2015-04-17 BBC:星光七纪元-26

 That’s why what we physicists¹ called pressure. This pressure is created as the particles jostle for position. It’s a principle of Quantum Mechanics and when it was applying to stars, the lives of dead white dwarfs³ suddenly made sense. What stopped them collapsing⁴ completely was the gravity which was resisted by the pressure generated between the particles themselves. In a white dwarf², you got a delicate balance between the gravity which was trying to squeeze it together and the pressure of these electrons, trying up to all, have their addresses in the same place that are trying to push out. And it’s a balance between this gravity pulling in and electrons’ pushing out that keeps the white dwarf the size it is. It’s also what lets the star with no fuel supply shine for billions of years. These white dwarfs are very small so they got very small surface area, which means although they are white hot, the light they emit, the heat energy which they send out is still very limited just because of the very small size of the surface. Now it carries on, radiating light and gradually cools down, gradually gets dimmer and dimmer. It’s a little bit like a retired⁵ person sitting in an old star’s home. It’s still, you know, ticking alone but gradually gets sort of slower and slower, dimmer and dimmer. There are white dwarfs cluttering⁶ up our galaxy⁷, all the other galaxies⁸.

1 physicists   

物理学家( physicist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• For many particle physicists, however, it was a year of frustration. 对于许多粒子物理学家来说，这是受挫折的一年。 来自英汉非文学 - 科技
• Physicists seek rules or patterns to provide a framework. 物理学家寻求用法则或图式来构成一个框架。

2 dwarf   

n.矮子，侏儒，矮小的动植物；vt.使…矮小

参考例句：

• The dwarf's long arms were not proportional to his height.那侏儒的长臂与他的身高不成比例。
• The dwarf shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. 矮子耸耸肩膀，摇摇头。

3 dwarfs   

n.侏儒，矮子（dwarf的复数形式）vt.（使）显得矮小（dwarf的第三人称单数形式）

参考例句：

• Shakespeare dwarfs other dramatists. 莎士比亚使其他剧作家相形见绌。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The new building dwarfs all the other buildings in the town. 新大楼使城里所有其他建筑物都显得矮小了。 来自辞典例句

4 collapsing   

压扁[平]，毁坏，断裂

参考例句：

• Rescuers used props to stop the roof of the tunnel collapsing. 救援人员用支柱防止隧道顶塌陷。
• The rocks were folded by collapsing into the center of the trough. 岩石由于坍陷进入凹槽的中心而发生褶皱。

5 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

6 cluttering   

v.杂物，零乱的东西零乱vt.( clutter的现在分词 )；乱糟糟地堆满，把…弄得很乱；（以…） 塞满…

参考例句：

• I'm sick of all these books cluttering up my office. 我讨厌办公室里乱糟糟地堆放着这些书。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Some goals will need to be daily-say, drinking water, or exercise, or perhaps de cluttering. 对这些目标，需要把他们变成我们日常事务的一部分。 来自互联网

7 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。

8 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。