2015-06-19 BBC:星光七纪元-44

 We may never know for sure whether there is life elsewhere. But we do know a lot about where we came from. And that’s because we’ve learned so much about things here on earth from looking far out into space. They discover that stars are not turned out that they actually have the birth, their lives and they eventually die, is one of the great achievements more than science. And even more amazing that we have achieved that from this little vantage point in the corner of galaxy¹, the milky² way. Imagine that we live in a completely cloudy planet, say, like Venus. Then nobody ever has seen into stars, the moving of the sky, I wonder our culture, our science would have been completely different, our lives would have completely be different. So, how lucky we are to be here with this beautiful transparent³ atmosphere that allows us to admire the majestic⁴ display of the starry⁵ night. By looking at the stars, generations of imaginative scientists have stretched the bounderies of knowledge, discovering truth stranger than fiction, and through the stars, uncovered the story of universe. But like all good tales, it will all eventually come to an end. About 100 trillion years from now, the raw materials for new stars will run out. The last will play out their lives and their remanents gradually fade until finally the one remaining cinder⁶ goes cold and the light would be extinguished from universe.

1 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。

2 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。

3 transparent   

adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的

参考例句：

• The water is so transparent that we can see the fishes swimming.水清澈透明，可以看到鱼儿游来游去。
• The window glass is transparent.窗玻璃是透明的。

4 majestic   

adj.雄伟的，壮丽的，庄严的，威严的，崇高的

参考例句：

• In the distance rose the majestic Alps.远处耸立着雄伟的阿尔卑斯山。
• He looks majestic in uniform.他穿上军装显得很威风。

5 starry   

adj.星光照耀的, 闪亮的

参考例句：

• He looked at the starry heavens.他瞧着布满星星的天空。
• I like the starry winter sky.我喜欢这满天星斗的冬夜。

6 cinder   

n.余烬，矿渣

参考例句：

• The new technology for the preparation of superfine ferric oxide from pyrite cinder is studied.研究了用硫铁矿烧渣为原料，制取超细氧化铁红的新工艺。
• The cinder contains useful iron,down from producing sulphuric acid by contact process.接触法制硫酸的矿渣中含有铁矿。