英语听力：2013-10-30 地平线：黑洞吞噬—18

 Here then is the strange paradox¹ of black holes: the defeating black hole is anything but black. Just how greedy and bright a black hole can get is revealed by an aptly very ordinary looking galaxy² called Cygnus A, some 650 million light years away. 

 

If we look at it with visible light, we see that the inner parts of that galaxy, maybe a few 10 thousand light years across, is kind of ordinary. There are stars. There’s gas. There’s dust. It’s a sort of indiscriminately messy place, but it's not that special. 

 

Now if we look in different wavelengths³, for example, in radio waves, we see something completely different. Cygnus A transforms into something else entirely⁴. What we see is no longer the galaxy with its stars, but instead, we see an extreme structure spread across intergalactic space. And the structure is enormous. It stretches 500,000 light years across. And it consists of these enormous lobes⁵ of brightness, linked together by what looks like a thread of light leading to a tiny bright point at the very centre of the Cygnus A galaxy. The structure is enormously luminous⁶ and there's also a huge amount of energy just in the particles themselves because they've been accelerated close to the speed of light. So if you add up all the energy in this great structure, it's probably at least a trillion times the amount of energy that our sun puts out on a regular basis.

1 paradox   

n.似乎矛盾却正确的说法；自相矛盾的人(物)

参考例句：

• The story contains many levels of paradox.这个故事存在多重悖论。
• The paradox is that Japan does need serious education reform.矛盾的地方是日本确实需要教育改革。

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 wavelengths   

n.波长( wavelength的名词复数 )；具有相同的/不同的思路；合拍；不合拍

参考例句：

• I find him difficult to talk to—we're on completely different wavelengths. 我没法和他谈话，因为我们俩完全不对路。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Sunlight consists of different wavelengths of radiation. 阳光由几种不同波长的射线组成。 来自辞典例句

4 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

5 lobes   

n.耳垂( lobe的名词复数 )；（器官的）叶；肺叶；脑叶

参考例句：

• The rotor has recesses in its three faces between the lobes. 转子在其凸角之间的三个面上有凹槽。 来自辞典例句
• The chalazal parts of the endosperm containing free nuclei forms several lobes. 包含游离核的合点端胚乳部分形成几个裂片。 来自辞典例句

6 luminous   

adj.发光的，发亮的；光明的；明白易懂的；有启发的

参考例句：

• There are luminous knobs on all the doors in my house.我家所有门上都安有夜光把手。
• Most clocks and watches in this shop are in luminous paint.这家商店出售的大多数钟表都涂了发光漆。