Level 3 · Reading series
Lesson 26 · Why My Glass Sweated
Audio track 26
Listen first
Listen once before opening the English passage.
Open the English passage and hover for word help
I put a glass of cold water on my desk. Ten minutes later, tiny drops covered the outside. “The glass is sweating,” my brother said. I wondered whether water had passed through the glass.
We dried it and filled it again, this time with warm water. No drops appeared. Then we put ice in the glass, and drops slowly came back. The water on the outside had come from the air around us, not from inside the glass. The cold surface had changed water vapor in the air into liquid drops.
I wiped the desk before my notebook got wet. Now, when a cold bottle leaves a ring on the table, I see a small science lesson in it.
Sentence practice
Play any sentence in Dicvo’s Jenny English voice. Before playing all, choose how many times each sentence plays. A practice pause about as long as the sentence follows each play, including before the next sentence. The complete reading remains above.
Choose a sentence to begin.
-
I put a glass of cold water on my desk.
-
Ten minutes later, tiny drops covered the outside.
-
“The glass is sweating,” my brother said.
-
I wondered whether water had passed through the glass.
-
We dried it and filled it again, this time with warm water.
-
No drops appeared.
-
Then we put ice in the glass, and drops slowly came back.
-
The water on the outside had come from the air around us, not from inside the glass.
-
The cold surface had changed water vapor in the air into liquid drops.
-
I wiped the desk before my notebook got wet.
-
Now, when a cold bottle leaves a ring on the table, I see a small science lesson in it.
Check your understanding
After reading, state the main idea in one sentence and find a line that supports it.
Chinese translation
我把一杯冷水放在书桌上。十分钟后，杯子外面布满了小水珠。‘杯子在出汗呢。’弟弟说。我好奇，水是不是穿过了玻璃。
我们把杯子擦干，重新装上温水。外面没有出现水珠。接着，我们在杯里放进冰块，水珠又慢慢冒出来。杯子外面的水来自周围的空气，并不是从杯里渗出的。冰冷的杯壁使空气中的水蒸气变成了液态水珠。
我赶紧擦干桌子，免得笔记本被打湿。现在，看到冰饮瓶在桌上留下水印，我就像看到一堂小小的科学课。
Key words and expressions
Key terms have Chinese explanations. Hover over dotted words in the English passage for word help and pronunciation when available.
- tiny drop
- 小水珠；出现在杯子外侧。
- cover
- 覆盖、布满；水珠布满杯壁。
- sweat
- 出汗；弟弟用拟人说法描述水珠。
- wonder whether
- 想知道是否；主人公猜水是否穿过玻璃。
- pass through
- 穿过；这里指水从杯内透过杯壁。
- appear
- 出现；装温水时没有水珠。
- surface
- 表面；冷杯壁与空气接触。
- water vapor
- 水蒸气；空气中的水分。
- liquid
- 液态的；水蒸气凝结成液态水。
- wipe
- 擦；主人公擦干桌面。
Background notes (Chinese)
冷杯壁使附近空气中的水蒸气凝结成水滴，这叫凝结。文中的温水和冰块实验帮助排除了‘水穿过玻璃’的猜测。