太阳科普 第6期

 The composition of the sun lies in this bar code.  这个条码说明了太阳的组成

All the thin lines are caused by tiny amounts of complex elements 这些细细的线条，都是微量复杂元素造成的

metals like iron and magnesium¹.  好比说像铁或镁等金属

But there are 3 very deep,broad lines,  但是这里有三条很暗、很粗的线条

and they are all caused by  它们都是

an enormous amount of a single element.  由大量单一元素形成的

There's some helium and traces of heavier elements.  太阳中含有氦和少量较重的元素

But over 90% of the sun is Hydrogen.  但有90%是氢

It is the simplest and most common element in the universe.  氢是宇宙中最简单也最常见的元素

The secrets of the sun's power must lie in this gas.  太阳能量的秘密，想必和这种气体有关

Look carefully into the night sky  仔细观察夜空

and you'll see huge clouds of  你会发现大片由氢组成的云

hydrogen floating in interstellar space.  在星际间飘移

These are nebulae.  这些是星云

And they can be hundreds of light years across.  它们直径可能高达数百光年

They are some of the brightest areas in the sky  星云被新近形成的巨大恒星强光照亮

lit up by the intense light of newly formed massive stars.  是空中最明亮的区域

In them we can see stars being born.  我们可以在星云中看到诞生中的恒星

It is to areas like this that astronomers² turn  天文学家用望远镜观察这些区域

their telescopes when they want to study how our sun was formed.  以研究太阳的形成过程

There she is,  在那里

okay,so now let's recentre on her.  把焦距移到这里

By studying different nebulae it's possible to  科学家藉由研究不同的星云

piece together the stages in which stars are made.  拼凑出恒星的形成阶段

And it all starts in a cold dark cloud,  这一切的起点，是一片冰冷、黝黑的云

floating around waiting for something to happen.  飘浮在虚无中等待大事发生

Cold clouds like this are actually quite stable.  像这样的冰冷云朵其实很稳定

They will sit there for a very very long time,  有时它们会静止很长很长时间

for thousands and in some cases millions of years  几千，甚至几百万年

before they'll actually do anything.  才会发生变化

What you need to do to get the star formation process going  它们要受到刺激

is you need to kick it with something.  才会展开恒星形成的过程

That can be the impact on the cloud  刺激可能来自

from one side by a supernova blast wave;  超新星的爆炸波

a massive star nearby has gone boom at the end of its life  邻近的巨大恒星在生命尽头爆炸

and that sends out in all directions very energetic  并朝四面八方发出能量十足的压缩波

compression waves that hit the gas and compress it.  压缩波撞击气体并将之压缩

The shock waves knock the cloud out of balance.  云朵因震波而失去平衡

Causing localised clumps³ of hydrogen to form.  并导致某些区域出现氢气团块

These are the seeds from which stars grow.  这就是萌生恒星的种子

The increased gravity of the seeds sucks in more  种子与日俱增的引力吸引越来越多氢气

and more hydrogen in a runaway⁴ process  这样的出走过程

that lasts for a million years.  会持续一百万年

As more hydrogen is squeezed into the clumps the temperature rises.  团块聚集的氢气越多，温度就越高

They are not yet producing light  它们还不会发光

but they are well on the way to becoming stars.  但已踏上成为恒星的道路

 

1 magnesium   

n.镁

参考例句：

• Magnesium is the nutrient element in plant growth.镁是植物生长的营养要素。
• The water contains high amounts of magnesium.这水含有大量的镁。

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 clumps   

n.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的名词复数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声v.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的第三人称单数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声

参考例句：

• These plants quickly form dense clumps. 这些植物很快形成了浓密的树丛。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The bulbs were over. All that remained of them were clumps of brown leaves. 这些鳞茎死了，剩下的只是一丛丛的黃叶子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 runaway   

n.逃走的人，逃亡，亡命者；adj.逃亡的，逃走的

参考例句：

• The police have not found the runaway to date.警察迄今没抓到逃犯。
• He was praised for bringing up the runaway horse.他勒住了脱缰之马受到了表扬。