圆周率日,欣赏英语打油诗

武夷山

    今天是圆周率日，翻译三首涉及圆周率的英语打油诗与大家分享。

第一首

My mom placed a pie on a plate,
A round pie that tasted so great,
I haven’t a doubt,
She used π to find out,
The portion of pie that I’d ate…

我妈把馅饼放在盘子上，

圆圆的馅饼味道真香，

我毫不怀疑，

我妈用π求出一个比例

来决定分给我的馅饼是多大一方......

博主注：pie（馅饼）与π同音。

第二首

ENIAC, known for its powers,
Like Holland is known for fresh flowers,
Put through its paces,
Found 2000 pi places,
But took more than 70 hours…

正如荷兰以鲜花著名,

ENIAC以算力强大著名，

它展示自己的实力不菲，

算出了π小数点后的2000位，

但是耗用了70小时以上的光景......

博主注：ENIAC是世上第一台通用电子计算机。

第三首

The smartest dude ever on Earth?
Einstein? For what it’s all worth…
Relativity surmised,
I’m not that surprised,
Pi day’s the day of his birth…

谁配得上地球上最聪明男人的头衔？

是爱因斯坦吗？他成果一大串......

他推测出了相对论,

我对这个答案没什么疑问,

因为他在圆周率日降临人寰......

博主注：爱因斯坦于1879年3月14日出生。

     数学史网站搜集了32首涉及圆周率的打油诗(https://mathstory.com/poems/pi2limericks/),一并转贴在下面，博君一粲。

1.
This constant can barely be beat,
Like fruit pies it’s really so sweet,
But I have to conclude,
When you’re craving good food,
Pi shouldn’t be something you eat…

2.
My mom placed a pie on a plate,
A round pie that tasted so great,
I haven’t a doubt,
She used π to find out,
The portion of pie that I’d ate…

3.
ENIAC, known for its powers,
Like Holland is known for fresh flowers,
Put through its paces,
Found 2000 pi places,
But took more than 70 hours…

4.
A circle’s 3-60 degrees,
And π-d around, if you please,
Use radius squared,
Times π if you dared,
For areas of circles with ease…

5.
A cheese ball too small to be shared,
Was stuck in a cheese maker’s beard,
Hidden on purpose,
Its spherical surface?
4 pi times radius squared!

6.
A pie can be pecan or cream,
But dessert pies can’t help the math team!
The pi they’ll be needing,
To have them succeeding,
Has a numerical theme…

7.
A Greek guy helped prove pi so true,
And others from other lands too…
But it wasn’t Horatio,
Who uncovered the ratio,
But a dude who invented a screw…
(Archimedes screw)

8.
Archimedes would always astound,
The value of pi’s what he found,
He dug in his heels,
He used it on wheels,
To determine their distance around…

9.
Pi is a constant so cool,
They showed it to me at my school,
We memorize more,
Than 3.14,
Because pi’s such a powerful tool…

10.
The smartest dude ever on Earth?
Einstein? For what it’s all worth…
Relativity surmised,
I’m not that surprised,
Pi day’s the day of his birth…

11.
Pi digits, they never repeat,
Like snowflakes that melt in the heat,
3.14,
Do you need to know more?
A decimal you’ll never complete!

12.
Pi day’s pretty unique,
Celebrating a letter from Greek…
3rd month 14th day,
Say hip-hip hurray,
A day for math interest to peak!

13.
Blue birdie blushed truly with pride,
I can flap my 2 wings! I can fly!
But I’ll feel really sad,
Not happy, not glad,
Until I can understand pi…

14.
A lover on Valentine’s day, (February 14th)
Yelled, “Pi day’s just one month away!” (March 14th)
She arranged all her roses,
Into pretty π poses,
And begged the red petals to stay…

15.
Sweet Pi puts me straight on the path,
To analyze circles in math,
Ratio found,
Across to around,
Without it I’d incur teacher’s wrath…

16.
The news is so international,
Not partisan, biased, or factional,
We’ll jump all around,
No integers found,
Pi day’s for being irrational…

17.
A track I once looked for and found,
A circular track on the ground,
1 mile across,
Its center, of course,
And 3.1 miles around…

18.
The circle once said to the square,
My insides are really quite rare,
Don’t multiply sides,
To find my insides,
Pi is the way you get there…

19.
I knew a young man from Bavaria,
Who was asked to find a disc’s area,
He was lousy at math,
And cried out, at last,
“Nothing, I think, could be scarier…”

20.
Each time, I gotta’ use pi,
A yardstick’s kept close by my side,
Without it I’m stuck,
Like a broken down truck,
I can’t measure the whole radii…

21.
A pirate whose parrots were prized,
Patched up his parrots’ left eyes,
Used diameter’s span,
Pi, strings, and tin can,
Produced patches the perfect eye size…

22.
I stare at the stars in the sky,
And imagine a world without π,
Sad’s how I feel,
No circles, no wheel,
No constant times squared radii…

23.
Pythagoras wasn’t amused,
When somebody told him the news,
His theorem was great,
But it just didn’t rate,
Pi day is the day they would choose…

24.
Pi day is Friday, oh shoot!
Just where is my Pi patterned suit?
Its short silky tie,
All covered with π,
As sweet as a bowl full of fruit…

25.
A circle ate more pies, and more,
Sweet peach pies until he was sore,
He bulged at his sides,
‘Til his value for pi,
Was way more than 3.14…

26.
A cyclist in a bike race,
Pedaled ’til blue in the face,
If his wheels would roll more,
Than 3.14,
He wouldn’t be stuck in last place!

27.
It wouldn’t be very high risk,
The answer will be very brisk…
If you settle on pi,
Just give it a try,
To determine the size of a disk…

28.
Einstein showed us the way,
To ‘Al’ physics was mere playground play,
We’ll never know why,
He was such a smart guy,
But we know he was born on π day…

29.
A frog and his friend were so stoked,
Pi day is our day they joked,
The day of our birth.
March 14th, not the 1st,
It isn’t the day that we croaked…

30.
A pie plate that held pumpkin pies,
Was round like the iris of eyes,
We didn’t debate,
The size of the plate,
Pi’s constant determined its size…

31.
Most pies are round I surmise,
No wonder I’m never surprised,
When circumference of each,
Is within my reach,
By using diameter • pi…

32.
I don’t wanna’ cause a big scene,
But way back in 2015,
Pi’s calendar date,
Was mathematically great,
5 digits of pi you could glean…
(pi day was 3/14/15 = 3.1415)