSingularNotion26TheStuffofLifePARTVITHEROADTOUS27IceTime28TheMysteriousBiped29TheRestlessApe30Good-byeNOTESBIBLIOGRAPHYINDEXINTRODUCTIONWelcome.Andcongratulations.Iamdelightedthatyoucouldmakeit.Gettingherewasn'tea

4、sy,Iknow.Infact,Isuspectitwasalittletougherthanyourealize.Tobeginwith,foryoutobeherenowtrillionsofdriftingatomshadsomehowtoassembleinanintricateandintriguinglyobligingmannertocreateyou.It'sanarrangementsospecializedandparticularthatithasneverbeentriedbeforeandwillon

5、lyexistthisonce.Forthenextmanyyears(wehope)thesetinyparticleswilluncomplaininglyengageinallthebillionsofdeft,cooperativeeffortsnecessarytokeepyouintactandletyouexperiencethesupremelyagreeablebutgenerallyunderappreciatedstateknownasexistence.Whyatomstakethistroubleis

6、abitofapuzzle.Beingyouisnotagratifyingexperienceattheatomiclevel.Foralltheirdevotedattention,youratomsdon'tactuallycareaboutyou-indeed,don'tevenknowthatyouarethere.Theydon'tevenknowthattheyarethere.Theyaremindlessparticles,afterall,andnoteventhemselvesalive.(Itisasl

7、ightlyarrestingnotionthatifyouweretopickyourselfapartwithtweezers,oneatomatatime,youwouldproduceamoundoffineatomicdust,noneofwhichhadeverbeenalivebutallofwhichhadoncebeenyou.)Yetsomehowfortheperiodofyourexistencetheywillanswertoasingleoverarchingimpulse:tokeepyouyou

8、.Thebadnewsisthatatomsarefickleandtheirtimeofdevotionisfleeting-fleetingindeed.Evenalonghumanlifeaddsuptoonlyabout650,000hours.Andwhenthat