2007年VOA标准英语-NASA Reveals New Sun Phenomena

By Paul Sisco
Washington
30 March 2007
 
watch NASA Sun Study

Several times each year, scientists and administrators¹ at the US. Space Agency's headquarters in Washington, unveil their most recent discoveries and activities, and plans. VOA's Paul Sisco attended the first NASA Science Update of the year, and reports on the space agency's latest discoveries about the sun.

 
Images of the sun's surface
This is an image of the surface of the sun, and its sunspots, in detail never before seen.  NASA says the images clearly show the sun's magnetic field is much more violent than previously² thought.

The images come to us thanks to mission Hinode, which loosely means sunlight in Japanese. 

Launched from Japan last September, the Hinode spacecraft carries multiple instruments that, from orbit, make continuous observations of the sun.

 "Soon after the telescope opened, we saw a very large sun spot, and you can see an accompanying sun spot," astrophysicist, Alan Title explains.  "Where its white magnetic field is coming out of the sun and where its black magnetic field is going into the sun, so it's a kind of magnetic hurricane."

To put this into context, that top white spot is about 25% larger than the diameter of the earth. And each one releases roughly the equivalent of all the energy that could be generated by all the power plants on earth for hundreds of years.

 
Leon Golub

Scientist Leon Golub designed an instrument that records powerful x-ray's released from the sun.

"The x-ray eruption³ starts with a large magnetic loop that collapses⁴ downward and then everything erupts upward after that," he explains.  "This hasn't been seen before, is totally unexpected and as far as I'm concerned, is impossible."

At least there is no explanation for the phenomenon yet. 

The scientists say they are receiving data and images from the spacecraft, almost every day, unlike any they have seen before.

"There are many, many things coming down in the data that have that character, totally unexpected and clearly they are going to change our views once we figure out what's going" Golub says.

 
'Chaotic⁵ dynamo' sun magnetic field
This is another process on the sun's surface, never recorded before. It's called a chaotic dynamo, and is believed to have something to do with the magnetic field found in sunspots.'

 "From essentially⁶ day one, when we took data, we had data that changed the way we thought," Title says. " And since then it is painful to leave my office, because everyday when I come in the morning I want to see what we discovered last night and we have not shown you some of the most sensational⁷ stuff."

The ongoing⁸ Hinode mission is an example of successful collaboration⁹ between the space agencies of Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom and Europe.

1 administrators   

n.管理者( administrator的名词复数 )；有管理（或行政）才能的人；（由遗嘱检验法庭指定的）遗产管理人；奉派暂管主教教区的牧师

参考例句：

• He had administrators under him but took the crucial decisions himself. 他手下有管理人员，但重要的决策仍由他自己来做。 来自辞典例句
• Administrators have their own methods of social intercourse. 办行政的人有他们的社交方式。 来自汉英文学 - 围城

2 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。

3 eruption   

n.火山爆发；（战争等）爆发；（疾病等）发作

参考例句：

• The temple was destroyed in the violent eruption of 1470 BC.庙宇在公元前1470年猛烈的火山爆发中摧毁了。
• The eruption of a volcano is spontaneous.火山的爆发是自发的。

4 collapses   

折叠( collapse的第三人称单数 )； 倒塌； 崩溃； （尤指工作劳累后）坐下

参考例句：

• This bridge table collapses. 这张桥牌桌子能折叠。
• Once Russia collapses, the last chance to stop Hitler will be gone. 一旦俄国垮台，抑止希特勒的最后机会就没有了。

5 chaotic   

adj.混沌的，一片混乱的，一团糟的

参考例句：

• Things have been getting chaotic in the office recently.最近办公室的情况越来越乱了。
• The traffic in the city was chaotic.这城市的交通糟透了。

6 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

7 sensational   

adj.使人感动的，非常好的，轰动的，耸人听闻的

参考例句：

• Papers of this kind are full of sensational news reports.这类报纸满是耸人听闻的新闻报道。
• Their performance was sensational.他们的演出妙极了。

8 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

9 collaboration   

n.合作，协作；勾结

参考例句：

• The two companies are working in close collaboration each other.这两家公司密切合作。
• He was shot for collaboration with the enemy.他因通敌而被枪毙了。