英语听力：2013-11-17 地平线：黑洞吞噬—26

 To walkhere on Earth, to be alive, it thanks to a long chain of cause and effect writtendeep into the structure of the universe. A primordial¹ process so long, and soancient that on the scale of a human life it seems almost incomprehensible. 

One of the most amazing thingsin our universe is that we are made of stars. The heavy elements in our bodies,the carbon and the oxygen, the nitrogen, used to be, millions of miles downinside stars. 

So our existence here, on thisplanet, relies on a deep history of stars being born, creating new elements,and speaking as elements back out into the cosmos² where they are in turnrecycled many many times.   

Over and over again for almost14 billion years ever since the beginning of the universe and the formation ofthe first stars. Black holes have influenced this cosmic recycling process. Andsince the elements forged in those stars ended up inside planets like our own,it means our black hole must have created the conditions to make it, just right,for life to emerge here on Earth. 

We are very lucky. We are notclose-by enough to have won this in a feeding frenzy³ that we get washed crossby this destructive radiation that will tear apart our molecules⁴ and ouratmosphere, and basically leave us in a barren place. 

  And there’s the otherextreme, where things are extremely quiet and cold and maybe there haven’t beenany stars formed there ever, because nothing stirred it up. And nothing reallygot process these going that would make all the elements make new generationson planets in sum. 

It means our black hole, must have left its finger prints on the uniquechemistry that made possible the first stirrings of life here on Earth.

1 primordial   

adj.原始的；最初的

参考例句：

• It is the primordial force that propels us forward.它是推动我们前进的原始动力。
• The Neanderthal Man is one of our primordial ancestors.的尼安德特人是我们的原始祖先之一.

2 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？

3 frenzy   

n.疯狂，狂热，极度的激动

参考例句：

• He was able to work the young students up into a frenzy.他能激起青年学生的狂热。
• They were singing in a frenzy of joy.他们欣喜若狂地高声歌唱。

4 molecules   

分子( molecule的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The structure of molecules can be seen under an electron microscope. 分子的结构可在电子显微镜下观察到。
• Inside the reactor the large molecules are cracked into smaller molecules. 在反应堆里，大分子裂变为小分子。