英语听力：2013-10-11 地平线：黑洞吞噬—10

 It's like trying to pick out an individual inside the middle of a busy city, with lights and cars, and things happening all around them. 

 

But that wasn't the only problem. Vast, swirling¹ clouds of dust and gas prevent visible light from the centre of our galaxy² from reaching us, making what lies beyond hidden from view. 

 

It's like putting a blanket over the thing you are trying to look at. It's putting a thick fog around that. So there is only certain wavelengths³ of light that can penetrate⁴ through that. 

 

Without the means to see through that dust, the black hole that theory suggests it should reside at the centre of our Milky⁵ Way would remain nothing more than a bold but unproven idea. 

 

With the quest to find the black hole seemingly blocked, there was nevertheless one glimmer⁶ of hope. Now at least astronomers⁷ had some sort of notion where one should be hiding. To tackle the problem, what would be needed was a new generation of telescopes and that would take a new generation of astronomers. 

 

We were just at the point where we had the technology to address that question. And so in some sense it was I had the right hammer and I was looking for the right nail. 

 

With her Los Angeles group, Andrea Ghez began work on a telescope that could see through to the hidden centre of our galaxy.

1 swirling   

v.旋转，打旋( swirl的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Snowflakes were swirling in the air. 天空飘洒着雪花。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• She smiled, swirling the wine in her glass. 她微笑着，旋动着杯子里的葡萄酒。 来自辞典例句

2 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。

3 wavelengths   

n.波长( wavelength的名词复数 )；具有相同的/不同的思路；合拍；不合拍

参考例句：

• I find him difficult to talk to—we're on completely different wavelengths. 我没法和他谈话，因为我们俩完全不对路。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Sunlight consists of different wavelengths of radiation. 阳光由几种不同波长的射线组成。 来自辞典例句

4 penetrate   

v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解

参考例句：

• Western ideas penetrate slowly through the East.西方观念逐渐传入东方。
• The sunshine could not penetrate where the trees were thickest.阳光不能透入树木最浓密的地方。

5 milky   

adj.牛奶的，多奶的；乳白色的

参考例句：

• Alexander always has milky coffee at lunchtime.亚历山大总是在午餐时喝掺奶的咖啡。
• I like a hot milky drink at bedtime.我喜欢睡前喝杯热奶饮料。

6 glimmer   

v.发出闪烁的微光；n.微光，微弱的闪光

参考例句：

• I looked at her and felt a glimmer of hope.我注视她，感到了一线希望。
• A glimmer of amusement showed in her eyes.她的眼中露出一丝笑意。

7 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》