The fumes of burning sulphur will bleach straw, silk, and other things, and make them white and clean. These fumes are also useful for killing the germs which cause fevers and other diseases.

燃烧的硫磺冒出的烟，可以“漂白”稻草、丝绸和其他的物品，让它们变得又白又干净。这种烟，还能杀死那些导致发烧和其他疾病的细菌。

Let us put some bits of roll sulphur in an iron spoon, and hold the spoon over a clear fire. The sulphur soon melts into a clear yellow liquid. If we let this melted sulphur get hotter, it will become thick, and nearly black in colour.

咱们把一根硫棒的一些碎屑，放进一个铁勺子里。把铁勺子举到明火上，硫很快就会熔化，变成一种清澈的黄色液体。要是继续加热这种熔化的硫，它就会变得粘稠，颜色也会几乎变成黑色。

With more heat still, the sulphur will become thin again; and if we then pour it into cold water, it will change into a soft brown mass almost like india-rubber. After a few days, this will become hard and yellow again. If the sulphur is made very hot indeed, it will turn into yellow sulphur vapour.

继续加热，硫会再次变稀;把它倒进冷水中，会变成一种棕色的软东西，差不多有点像天然橡胶。几天之后，这东西就会变回又硬又黄的状态。如果把硫磺加热到极高的温度，会化作黄色的硫蒸汽。

Sulphur is a mineral. It is found near volcanoes, and must have been brought up by them from a very great depth. It is also found in the earth joined with other elements, in the form of stony masses called ores.

硫是一种矿物，可以在火山附近找到，显然是火山从地球深处带上来的。在地下也可以找到跟其他元素混在一起的硫磺，形态是类似石头的东西，叫做“矿石”。

But sulphur is not a metal. It has qualities very different from those of the metals. A metal conducts heat well. If you put one end of a metal rod into the fire, the other end soon grows hot also. But sulphur conducts heat very badly.

但硫磺并不是金属，它的特性跟金属的特性很不一样。金属的“导热性”非常好，如果把一根金属棒的一头放到火中，另一头很快也会变热。但是硫磺的导热性却很差。

Metals have also a lustrous or shining surface, but sulphur has no lustre. For these reasons sulphur is said to be a non-metal—that is, an element which is not a metal.

金属也有一种“有光泽的”或是“亮闪闪的”表面，但硫却没有光泽。所以人们把硫磺叫做“非金属”，也就是“不是金属的元素”。

英语美文