VOA标准英语2014--欧洲核子研究中心粒子加速器升级

 

CERN Accelerator Back in Business 欧洲核子研究中心粒子加速器升级

The long upgrade of the Large Hadron Collider is over. The scientific instrument responsible for the discovery of the Higgs boson -- the so-called "God particle" -- is being brought up to speed in time for this month's 60th anniversary of the European Organization for Nuclear Research, known by its French acronym¹ CERN.

Physicists² hope the accelerator will help them uncover more secrets about the origins of the universe.

The huge particle accelerator, located in a 27-kilometer-long tunnel, 100 meters underground, near Geneva, Switzerland, has never run at full power.

Even so, before its breakdown³ two years ago, scientists were able to detect evidence of the Higgs boson, an elusive⁴ particle whose existence proved the validity of what's called the "Standard Model"  -- a theory that explains much about the origins of the universe.

But there’s a lot more to discover, says CERN researcher Despina Hatzifotiadou.

“These collisions produce a whole load of new particles, and by studying these particles, we can deduce what happened in the very beginning of the collision and thus imagine what happened in the beginning of the universe," she said.

To work at full power, the collider’s electromagnets must be cooled to a temperature near absolute zero -- a process which will take several months.

So, beginning next year, the magnets will be able to accelerate tiny clouds of subatomic particles close to the speed of light, smashing them with the energy of 14 trillion electron-volts.

Researcher Sudarshan Paramesvaran says that will allow scientists to test new theories.

“One of these theories is supersymmetry and this predicts a whole new range of particles to look for at quite high mass, and so the extended energy that we'll get from the LHC will hopefully enable us to look for these particles and hopefully find them,” he said.

All the ordinary matter around us, including stars and planets, makes up only 5 percent of the universe.  Physicists hope that colliding subatomic particles at higher power than ever before may finally shed light on the so-called "dark matter" and "dark energy," believed to permeate⁵ the rest of the space.

1 acronym   

n.首字母简略词，简称

参考例句：

• That's a mouthful of an acronym for a very simple technology.对于一项非常简单的技术来说，这是一个很绕口的缩写词。
• TSDF is an acronym for Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facilities.TSDF是处理，储存和处置设施的一个缩写。

2 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。

3 breakdown   

n.垮，衰竭；损坏，故障，倒塌

参考例句：

• She suffered a nervous breakdown.她患神经衰弱。
• The plane had a breakdown in the air,but it was fortunately removed by the ace pilot.飞机在空中发生了故障，但幸运的是被王牌驾驶员排除了。

4 elusive   

adj.难以表达(捉摸)的；令人困惑的；逃避的

参考例句：

• Try to catch the elusive charm of the original in translation.翻译时设法把握住原文中难以捉摸的风韵。
• Interpol have searched all the corners of the earth for the elusive hijackers.国际刑警组织已在世界各地搜查在逃的飞机劫持者。

5 permeate   

v.弥漫，遍布，散布；渗入，渗透

参考例句：

• Water will easily permeate a cotton dress.水很容易渗透棉布衣服。
• After a while it begins to permeate through your skin.过了一会，它会开始渗入你的皮肤。