英语听力：2013-09-22 地平线：黑洞吞噬—2

 High above your head, in the centre of our Milky¹ Way Galaxy², a violent drama is about to unfold. Our super-massive black hole is getting ready to have dinner. As a gas cloud three times the size of the Earth, it’s caught in its gravitational hold. Across the world, astronomers³ are getting ready to discover what happens when a black hole gets ready to feed. 

 

If we could see how something falls into a black hole, that would be something we can see for the very first time ever that we see how a black hole starts getting fed. That would really be fantastic if we can witness that in front of our eyes.

 

For astronomers, this year’s event is the first time in history it would be possible to witness and record the workings of one of these great gravitational engines.

 

Some of the excitement is just childish pleasure, seeing something violent about to happen and anticipating it. Scientifically, it’s very interesting because it’s really unprecedented⁴. This is the first time really in human history that we have not only known an event like this is gonna happen but that we are prepared with the rights of a technology to see the details unfold.

1 milky   

adj.牛奶的，多奶的；乳白色的

参考例句：

• Alexander always has milky coffee at lunchtime.亚历山大总是在午餐时喝掺奶的咖啡。
• I like a hot milky drink at bedtime.我喜欢睡前喝杯热奶饮料。

2 galaxy   

n.星系；银河系；一群(杰出或著名的人物)

参考例句：

• The earth is one of the planets in the Galaxy.地球是银河系中的星球之一。
• The company has a galaxy of talent.该公司拥有一批优秀的人才。

3 astronomers   

n.天文学者，天文学家( astronomer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Astronomers can accurately foretell the date,time,and length of future eclipses. 天文学家能精确地预告未来日食月食的日期、时刻和时长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Astronomers used to ask why only Saturn has rings. 天文学家们过去一直感到奇怪，为什么只有土星有光环。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。