2015-04-03 BBC:星光七纪元-22

 In its angry old age, the Sun will show no mercy even to its favorite child.And the Earth disappears into the Sun, and i'm afraid that's curtains for the Earth.

Our planet will be engulfed¹ by a ball of fiery² gases, never to be seen again, the star that created and nurtured³ us will ultimately in its bloated old age destroy us, but while red giants bring annihilation, scientists have uncovered in them the beginning of another story, a story of creation that is about us as well as about the stars, they discovered that in the last stages of the battle between gravity and nuclear fusion⁴, red giants generate two of the most abundant building blocks of the universe, and these vital elements are being built in the heart of the red giant.

About half a million years after the poor Earth has disappeared into the Sun, we get the temperature rising to the point where we can suddenly start helium fusion, and this is the next phase of the life of the star is a stage where helium is being fused in the core to produce carbon and oxygen.

Stars scientists discovered are just twinkling points of light, they are alchemists, creating the materials that cosmos⁵ is made of.

1 engulfed   

v.吞没，包住( engulf的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was engulfed by a crowd of reporters. 他被一群记者团团围住。
• The little boat was engulfed by the waves. 小船被波浪吞没了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 fiery   

adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的

参考例句：

• She has fiery red hair.她有一头火红的头发。
• His fiery speech agitated the crowd.他热情洋溢的讲话激动了群众。

3 nurtured   

养育( nurture的过去式和过去分词 )； 培育； 滋长； 助长

参考例句：

• She is looking fondly at the plants he had nurtured. 她深情地看着他培育的植物。
• Any latter-day Einstein would still be spotted and nurtured. 任何一个未来的爱因斯坦都会被发现并受到培养。

4 fusion   

n.溶化；熔解；熔化状态，熔和；熔接

参考例句：

• Brass is formed by the fusion of copper and zinc. 黄铜是通过铜和锌的熔合而成的。
• This alloy is formed by the fusion of two types of metal.这种合金是用两种金属熔合而成的。

5 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？