英语听力：2013-10-23 地平线：黑洞吞噬—15

 It's clear that it will come very close to the black hole, might even hit the black hole. So maybe we actually are feeding the black hole here. 

 

Now exactly how much and how fast of all these is completely unknown and that's the excitement about it because we will learn about it. We have basically a test experiment. We know we've thrown sort of speed at this black hole and of certain amount of mass which we roughly know. We know when it is and how close it comes, and we can test over time how much happened. 

 

It's that chance to see a black hole feed at close range that had shaken the community of astronomers¹ into an uncharacteristic further of excitement. 

 

We are facing here a very unusual situation in astronomy, namely that things are getting urgent. I mean we only have half a year left or so then you really want to observe it. 

 

Most of the objects we observe in astronomy are not evolving on the time scale of a human life. That means mostly they look the same regardless if I look or if my grandson would look or whatever, it would be the same. But here we have an unusual case that the situation will change dramatically and quickly within a few years. That gas cloud was a compact object in 2004 and probably it will be completely shredded² in 2013. 

 

No one knows for sure what will happen, an uncertainty³ that only adds to the sense of anticipation⁴. 

 

Is it a cloud or is it a star? And I guess I'm of the opinion that this is a star, a star that has a material around it. But we know about other stars in this region that has material around it. So that wouldn't make it unusual. 

 

If it's a star, the black hole might not get a bite it. As of now, no one can be certain. 

 

This is what makes science interesting because it's a point where you get to gamble. You get to make a bet—what is this, what should happen next?

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 shredded   

shred的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• Serve the fish on a bed of shredded lettuce. 先铺一层碎生菜叶，再把鱼放上，就可以上桌了。
• I think Mapo beancurd and shredded meat in chilli sauce are quite special. 我觉得麻婆豆腐和鱼香肉丝味道不错。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

4 anticipation   

n.预期，预料，期望

参考例句：

• We waited at the station in anticipation of her arrival.我们在车站等着，期待她的到来。
• The animals grew restless as if in anticipation of an earthquake.各种动物都变得焦躁不安，像是感到了地震即将发生。