新概念英语第四册42-03

课文...Today, although the old Galileo lives on in many popular writings, among historians of science a new and more sophisticated picture has emerged. At the same time our sympathy for Galileo's opponents has grown somewhat. ...

live on: 活跃在

popular writings: 科普文章

picture: idea

opponents: 反对者 the majority of the commons

somewhat: a little

接下来课文...His telescopic observation are justly immortal; they aroused great interest at the time, they had important theoretical consequences, and they provided a striking demonstration of the potentialities hidden in instruments and apparatus. ...

they: telescopic observations

striking: surprising/shocking

demonstration: show/exhibition

potentiality/potential

tap one's potentials

possibility

接下来课文...But can we blame those who looked and failed to see what Galileo saw, if we remember that to use a telescope at the limit of its powers calls for long experience and intimate familiarity with one's instrument? ...

blame: criticize

powers 倍数

calls for: needs

extol him to the sky

backward society

接下来课文...Was the philosopher who refused to look through Galileo's telescope more culpable than those who alleged that the spiral nebulae observed with Lord Rosse's great telescope in the eighteen-forties were scratches left by the grinder? ...

ardent follower of Aristotle and Ptolemy

allege : 宣称（内容一般不真实）