英语听力精选进阶版 7182

Background: 文学家发现宇宙中实际的星球数量比原先想象的要多三倍。《自然》期刊的最新研究称宇宙中的行星数量应该更多，有些或许和地球很相似。

Astronomers¹ have assumed that the composition of all galaxies² is the same as our own.

But using a new, more powerful instrument on the Keck telescope in Hawaii, researchers have discovered that older galaxies contain twenty times more small dim stars, called red dwarves³, than younger galaxies such as our own.

Doctor Marek Kukula of the Royal Greenwich Observatory⁴ describes what the view from a planet in an older galaxy⁵ might be like.

"When one of these galaxies that we now know contain lots and lots of small red stars, it may well be true that the night sky is dotted with these small red stars, glowing like embers, and that might produce a very pretty effect."

According to Professor Pieter van Dokkum of Yale University, the discovery also increases the estimate of the number of planets in the universe and therefore makes it even more likely that there's life somewhere else in the cosmos⁶.

"There's been particular attention recently to these red dwarf⁷ stars. In one galaxy there's about a trillion of these stars and there's hundreds of billions of these galaxies. Even if the planet is quite close to the star, you could have liquid water on the planet, because the star is not as bright as the sun, and so a planet can be a lot closer and still be kind of balmy, rather than scorching⁸ hot."

The discovery that there are many more stars means that our universe is a much brighter, more crowded place than we previously⁹ thought.

Glossary¹⁰ 词汇表

astronomers 天文学家 

composition 组成、构成 

powerful instrument 强有力的工具 

galaxies 银河系 

to be dotted with 点缀、布满 

glowing like embers 像余烬一样闪烁 

the cosmos 宇宙 

balmy 暖和的 

scorching hot 灼热的 

universe 宇宙

Questions and Answers

1. What helped to help astronomers to make this new discovery? 

The new, more powerful instrument on the Keck telescope helped to make this discovery.

2. What does this mean about the number of planets that we know about? 

It increases the estimate of the number of planets in the universe and could mean there is life on another planet.

3. True or False. There are around a billion red dwarf stars in each galaxy. 

False, there are around a trillion red dwarf stars in each galaxy.

4. True or False. Astronomers made the discovery of new stars at the Royal Greenwich Observatory. 

False, the discovery was made in Hawaii.

1 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》

2 galaxies   

星系( galaxy的名词复数 )； 银河系； 一群（杰出或著名的人物）

参考例句：

• Quasars are the highly energetic cores of distant galaxies. 类星体是遥远星系的极为活跃的核心体。
• We still don't know how many galaxies there are in the universe. 我们还不知道宇宙中有多少个星系。

3 dwarves   

n.矮子( dwarf的名词复数 )；有魔法的小矮人

参考例句：

• Everyone will try to claim it: Men, Dwarves, wizards. 每个种族都会争取它的拥有权：人类，矮人，巫师。 来自电影对白
• Have you learned nothing of the stubbornness of Dwarves? 难道你还不了解那个矮人的倔强吗？ 来自电影对白

4 observatory   

n.天文台，气象台，瞭望台，观测台

参考例句：

• Guy's house was close to the observatory.盖伊的房子离天文台很近。
• Officials from Greenwich Observatory have the clock checked twice a day.格林威治天文台的职员们每天对大钟检查两次。

5 galaxy   

n.星系；银河系；一群(杰出或著名的人物)

参考例句：

• The earth is one of the planets in the Galaxy.地球是银河系中的星球之一。
• The company has a galaxy of talent.该公司拥有一批优秀的人才。

6 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？

7 dwarf   

n.矮子，侏儒，矮小的动植物；vt.使…矮小

参考例句：

• The dwarf's long arms were not proportional to his height.那侏儒的长臂与他的身高不成比例。
• The dwarf shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. 矮子耸耸肩膀，摇摇头。

8 scorching   

adj. 灼热的

参考例句：

• a scorching, pitiless sun 灼热的骄阳
• a scorching critique of the government's economic policy 对政府经济政策的严厉批评

9 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

10 glossary   

n.注释词表；术语汇编

参考例句：

• The text is supplemented by an adequate glossary.正文附有一个详细的词汇表。
• For convenience,we have also provided a glossary in an appendix.为了方便，我们在附录中也提供了术语表。