Earth and Sky:Greatest Brilliancy 金星光辉最大之时

Greatest Brilliancy 金星光辉最大之时

The planet Venus now shines as a eerily¹ brilliant light low in the western twilight² sky. We'll talk about why Venus appears at greatest brilliancy this week -- on today's Earth and Sky.

DB: This is Earth and Sky -- Monday, September 23. If you've been watching the evening sky, you've probably seen a bright object up after sunset.

JB: It's the planet Venus -- now lower in the sky after sunset than it's been for several months. Venus might be hidden by trees or buildings on your horizon. But, if you do see the planet this week, it'll surprise you -- because Venus is now at greatest brilliancy -- shining most brightly for this evening apparition³.

DB: And for Venus that's very, very bright. You might think that Venus has to show us its fully⁴ lighted hemisphere -- its day side -- to look so bright. But if you had a telescope, you could see that Venus is now in a crescent phase as seen from Earth. Venus will pass between us and sun next month. As it's come closer to doing this, Venus has shown us a decreasing fraction of its lighted half. Tonight that brilliant object in the west after sunset is really only about 24% illuminated⁵, as seen from Earth. This crescent Venus manages to shine so brightly because it's now nearly at its closest to Earth -- and so the disk of Venus looms⁶ especially large.

JB: Sunlight reflecting from the cloudtops of Venus takes over three-and-a-half minutes to reach us now. These clouds, by the way, help make Venus bright -- because they're so good at reflecting sunlight. For today, that's our show. Special thanks to Research Corporation -- a foundation for the advancement⁷ of science. We're Block and Byrd for Earth and Sky.

1 eerily   

adv.引起神秘感或害怕地

参考例句：

• It was nearly mid-night and eerily dark all around her. 夜深了，到处是一片黑黝黝的怪影。 来自汉英文学 - 散文英译
• The vast volcanic slope was eerily reminiscent of a lunar landscape. 开阔的火山坡让人心生怪异地联想起月球的地貌。 来自辞典例句

2 twilight   

n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期

参考例句：

• Twilight merged into darkness.夕阳的光辉融于黑暗中。
• Twilight was sweet with the smell of lilac and freshly turned earth.薄暮充满紫丁香和新翻耕的泥土的香味。

3 apparition   

n.幽灵，神奇的现象

参考例句：

• He saw the apparition of his dead wife.他看见了他亡妻的幽灵。
• But the terror of this new apparition brought me to a stand.这新出现的幽灵吓得我站在那里一动也不敢动。

4 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

5 illuminated   

adj.被照明的；受启迪的

参考例句：

• Floodlights illuminated the stadium. 泛光灯照亮了体育场。
• the illuminated city at night 夜幕中万家灯火的城市

6 looms   

n.织布机( loom的名词复数 )v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的第三人称单数 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近

参考例句：

• All were busily engaged,men at their ploughs,women at their looms. 大家都很忙，男的耕田，女的织布。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The factory has twenty-five looms. 那家工厂有25台织布机。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 advancement   

n.前进，促进，提升

参考例句：

• His new contribution to the advancement of physiology was well appreciated.他对生理学发展的新贡献获得高度赞赏。
• The aim of a university should be the advancement of learning.大学的目标应是促进学术。