代表爱情的一首诗（一首感人的爱情诗）

代表爱情的一首诗（一首感人的爱情诗）I've changed my whole identity我的至爱，我写信告诉你我所经历的一切。这首诗形式上是一个幽默的感情故事，实际讲的是U-238衰变成一系列核素的过程。我的朋友、科普作家徐泓把这首诗翻译成了中文，下面请大家欣赏。Days of our half livesMy dearest love I'm writing you to tell you all that I've been through.

有一个科学术语叫做半衰期（half life）。例如，铀238的半衰期约为45亿年，意思就是，每过45亿年，一个U-238原子核会有一半的概率衰变。有一个著名的射击游戏叫做《半条命》，其实这个游戏的英文名是half life，本意就是“半衰期”，所谓“半条命”实际上是望文生义的误译。

《Half -Life》

为了帮助大家理解这个概念，美国韦尔斯利学院（Wellesley College）的化学教授Mala Radhakrishnan博士写了一首诗《我们半衰期的日子》（Days of Our Half Lives）。

Mala Radhakrishnan

这首诗形式上是一个幽默的感情故事，实际讲的是U-238衰变成一系列核素的过程。我的朋友、科普作家徐泓把这首诗翻译成了中文，下面请大家欣赏。

Days of our half lives

My dearest love I'm writing you to tell you all that I've been through.

我的至爱，我写信告诉你我所经历的一切。

I've changed my whole identity

我的身份已经改变彻底，

But loved I cannot pretend to be.

但曾经爱过，不能掩饰。

When I was uranium 238

当我还是铀-238时，

You were on my case to start losing weight.

你对我的体重一直挑剔。【注释：on sb's case : 不停地指责】

For five billion years I hoped and I prayed

我期待和祈祷了五十亿年，

And finally I had an alpha decay.

终于进行了一次α衰变。

Two protons two neutrons went right out the door

两个质子、两个中子离开了我的身体，

And now I was thorium 234.

我变成了钍-234。

But my nucleus was still unfit for your eyes

我的原子核仍入不了你的眼，

Not positive enough for its large size.

尺寸很大却没有足够的正电。

But this time my half-life was really not very long

但这次我的半衰期并不是很长，

Because my will to change was quite strong.

因为我改变自己的意愿非常强。

It took just a month not even a millennium

只用了一个月，不需要千年，

To beta decay into protactinium.

我变成镤，因为一次β衰变。

But you still rejected me right off the bat

但你马上拒绝了我：【注释：right off the bat : （美国俚语）立刻，马上】

Protactinium—who's heard of that?

镤——有谁听说过？

So beta decay I did much more to become uranium 234.

于是又一次β衰变，我重新变回自己，

Myself again but a new isotope

以一种新的同位素，铀-234。

You still weren't satisfied but I still had hope.

你仍然不满，但我心存希望。

Three alpha decays it was hard but I stayed on

我又经历了三次α衰变，尽管艰辛，却有始有终，

Through thorium through radium and then radon.

成为钍，成为镭，然后成为氡。

I thought I would finally please you

我想我终于能够让你欢愉，

My mass was a healthy 222.

以我健康的222的质量数。

But you said although I like your mass

然而你说，虽然你喜欢这个数字，

I do not want to be with a noble gas.

但是不想跟一个惰性气体在一起。

You had a point I wasn't reactive

你说得有道理，我不具备活泼性，

So in order to please you I stayed proactive.

所以为了取悦你，我保持积极性。

A few days later I found you and said

几天后我找到你，告诉你我是铅，

Two more alpha decays and now I am lead.

为此我又进行了两次α衰变。

You shook your head

你摇了摇头表示，

You were not too keen on my mass number of 214.

你不太喜欢我的质量数214。

I had a bad experience with that mass before

确实有糟糕的体验伴随着这个数字，

An unstable astatine walked right out the door.

曾经溜出门外有个不稳定的砹原子。

So in order to change I went away

我离开你为了继续改变，

But all I could do was just beta decay.

可是我只能进行β衰变。

My hopes and my dreams started to go under

我的希望和梦想开始辜负，

Because beta decay doesn't change a mass number.

因为β衰变不改变质量数。

To bismuth then polonium I hoped and I beckoned

变成铋，再变成钋，

我期待着，召唤着，

My half-life was 164 microseconds.

以164微秒的半衰期，

And then finally I alpha decayed

终于α衰变为铅-210，

And then I was lead with the prize worthy mass of 210.

一个值得称赞的数字。

I've got to admit I was getting quite tired

我不得不承认我已十分厌倦，

My patience with you had nearly expired.

我对你的耐心几乎到了极限。

You were more demanding than any I dated

你比我约会过的任何人都难满足，

And much of my energy had already been liberated.

而我的大部分能量都已经释放出。

But you still weren't happy but you had a fix

你仍然不高兴，提出了方案以求满意：

I really like the number of 206.

“其实我喜欢206这个数字”。

So I waited for years until the day

于是我等待多年，直到这天，

Which began with another beta decay.

我开始再一次β衰变。

And then one more and finally in the end

接着又一次，终究

I alpha-ed to lead 206 my friend.

我α衰变成了铅-206。

To change any further I wouldn't be able

至此，我无力进行任何改变，

No longer active but happily stable.

不再活跃，变得稳定，我很情愿。

It took me billions of years to do

这花费了我亿万年时间，

And look how I changed and all just for you.

看我完全为你如何改变。

And wait what did you say?

——等一下，你说什么呢？

“You've gotten so old

“你已经这么老了，

that I'd rather be with a young lass of gold”

而我更愿意和年轻的金姑娘在一起。”

Well I gave up.

好吧，我放弃。

We're through my pumpkin.

我们结束了，亲爱的。【注释：pumpkin : （口语）亲爱的】

Shouldn't all my effort be counting for something?

难道我所做的努力什么都不值？

Well you won't be able to rule me anymore

不，以后你再也不能对我控制，

Because I'm leaving you not for one atom but four.

因为我要离开你，不是为了一个，而是四个原子。

That's right. When you were away defusing

没错，正当你在外面无所事事，

I met some chlorines that I found quite amusing.

我遇到了一些很有趣的氯原子。

So we're going to form PbCl4

我们将要结合成四氯化铅，

And you won't be hearing from me anymore.

我的情况你再也不会了然。

See over the years I've grown quite wise

经年的我已经豁然开朗，

I've learned that love is about compromise.

我明白了爱意味着互让。

You still have half of your half-lives to live

你的生命还有半个半衰期，

So now you go out there it's your turn to give.

现在轮到你去给予和努力。