The strange buildings belong to the European Council for Nuclear Research，more popularly known，from its French initials，as CERN．The council was born when a handful of statesmen and scientific experts met in Paris in 1950．Their aim was to“establish an organization providing for collaboration among European states in nuclear research of a pure scientific and fundamental character”．
The CERN agreement was signed in 1953，and work on the atomic city began in 1954．Today CERN’s facilities are among the most modern and the most diversified in the world．Impressive as the scientific aspect may be，the real significance of CERN may lie with the thousand people—the scientists，lab workers，and administrative crew drawn from the fourteen member nations—who populate it．British engineers work side by side with Swiss electricians，Yugoslav nuclear physicists，and Dutch mathematicians．The official languages are French and English，with German an unofficial third．But CERN is no tower of Babel—the language of science is universal and allembracing．
欧洲独一无二的原子城
在瑞士日内瓦西部6英里处，坐落着一群实验室和建筑物。其中最奇妙的是一座直径超过650英尺的圆形土堆。这一建筑群独具重要性。它是为和平目的而研究原子奥秘的欧洲独一无二的原子城。
这些奇怪的大楼属于欧洲核研究理事会，其法语首字母CERN更为人们所熟知。这个理事会诞生于1950年，正是一批政治家和科技专家在巴黎会晤之时。他们的宗旨在于“建立一个欧洲国家在纯科学和基础核研究方面共同合作的组织”。
CERN协议签订于1953年，原子城的工作则始于1954年。今天，CERN的设施已列于世界最现代化和最多样化的设备之中。虽然其科学上的意义令人瞩目，然而CERN的真正意义恐怕还在于居住其中的1000名成员——从14个成员国聘来的科学家、实验室人员和行政管理人员。英国工程师与瑞士电工、南斯拉夫核物理学家和荷兰数学家并肩工作。原子城的官方语言是法语和英语，德语是非官方的第三种语言。但CERN绝不是那没有建成的通天塔——科学这种语言是普遍适用而又是无所不包的。
The Metric System UsedToday the World Over
In 1791the French nation，in the midst of a revolution，wished to break with the past，especially with those aspects of it which they considered illogical and useless．One of these was the traditional system of weights and measures then in use．Not only was the system overly complicated，but it also varied widely from place to place．
In constructing the new system，the French began by setting up a unit of distance equal to one fortymillionth part of the earth’s circumference．Unfortunately，later measurements showed that the unit designated was not exactly that fraction，but they continued to use it．（Today the unit is defined simply as the distance between two marks on a platinumiridium bar kept in a suburb of Paris．）The unit is the meter，and the system of measurements based on this unit is the metric system，the system today used by scientists the world over．
The metric system is built in units of ten，Greek prefixes showing multiples and Latin prefixes showing fractions．The Greeks had no word for a number larger than ten thousand and the Romans had none for a number larger than one thousand，but the system was extended by using less specific words；for instance megameter（one million meters）is derived from a Greek word that means simply“large”．
当今世界上使用的米制
1791年，处于一场革命中的法国民族，希望与过去决裂，特别是与其中他们认为不合逻辑、没有用处的那些东西决裂。其中之一便是当时使用的度量衡制，它不仅过于复杂，而且在这一处与那一处迥然不同。
在建设新制中，法国人创立了一个相当于地球圆周线4000万分之一长的距离单位。不幸的是，后来进行的测定表明，所规定的这一单位并不精确地符合这一分数。但是，法国人继续沿用它。（今天，这一单位仅仅是保存在巴黎郊区的一根铂铱杆上两个刻度间距的定义。）这个单位便是米，以这一单位为基础的测量制便是米制——全世界科学家们今天所使用的测量制。
米制是以10进制单位建立起来的，希腊文前缀表示倍数，拉丁文前缀表示分数。希腊人没有字表示大于1万的数，罗马人也没有字表示大于1000的数。然而，这一测量制却能用较不专门的词延伸开来，例如：megameter（100万米）就是出自一个希腊字，这个字只不过是“大”的意思。
Leprosy Is No Longer a Mystery
Of all the diseases that beset the human race，leprosy is by far the hardest to bear．It is usually disfiguring，often crippling，and not uncommonly fatal．What distinguishes leprosy from all other ailments is not the physiological dissolution that its victims must frequently endure，but the fear，horror，and violent loathing it excites in others．
The belief that leprosy makes its victims unfit for either the sympathy or the society of other men is supported by more than simple aversion．Both the Bible and the writings of Mohammed endorse the view that the leper is unclean，a creature to be shunned by all men．
As a plague，leprosy reached its zenith in thirteenth and fourteenth century Europe．It began to vanish about the middle of the fifteenth century，and was almost extinct by the middle of the sixteenth．Many reasons have been given to account for its decline，but the timely development of a diagnostic technique flexible enough to distinguish leprosy from other disfiguring diseases is considered the most persuasive．Most authorities believe that only a fraction of the innumerable victims of medieval leprophobia were actually suffering from leprosy．
Modern leprologists are capable of understanding the extraordinary horror of leprosy that haunted ancient and medieval man，but they find its presentday persistence peculiar．Leprosy is no longer the mystery it once was，and modern understanding of its causes and cures permits most lepers to lead quite normal lives．
麻风病不再是奥秘
在困扰人类的各种疾病中，麻风病是迄今最难忍受的一种。它通常会毁损外形，往往造成跛足，而且致命的病例也并非罕见。使麻风病不同于其他各种疾病的，不是患者屡屡蒙受的生理死亡，而是这种病使其他人产生忧惧和强烈的憎恶感。
麻风病使其患者既不宜接受别人同情，也不宜与其他人交往。这一看法并不仅仅出于厌恶。《圣经》和穆罕默德的经典都赞同这一观点：麻风病人乃是人人必须规避的污秽的不幸者。
麻风病，作为一种瘟疫，在13世纪和14世纪的欧洲最为猖獗。它大约在15世纪中期开始消失，到16世纪中期几乎绝迹。人们曾提出许多理由对其逐渐敛迹作出解释，但是，足以区分麻风病和其他毁形疾病的灵活诊断技术的及时出现，被认为最具说服力。大多数权威人士相信，在中世纪患麻风病恐惧症的无数受害者中，仅有一小部分是真正的麻风病患者。
麻风病使古代和中世纪人类陷于极端恐惧，现代麻风病专家对这一点是能理解的，但这种恐惧心理现今继续存在，他们对此感到奇怪。麻风病不再像过去那样是个谜了，现代对其起因及治疗方法的了解使大多数患者能够过上相当正常的生活。
The Atomic Clock That Gives Promise of More Precise Time Keeping
The accuracy of scientific observations and calculations is always at the mercy of the scientist’s time keeping methods．For this reason，scientists are interested in devices that give promise of more precise time keeping．
In their search for precision，scientists have turned to atomic clocks that depend on various vibrating atoms or molecules to supply their “ticking”．This is possible because each kind of atom or molecule has its own characteristic rate of vibration．The nitrogen atom in ammonia，for example，vibrates or“ticks”24billion times a second．