英语听力：自然百科 行星旅行指南：木星 Jupiter—5

 Halfway there, you bump into the Asteroid¹ Belt.

 

It is not like in the movies where you are dodging² asteroids³ at every second. It is a… The space is very big and the asteroids are a long distance apart, so you could travel through it quite safely. 

 

The next thing you run into you can’t avoid: the leading edge of Jupiter’s magnetosphere. It is invisible, but the sound is like a signpost.

 

It is like you hit something, so you are due to do to do and then “Bang!” And so, oh, now we are in the Jupiter system.

 

Want to explore further? Be warned. You have just crossed the threshold into the most hazardous⁴ piece of space real estate in the solar system.

 

At Jupiter’s magnetosphere, there is almost nothing that can protect you. That is a kind of / ‘Don't enter this zone at any costs’, and if you do, you’d better be prepared to pay in terms of your electronics. You know you are toast.

 

Step inside Jupiter’s raging magnetic field and you enter a radiation hotzone of staggering intensity⁵, where incoming charged particles from the sun are whipped into a relativistic frenzy⁶. Buffeted⁷ by the solar wind, the magnetic maelstrom⁸ streams back almost as far as the orbit of Saturn⁹.

 

The magnetosphere of Jupiter, the largest thing in the solar system, em… if it were visible from the earth, it would be the size of the full moon in the sky.

 

This was like a magnet to NASA, setting off for deep space for the first time in the early 1970s.

 

What Pioneer told us was that Jupiter’s radiation belts were even more intense than we had anticipated. And that meant that our next mission, Voyager suddenly went into a rework, real fast to put more shielding on board, shields up captain, because we knew we were gonna be getting a lot of radiation dose.

1 asteroid   

n.小行星；海盘车(动物)

参考例句：

• Astronomers have yet to witness an asteroid impact with another planet.天文学家还没有目击过小行星撞击其它行星。
• It's very unlikely that an asteroid will crash into Earth but the danger exists.小行星撞地球的可能性很小，但这样的危险还是存在的。

2 dodging   

n.避开，闪过，音调改变v.闪躲( dodge的现在分词 )；回避

参考例句：

• He ran across the road, dodging the traffic. 他躲开来往的车辆跑过马路。
• I crossed the highway, dodging the traffic. 我避开车流穿过了公路。 来自辞典例句

3 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。

4 hazardous   

adj.(有)危险的，冒险的；碰运气的

参考例句：

• These conditions are very hazardous for shipping.这些情况对航海非常不利。
• Everybody said that it was a hazardous investment.大家都说那是一次危险的投资。

5 intensity   

n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度

参考例句：

• I didn't realize the intensity of people's feelings on this issue.我没有意识到这一问题能引起群情激奋。
• The strike is growing in intensity.罢工日益加剧。

6 frenzy   

n.疯狂，狂热，极度的激动

参考例句：

• He was able to work the young students up into a frenzy.他能激起青年学生的狂热。
• They were singing in a frenzy of joy.他们欣喜若狂地高声歌唱。

7 buffeted   

反复敲打( buffet的过去式和过去分词 )； 连续猛击； 打来打去； 推来搡去

参考例句：

• to be buffeted by the wind 被风吹得左右摇摆
• We were buffeted by the wind and the rain. 我们遭到风雨的袭击。

8 maelstrom   

n.大乱动；大漩涡

参考例句：

• Inside,she was a maelstrom of churning emotions.她心中的情感似波涛汹涌，起伏不定。
• The anxious person has the spirit like a maelstrom.焦虑的人的精神世界就像一个大漩涡。

9 Saturn   

n.农神，土星

参考例句：

• 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。
• These comparisons suggested that Saturn is made of lighter materials.这些比较告诉我们，土星由较轻的物质构成。