英语听力：自然百科 穿越银河系的旅行 Through Milky Way—3

 “Now, of course, I can't show you a picture of the galaxy¹ on our screen. We can't fly above the galaxy and take a picture of it, and show you. We're stuck in the disc of the galaxy, but we can still image it from the ground, in fact, this image is a picture of our galaxy, the Milky² Way, taken from Earth.”

 

This is one of the most detailed³ images of our galaxy ever created. It's made from 800 million pixels contained in over 1,000 individual photographs taken from the darkest places on earth.

 

The photos have been painstakingly⁴ stitched together to create this breathtaking vista⁵. But as impressive as it is, it's only part of the picture. 

 

“It's something like a pizza and if you were in the pizza, if you were pepperoni, your view would not be a very clear one of what the whole story was. In the same way, we don't see the whole reach of the Milky Way.

 

What astronomers⁶ really need is a bird's eye view. 

 

“You would need to get out of the Milky Way to really see what it looks like. We don't have a way to do that, but we can look at other galaxies⁷ and see what they look like.”

 

Hubble can provide us with exquisitely⁸ detailed images of nearby galaxies, like Messier 74. It's over 13 million light-years away. But that still makes it one of our nearest neighbors. Its structure is impressively clear. A beautiful spiral galaxy with its stars contained in large arms sweeping⁹ out from a bright core.

 

“This is an example of a galaxy that astronomers think looks a lot like our galaxy, the Milky Way. This is a great representation of our own star city. In the central region, we have the downtown. This is the bulge¹⁰, this bright spot in the middle. And from that, we see spiraling out these arms, his beautiful spiral structures we see in this galaxy.”

 

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 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

4 painstakingly   

adv. 费力地 苦心地

参考例句：

• Every aspect of the original has been closely studied and painstakingly reconstructed. 原作的每一细节都经过了仔细研究，费尽苦心才得以重现。
• The cause they contrived so painstakingly also ended in failure. 他们惨淡经营的事业也以失败而告终。

5 vista   

n.远景，深景，展望，回想

参考例句：

• From my bedroom window I looked out on a crowded vista of hills and rooftops.我从卧室窗口望去，远处尽是连绵的山峦和屋顶。
• These uprisings come from desperation and a vista of a future without hope.发生这些暴动是因为人们被逼上了绝路，未来看不到一点儿希望。

6 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》

7 galaxies   

星系( galaxy的名词复数 )； 银河系； 一群（杰出或著名的人物）

参考例句：

• Quasars are the highly energetic cores of distant galaxies. 类星体是遥远星系的极为活跃的核心体。
• We still don't know how many galaxies there are in the universe. 我们还不知道宇宙中有多少个星系。

8 exquisitely   

adv.精致地；强烈地；剧烈地；异常地

参考例句：

• He found her exquisitely beautiful. 他觉得她异常美丽。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He wore an exquisitely tailored gray silk and accessories to match. 他穿的是做工非常考究的灰色绸缎衣服，还有各种配得很协调的装饰。 来自教父部分

9 sweeping   

adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的

参考例句：

• The citizens voted for sweeping reforms.公民投票支持全面的改革。
• Can you hear the wind sweeping through the branches?你能听到风掠过树枝的声音吗？

10 bulge   

n.突出，膨胀，激增；vt.突出，膨胀

参考例句：

• The apple made a bulge in his pocket.苹果把他口袋塞得鼓了起来。
• What's that awkward bulge in your pocket?你口袋里那块鼓鼓囊囊的东西是什么？