论文部分内容阅读
十万年以后的考古学家将不再能找到一幢今天的摩天大楼、潮气湿气将把钢铁锈蚀掉,把混凝土风化成尘埃。但是他们会发现我们的陶瓷——瓷水槽、玻璃罐、从窑中烧制出来的陶瓷餐具和花盆——几乎一点也没有因为岁月的流逝而变化。正如今天的科学家们在某种程度上是通过研究历史上各段时期陶瓷的变化来追溯考证目前业已消失的古代文明的演变进程一祥,未来的考古学家将发现在二十世纪后半叶,我们已开始用新的完全不同的陶瓷来代替金属。他们也许会发现,使我们的一些袖珍计算器运转的微型陶瓷机芯片、监测我们的食品杂货店的人造晶体激光装置、使我们马路上的钠光灯发光的人造兰宝石。还有那些能从冰箱取出后直接放入烘箱而不致破裂的陶瓷餐具、陶瓷高尔夫球棒、网球拍以及永远不必打磨的刀剪。
Archeologists after 100,000 years will no longer be able to find a skyscraper today. Moisture moisture will rust away steel and weather it into dust. But they will find that our ceramics - porcelain sinks, glass jars, ceramic cutlery and flowerpots baked from the kiln - are almost never changed by the passage of time. Just as today’s scientists are, to some extent, studying the evolution of ancient civilizations that have disappeared in the past by studying the changes in ceramics in various periods of history, future archaeologists will discover in the second half of the 20th century. We have begun to replace metals with new and completely different ceramics. They may find micro-ceramic chips that run some of our pocket calculators, artificial-crystal lasers that monitor our grocery stores, and artificial sapphire that shines our sodium lamps on the road. There are also ceramic cutlery, ceramic golf clubs, tennis racquets and cutlery that never have to be polished.