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閱讀理解
About 100 years ago, Ira Remsen, the Chairperson of the Chemistry Department at Johns Hopkins University and one of the pioneers of chemical education in America, wrote the following:
While reading a textbook of chemistry, I came upon the statement “nitric acid(硝酸) acts upon copper(銅)．” I was getting tired of reading such absurd stuff and I decided to see what this meant．Copper was more or less familiar to me, for copper cents were then in use．I had seen a bottle marked “nitric acid” on a table in the doctor's office．I did not know its characteristic, but I was getting on and likely to learn．The spirit of adventure was upon me．Having nitric acid and copper, I had only to learn what the words “act upon” meant．Then the statement that nitric acid acts upon copper would be something more than mere words．
All was still．In the interest of knowledge I was even willing to give up one of the few copper cents then in my possession．I put one of them on the table; opened the bottle marked “nitric acid;” poured some of the liquid on the copper; and prepared to make an observation．
Do you know what I saw? The cent has already changed greatly．A greenish-blue liquid foamed(起泡沫)and fumed(冒煙) over the cent and over the table．The air in the neighborhood of the performance became dark red．A great colored cloud arose．How should I stop this? I tried to get rid of the mess by picking it up and throwing it out of the window, which I had opened．I learned another fact －nitric acid not only acts upon copper but it acts upon fingers．The pain led to another experiment．I drew my fingers across my trousers and another fact was discovered．Nitric acid also acts upon trousers．
Ira Remsen also recognized the importance of the laboratory experience in chemistry．However, I was very fortunate that this particular experiment did not have terrible results．Can you suggest some safer approaches to finding out what was the meaning of the words “acts upon”?
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