2015-03-20 BBC:星光七纪元-18

Now the Sun will be burning hydrogen as the stars doing in the main sequence until the hydrogen is exhausted¹ in the core, and at that point the stars start to die, the outer layer of the Sun will expand, the Sun will move away from the main sequence to become a red giant star.

From the apparent disorder² of the night sky, a map had been created on which you could chart a star's journey through life, it revealed that the fate of our own star was written in the night sky, once its hydrogen runs out, it will head off the main sequence and move into the next phase of its life as a red giant.

Middle weight stars like our Sun don't age gracefully³, but catastrophically, they swell⁴ up and become some of the largest most bloated stars in the universe, stars 200 times the size of our Sun, thousands of times brighter, stars that are some of the most destructive in the universe, but also the most creative, shining a rancid red in the inky sky.

  

1 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

2 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

3 gracefully   

ad.大大方方地；优美地

参考例句：

• She sank gracefully down onto a cushion at his feet. 她优雅地坐到他脚旁的垫子上。
• The new coats blouse gracefully above the hip line. 新外套在臀围线上优美地打着褶皱。

4 swell   

vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强

参考例句：

• The waves had taken on a deep swell.海浪汹涌。
• His injured wrist began to swell.他那受伤的手腕开始肿了。