新概念英语第四册42-04

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? ...

allege （内容一般不真实）

observed with

Lord : 勋爵

scratches : 碎片 划痕

grinder: 磨工，尤指磨刀具的工人，研磨者

a sheer liar

telling lies

to tell people to tell truth

接下来课文...We can perhaps forgive those who said the moons of Jupiter were produced by Galileo's spy-glass if we recall that in his day, as for centuries before, curved glass was the popular contrivance for producing not truth but illusion, untruth; and if a single curved glass would distort nature, how much more would a pair of them?

forgive: pardon

moons : 卫星

in his day : 在他的时代

curved glass: 曲面镜

convex: 凸透镜

concave: 凹透镜

fatter/thinner

a pair of : 一对

too abrupt/radical

注意文章的观点

positive/negative