英语听力：自然百科 穿越银河系的旅行 Through Milky Way—34

 One type of giant planet orbits very close to its star, we call them hot Jupiters because these Jupiter-like planets are so close that they are blowtorched by the intense heat from the star. 

 

 

 

The other sort of planet we have found is also bizarre. We’ve found planets that orbit in elongated¹ orbits, elliptical, stretched-out orbits, but then the planets go very far from the star where they would be quite cold. And so the planets that we have found so far are a little too weird² for us to imagine that life would have a good chance of surviving.   

 

 

 

 

 

But all that may be about to change. Recently, NASA launched a powerful new telescope called Kepler on the hunt for earth size planets which may orbit inhabitable zones around nearby stars.

 

 

 

Kepler works in the most simple way. All Kepler does is monitor the brightness of 100,000 stars with such exquisite³ position that it would detect a planet as small as an earth-like one, as it blocks the star light. 

 

 

 

We see the same thing from earth when Venus and Mercury are silhouetted⁴ against the Sun, but Kepler’s task is far more difficult. It is a little bit like having a searchlight in which you are trying to detect any dust on that searchlight by noticing a dimming of the searchlight when one dust particle falls on this massive searchlight. 

 

 

 

From this tiny dimming, the size of a planet can be measured. And more importantly, together with the way it causes its host star to be wobbled, Jeff can work out its density⁵.  

 

 

 

And of course, this is glorious because by these measurements, we will be able to distinguish gaseous⁶ planets probably not suitable for life, from the rocky planets that may have a surface covered by liquid water. 

 

 

 

Astronomers⁷ like Seth shostak aren’t sure how many planets Kepler will find, but with 200 billion stars in the Milky⁸ Way, surely the galaxy⁹ is teeming¹⁰ with them.

1 elongated   

v.延长，加长( elongate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Modigliani's women have strangely elongated faces. 莫迪里阿尼画中的妇女都长着奇长无比的脸。
• A piece of rubber can be elongated by streching. 一块橡皮可以拉长。 来自《用法词典》

2 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

3 exquisite   

adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的

参考例句：

• I was admiring the exquisite workmanship in the mosaic.我当时正在欣赏镶嵌画的精致做工。
• I still remember the exquisite pleasure I experienced in Bali.我依然记得在巴厘岛所经历的那种剧烈的快感。

4 silhouetted   

显出轮廓的，显示影像的

参考例句：

• We could see a church silhouetted against the skyline. 我们可以看到一座教堂凸现在天际。
• The stark jagged rocks were silhouetted against the sky. 光秃嶙峋的岩石衬托着天空的背景矗立在那里。

5 density   

n.密集，密度，浓度

参考例句：

• The population density of that country is 685 per square mile.那个国家的人口密度为每平方英里685人。
• The region has a very high population density.该地区的人口密度很高。

6 gaseous   

adj.气体的，气态的

参考例句：

• Air whether in the gaseous or liquid state is a fluid.空气，无论是气态的或是液态的，都是一种流体。
• Freon exists both in liquid and gaseous states.氟利昂有液态和气态两种形态。

7 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》

8 milky   

adj.牛奶的，多奶的；乳白色的

参考例句：

• Alexander always has milky coffee at lunchtime.亚历山大总是在午餐时喝掺奶的咖啡。
• I like a hot milky drink at bedtime.我喜欢睡前喝杯热奶饮料。

9 galaxy   

n.星系；银河系；一群(杰出或著名的人物)

参考例句：

• The earth is one of the planets in the Galaxy.地球是银河系中的星球之一。
• The company has a galaxy of talent.该公司拥有一批优秀的人才。

10 teeming   

adj.丰富的v.充满( teem的现在分词 )；到处都是；（指水、雨等）暴降；倾注

参考例句：

• The rain was teeming down. 大雨倾盆而下。
• the teeming streets of the city 熙熙攘攘的城市街道