[11
Na
Sodium
纳
22.9898]

Electric Pickles
电泡菜

Try it yourself: in a dim room, impale a kosher dill pickle on two prongs, each of which is attached to one wire from an electric cord. Then (observing all possible safety precautions) plug it in.
你自己试一下：在昏暗的房间里，把两根插针刺到一块犹太腌黄瓜上，每根针都接着根电线搭到另一块腌黄瓜，或是电源上。然后（注意遵守所有安全要求）打开电源吧。

Briefly, little happens. You hear a hum. You smell a stench. A wisp of smoke floats upward from the tormented pickle.
简单概括，无事发生。你会听到嗡嗡声，还会闻到一股恶臭。倒霉的腌黄瓜上会腾出一小团烟雾。

And then—what’s this? One end of the pickle lights up! It sheds a lovely flickering yellow glow. In the darkened room, the effect is entrancing.
然后呢，那是什么？泡菜的一端发光了！那是明暗不定的可爱黄色光芒。在黑暗的房间里，这光影特效令人沉醉。

It’s a moment of wonder and magic.
这一刻奇妙无比。

Here’s the explanation: the atoms of NaCl salt in the pickle’s brine exist as free-floating sodium and chlorine ions within the watery interstices of its cells. When electricity is pumped through the system, the sodium ions rush to one pole of your homemade device to seize an electron and make themselves complete. The ion rises one quantum level up and is made temporarily complete.
此现象的科学解释如下：泡菜里含的水含有氯化纳，它会以钠离子和氯离子的形式自由漂浮在于泡菜细胞间隙中移动的水分里。当电流通过这套系统时，钠离子会冲到你自制设备的一极上，以抓住电子并使其完整。离子上升一个量子水平，并暂时完成。

Like a not-fully-competent juggler, however, the sodium ion can seize the extra electron but cannot hold it. The ion falls from the higher energy quantum to the lower, releasing a packet of light in the process. Thus the lovely yellow glow.
就像一个没有能力的杂耍演员一样，钠离子可以抓到多余的电子，但却抓不住它。离子从较高的能量量子下降到较低的能量量子，在此过程中会释放出一束光，这就是那可爱的黄色光芒。

Shakespeare was an electric pickle, and so was Virginia Woolf when she wrote A Room of One’s Own. They were hooked into the psychic electricity of their times. They took in more energy than one person can hold. They went up a quantum. They fell back down. They shed light.
莎士比亚就是个电泡菜，弗吉尼亚·伍尔夫也是（在她写《一间自己的房间》时）。他们迷上了时代的精神力量。他们产生的能量超过了自己能保持的。他们上升了一个量子点。他们又下来了。他们熠熠生辉。

Try it yourself: plug into the Zeitgeist. Feel the power. Now create a work of art. Shed the light.
你自己试一下，这次插入到时代精神里。感受一下力量。现在，创建你自己的艺术品。熠熠生辉吧。

See how easy it is? I told you so.
看到有多容易了吧？我已经告诉过你了。

The pickle, unfortunately, is not much good for anything after this exercise. Throw it out.
至于泡菜，有点可惜，做完实验之后它就没用了。扔了吧。