2015-05-08 BBC:星光七纪元-32

 An implosion¹ that launches an explosion creating enough heat and energy to forge almost all the other elements.The supernova explosion is able to produce some of the very rare elements heavier than iron, the zinc², the gold, the platinum³, the silver, these things were ejected into the cosmos⁴, having produced them in these very special conditions of an exploded star, the very atoms of which we are made, the oxygen that we breathe, the calcium⁵ in our bones, the iron in our red blood cells were produced billions of years ago in stars, specifically in dying stars, and these dying stars ejected these elements into the cosmos making them available for raw material, for the production of new stars, planets and ultimately life.

We are star dust or rather less romantically nuclear waste, in a way the ancients were right, the stars are like Gods, they are the creators of us, to make our Earth, several hundred generations of stars needed to come and go. Stars born from collapsing⁶ clouds of dust and gas, bursting into life to shine for millions or billions of years.

1 implosion   

n.向内破裂，内爆

参考例句：

• The population explosion is accompanied by a population implosion.人口爆炸还伴随着人口爆聚。

2 zinc   

n.锌；vt.在...上镀锌

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。
• Zinc is used to protect other metals from corrosion.锌被用来保护其他金属不受腐蚀。

3 platinum   

n.白金

参考例句：

• I'll give her a platinum ring.我打算送给她一枚白金戒指。
• Platinum exceeds gold in value.白金的价值高于黄金。

4 cosmos   

n.宇宙；秩序，和谐

参考例句：

• Our world is but a small part of the cosmos.我们的世界仅仅是宇宙的一小部分而已。
• Is there any other intelligent life elsewhere in the cosmos?在宇宙的其他星球上还存在别的有智慧的生物吗？

5 calcium   

n.钙(化学符号Ca)

参考例句：

• We need calcium to make bones.我们需要钙来壮骨。
• Calcium is found most abundantly in milk.奶含钙最丰富。

6 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。