2015-06-10 BBC:星光七纪元-41

 Scientists call it the Big Bang and it was predicted by the very same equations that discovered black holes.There is the Big Bang theory, according to which the universe began with a gigantic fireball on creation day, some 10,000 million years ago.

It was here at the beginning of the universe that scientists found the answer to the ultimate question about the life of stars, where did the hydrogen to make the very first ones come from?

This very early instant came a primordial¹ soup of energy and matter that had to cool before it could become the elements of hydrogen and helium that made everything else in the universe we know today, every hydrogen atom that fuelled every star was made in those first few minutes of the Big Bang.

The extraordinary thing about the lifecycle of the stars is that it revealed the origin of the universe, the elements, even of us, but that isn't quite the end of the star story, astronomers² have discovered one other tantalizing³ fact as they looked out into the dark sky, in nebulae formed from the remnants of stars and where the next generation are born, they have discovered the earliest stirrings of life.

1 primordial   

adj.原始的；最初的

参考例句：

• It is the primordial force that propels us forward.它是推动我们前进的原始动力。
• The Neanderthal Man is one of our primordial ancestors.的尼安德特人是我们的原始祖先之一.

2 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》

3 tantalizing   

adj.逗人的；惹弄人的；撩人的；煽情的v.逗弄，引诱，折磨( tantalize的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• This was my first tantalizing glimpse of the islands. 这是我第一眼看见的这些岛屿的动人美景。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• We have only vague and tantalizing glimpses of his power. 我们只能隐隐约约地领略他的威力，的确有一种可望不可及的感觉。 来自英汉非文学 - 历史