时差N小时 女灶神(下)

Vesta is quite far away.

灶神星距地球的距离很远。

Like many asteroids¹, it has an orbit out between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.

像其它许多小行星一样，它在火星与木星之间有自己的运行轨道。

Astronomers² first spotted³ it when looking for a new planet they thought should exist between these two.

天文学家们首次发现它时是在寻找介于这两大行星间的另一个行星。

As I said, Vesta is quite small–about three hundred and twenty-five miles across.

正如我所说，灶神星是很小的—它的直径也就只有325英里而已。

So if it’s small and far away, how come we can see it from here?

那问题就是，它又小，距离我们又远，我们怎么能从地球上靠肉眼就看到它呢？

Vesta’s surface has a coating of pyroxine and olivine, two minerals that are actually also spewed up by volcanoes here on earth.

在灶神星的表面覆盖了厚厚的一层玄武岩和橄榄石，这两种矿物质都是由此处的火上喷发而出的。

They give it a whitish exterior⁴ that reflects well, making it just possible to see Vesta with your eyes, even when the only two larger asteroids, Ceres and Pallas, are completely invisible.

这两种矿物质使得灶神星的表面呈白色，且发光的效果相当好。如此一来，我们便仅凭肉眼就可以看到灶神星了。甚至在比它还大的另外两个小行星——谷神星和智神星都无法看到的情况下，我们还是能看到它。

1 asteroids   

n.小行星( asteroid的名词复数 )；海盘车，海星

参考例句：

• Asteroids,also known as "minor planets",are numerous in the outer space. 小行星，亦称为“小型行星”，在外太空中不计其数。
• Most stars probably have their quota of planets, meteorids, comets, and asteroids. 多数恒星也许还拥有若干行星、流星、彗星和小行星。

2 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》

3 spotted   

adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的

参考例句：

• The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
• Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。

4 exterior   

adj.外部的，外在的；表面的

参考例句：

• The seed has a hard exterior covering.这种子外壳很硬。
• We are painting the exterior wall of the house.我们正在给房子的外墙涂漆。