2015-03-25 BBC:星光七纪元-19

Arcturus is a red giant star, very easy to find, the tail of the *, the tail of the big bear, you follow that and you reach the star Arcturus, so it is a way following the big bear as a bear taker which is what Arcturus means.

Surprisingly Arcturus's striking¹ colour is not because it's hotter, but because it's cooler, as the balance between the opposing forces of gravity and nuclear fusion² breaks down, the size of the star changes, red giants expand, their fiery³ energy spreading over a large area which makes their temperature drop, they fall from blue or white hot to red hot, but because they are so large, these stars are still some of the brightest in the sky.

That is Arcturus, when we see red stars like Arcturus in the sky, no doubt in many many civilizations in the past, they had some associations with the stars and something that happens.

Each star has its own distinct⁴ personality as it creates effects according to its character, when Arcturus rises it is nearly always accompanied by a terrible hail⁵ storm.

 

1 striking   

adj.显著的，惹人注目的，容貌出众的

参考例句：

• There is a striking difference between Jane and Mary.简和玛丽之间有显著的差异。
• What is immediately striking is how resourceful the children are.最令人注目的是孩子们的机智聪明。

2 fusion   

n.溶化；熔解；熔化状态，熔和；熔接

参考例句：

• Brass is formed by the fusion of copper and zinc. 黄铜是通过铜和锌的熔合而成的。
• This alloy is formed by the fusion of two types of metal.这种合金是用两种金属熔合而成的。

3 fiery   

adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的

参考例句：

• She has fiery red hair.她有一头火红的头发。
• His fiery speech agitated the crowd.他热情洋溢的讲话激动了群众。

4 distinct   

adj.种类不同的，有区别的，清楚的，明显的

参考例句：

• I had the distinct impression that I was being followed.我清楚地感觉到有人跟踪我。
• The party split into two distinct groups.该党分裂成两个截然不同的团体。

5 hail   

n.雹，一阵；vi.下雹；vt.高呼，为...喝彩

参考例句：

• Hail fell with such violence that it broke windows.冰雹猛落，把玻璃窗也砸破了。
• The people lined the streets to hail the returning heroes.人们夹道欢迎凯旋的英雄们。