英语听力：2013-11-15 地平线：黑洞吞噬—25

 Galaxies¹ could in a way, be much bigger than they currently are. Something is stopping them growing larger and that something is the black hole at the center. Now this is bizarre because the ration² of the size of the black hole to the size of the galaxy³ is the same as the ratio between a grape, something this big, and the size of the earth. Now you might think that it’s impossible for something that small to control something that large. But that’s what appears to be happening. 

 

As the black hole begins to devour⁴ matter, so it starts to pull out energy. Like a cosmic brew⁵, that energy sweeps matter back out from the center of the galaxy, preventing it from clamping together to form new stars. 

 

The conclusion of this is the total number of stars forming a galaxy appears to be stopped, truncated⁶ by the power of the black hole at the center. 

 

The discovery of that relationship has turned every preconception about the nature of black holes on its head. Instead of being strange cosmic aberrations⁷, black holes have moved to the very center of the story of galaxies and stars, a story that must include our own solar system. And that must mean that in some way, our own black hole must have played a part in what is perhaps the greatest mystery of all.

1 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。

2 ration   

n.定量(pl.)给养，口粮；vt.定量供应

参考例句：

• The country cut the bread ration last year.那个国家去年削减面包配给量。
• We have to ration the water.我们必须限量用水。

3 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。

4 devour   

v.吞没；贪婪地注视或谛听，贪读；使着迷

参考例句：

• Larger fish devour the smaller ones.大鱼吃小鱼。
• Beauty is but a flower which wrinkle will devour.美只不过是一朵，终会被皱纹所吞噬。

5 brew   

v.酿造，调制

参考例句：

• Let's brew up some more tea.咱们沏些茶吧。
• The policeman dispelled the crowd lest they should brew trouble.警察驱散人群，因恐他们酿祸。

6 truncated   

adj.切去顶端的，缩短了的，被删节的v.截面的( truncate的过去式和过去分词 )；截头的；缩短了的；截去顶端或末端

参考例句：

• My article was published in truncated form. 我的文章以节录的形式发表了。
• Oligocene erosion had truncated the sediments draped over the dome. 覆盖于穹丘上的沉积岩为渐新世侵蚀所截削。 来自辞典例句

7 aberrations   

n.偏差( aberration的名词复数 )；差错；脱离常规；心理失常

参考例句：

• These events were aberrations from the norm. 这些事件不合常规。 来自辞典例句
• These chromosome aberrations are all stable, compatible with cell viability. 这些染色体畸变都是稳定的，不影响细胞生活力的。 来自辞典例句