英语听力：探索发现 2014-05-18 BBC 地平线：陨石的真相-4

 Amazing images. But what can you get out of these asan expert?

 

What it shows us, first of all, is a great record ofthe entry of the object into the Earth’s atmosphere. So you see it right fromthe moment it really penetrated¹. And there it is.

 

That is the edge of the atmosphere?

 

That’s it and it’s coming down at a fairly shallowangle probably and as we play the movie on, what we see is, bang there, firstof all, it suddenly got brighter. So something’s happened to the object. It’sstarting to break apart and as it breaks apart, it releases some of its orbitalenergy. And that’s causing that big flare² up there. 

 

And is that because the atmosphere is denser³, it isharder?

 

That’s right. It’s finding it harder and harder topunch through the atmosphere. And as we roll on, we suddenly get this bang,this huge flare up where suddenly the whole object is starting to fragment andbreak apart. And that’s where the majority of the energy is being released. 

 

If we look here..

 

There are just little bits coming, falling off.

 

That’s right. There is another flare up there andthere is another flare up there. And now we can still see it’s glowingincandescent. Some major fragment of the object is still falling down throughthe Earth’s atmosphere. Underneath⁴ the trajectory⁵ you are going to have showersof bits of asteroid⁶, essentially⁷ falling down, and then finally 16.5 secondslater, and what we are left with is this contour trail. And invisibly..

 

The shockwave. 

 

The shockwave coming towards us. Yeah, that isright. And itis about a minute later that it’s gone and reached the ground. 

 

This guy driving doesn’t know yet that the shockwaveis on its way here. 

 

That is right. He is still happily listening to theradio on his drive to work in the morning.

1 penetrated   

adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• The knife had penetrated his chest. 刀子刺入了他的胸膛。
• They penetrated into territory where no man had ever gone before. 他们已进入先前没人去过的地区。

2 flare   

v.闪耀，闪烁；n.潮红；突发

参考例句：

• The match gave a flare.火柴发出闪光。
• You need not flare up merely because I mentioned your work.你大可不必因为我提到你的工作就动怒。

3 denser   

adj. 不易看透的, 密集的, 浓厚的, 愚钝的

参考例句：

• The denser population necessitates closer consolidation both for internal and external action. 住得日益稠密的居民，对内和对外都不得不更紧密地团结起来。 来自英汉非文学 - 家庭、私有制和国家的起源
• As Tito entered the neighbourhood of San Martino, he found the throng rather denser. 蒂托走近圣马丁教堂附近一带时，发现人群相当密集。

4 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

5 trajectory   

n.弹道，轨道

参考例句：

• It is not difficult to sketch the subsequent trajectory.很容易描绘出它们最终的轨迹。
• The path followed by a projectile is called its trajectory.抛物体所循的路径称为它的轨道。

6 asteroid   

n.小行星；海盘车(动物)

参考例句：

• Astronomers have yet to witness an asteroid impact with another planet.天文学家还没有目击过小行星撞击其它行星。
• It's very unlikely that an asteroid will crash into Earth but the danger exists.小行星撞地球的可能性很小，但这样的危险还是存在的。

7 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。