万物简史 第270期:砰!(5)

 　　The few craters² that remained evident on Earth (most had been eroded³ away) were generally attributed to other causes or treated as fluky rarities. 一般来说，地球上仅有的几个明显的坑(大多数已经被侵蚀干净)要么被归于别的原因，要么被视为罕见现象。

　　By the time Shoemaker came along, a common view was that Meteor Crater¹ had been formed by an underground steam explosion. 到苏梅克前来考察的时候，人们普遍认为陨石坑是由一次地下蒸气喷发形成的。

　　Shoemaker knew nothing about underground steam explosions—he couldn't: they don't exist—but he did know all about blast zones. 苏梅克对地下蒸气喷发的事儿一无所知——他也无法知道：这种事儿并不存在——但是，他对爆炸地区的事儿知道得很多。

　　One of his first jobs out of college was to study explosion rings at the Yucca Flats nuclear test site in Nevada. 大学毕业之后，他的第一项工作就是考察内华达州的尤卡弗莱兹核试验场的爆炸地区。

　　He concluded, as Barringer had before him, that there was nothing at Meteor Crater to suggest volcanic⁴ activity, 他得出了与此前巴林杰得出的同样结论，陨石坑毫无火山活动的迹象，

　　but that there were huge distributions of other stuff— anomalous⁵ fine silicas and magnetites principally—that suggested an impact from space. 倒是有大量别的东西——主要是古怪而细微的硅石和磁铁矿石——表明撞击来自太空。

　　Intrigued⁶, he began to study the subject in his spare time. 他产生了极大兴趣，开始在业余时间研究这个问题。

　　Working first with his colleague Eleanor Helin and later with his wife, Carolyn, and associate David Levy⁷, 苏梅克起初与同事埃莉诺·赫林合作，后来又与他的妻子卡罗琳和助手戴维·列维合作，

　　Shoemaker began a systematic⁸ survey of the inner solar system. 开始对太阳内部作系统研究。

　　They spent one week each month at the Palomar Observatory⁹ in California 他们每个月花一周时间在加利福尼亚州的帕洛马天文台，

　　looking for objects, asteroids¹⁰ primarily, whose trajectories¹¹ carried them across Earth's orbit. 寻找运行路线穿越地球轨道的物体，主要是小行星。

　　At the time we started, only slightly more than a dozen of these things had ever been discovered in the entire course of astronomical¹² observation, “刚开始的时候，在整个天文观察过程中只发现了10来个这种东西，”

　　Shoemaker recalled some years later in a television interview. 几年后苏梅克在一次电视采访中回忆说，

　　"Astronomers¹³ in the twentieth century essentially¹⁴ abandoned the solar system," he added. “20世纪的天文学家基本上放弃了对太阳系的研究，”他接着说，

　　"Their attention was turned to the stars, the galaxies¹⁵." “他们把注意力转向了恒星，转向了星系。”

1 crater   

n.火山口，弹坑

参考例句：

• With a telescope you can see the huge crater of Ve-suvius.用望远镜你能看到巨大的维苏威火山口。
• They came to the lip of a dead crater.他们来到了一个死火山口。

2 craters   

n.火山口( crater的名词复数 )；弹坑等

参考例句：

• Small meteorites have left impact craters all over the planet's surface. 这个行星的表面布满了小块陨石留下的撞击坑。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The battlefield was full of craters made by exploding shells. 战场上布满弹坑。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

3 eroded   

adj. 被侵蚀的，有蚀痕的 动词erode的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• The cliff face has been steadily eroded by the sea. 峭壁表面逐渐被海水侵蚀。
• The stream eroded a channel in the solid rock. 小溪在硬石中侵蚀成一条水道。

4 volcanic   

adj.火山的；象火山的；由火山引起的

参考例句：

• There have been several volcanic eruptions this year.今年火山爆发了好几次。
• Volcanic activity has created thermal springs and boiling mud pools.火山活动产生了温泉和沸腾的泥浆池。

5 anomalous   

adj.反常的；不规则的

参考例句：

• For years this anomalous behaviour has baffled scientists.几年来这种反常行为让科学家们很困惑。
• The mechanism of this anomalous vascular response is unknown.此种不规则的血管反应的机制尚不清楚。

6 intrigued   

adj.好奇的，被迷住了的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的过去式)；激起…的兴趣或好奇心；“intrigue”的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• You've really intrigued me—tell me more! 你说的真有意思—再给我讲一些吧！
• He was intrigued by her story. 他被她的故事迷住了。

7 levy   

n.征收税或其他款项，征收额

参考例句：

• They levy a tax on him.他们向他征税。
• A direct food levy was imposed by the local government.地方政府征收了食品税。

8 systematic   

adj.有系统的，有计划的，有方法的

参考例句：

• The way he works isn't very systematic.他的工作不是很有条理。
• The teacher made a systematic work of teaching.这个教师进行系统的教学工作。

9 observatory   

n.天文台，气象台，瞭望台，观测台

参考例句：

• Guy's house was close to the observatory.盖伊的房子离天文台很近。
• Officials from Greenwich Observatory have the clock checked twice a day.格林威治天文台的职员们每天对大钟检查两次。

10 asteroids   

n.小行星( asteroid的名词复数 )；海盘车，海星

参考例句：

• Asteroids,also known as "minor planets",are numerous in the outer space. 小行星，亦称为“小型行星”，在外太空中不计其数。
• Most stars probably have their quota of planets, meteorids, comets, and asteroids. 多数恒星也许还拥有若干行星、流星、彗星和小行星。

11 trajectories   

n.弹道( trajectory的名词复数 )；轨道；轨线；常角轨道

参考例句：

• To answer this question, we need to plot trajectories of principal stresses. 为了回答这个问题，我们尚须画出主应力迹线图。 来自辞典例句
• In the space program the theory is used to determine spaceship trajectories. 在空间计划中，这个理论用于确定飞船的轨道。 来自辞典例句

12 astronomical   

adj.天文学的，（数字）极大的

参考例句：

• He was an expert on ancient Chinese astronomical literature.他是研究中国古代天文学文献的专家。
• Houses in the village are selling for astronomical prices.乡村的房价正在飙升。

13 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》

14 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

15 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。