Comet LINEAR

66 神秘的彗星"里尼尔"
DATE=7-4-01
TITLE=SCIENCE REPORT - Comet¹ LINEAR²
 BYLINE=Caty Weaver³

(Start at 59")his is Bill White with the VOA Special English Science Report.
A space object of (1) frozen⁴ gas and rock broke into many pieces one year ago.  The (2) Hubble Space Telescope and telescopes on Earth recorded the death of the (3) comet named LINEAR. Now scientists have reported what they learned from the information provided by the telescopes. 
Hal Weaver is an (4) astronomer⁵ at the Johns Hopkins University in (5) Baltimore, (6) Maryland.  His study of LINEAR was published in the magazine Science. Mister Weaver says the break up of LINEAR has taught scientists about the period when Earth and the (7) solar system formed.  LINEAR began forming at that same time -- about four-and-one-half-thousand-million years ago.
Mister Weaver says watching the death of the comet was like looking back in time. He says as LINEAR's pieces fell away scientists could see how the comet may have developed. 
Mister Weaver says scientists are not sure why LINEAR broke up. He says no other comet has fallen apart in the way LINEAR did.  He says the comet was not close to any large object. This means LINEAR was not (8) torn apart by a (9) gravitational force. 
Mister Weaver says frozen (10) carbon monoxide gas probably was not involved. This gas can cause a sudden (11) pressure increase in the center of a comet. But Mister Weaver says LINEAR had fifty times less carbon monoxide than comets Hale-Bopp and Hyakutake. 
Mister Weaver says there is another (12) mystery connected with LINEAR.  He says the comet's (13) estimated mass was about three-hundred-thousand-million kilograms.  After LINEAR broke up scientists measured the (14) mass of the sixteen large pieces that remained. They also measured the mass of a huge area of dust left by the comet. 
The combined weight of the pieces and the dust was just over three-thousand-million kilograms.  That is about one-hundred times less than the mass of the comet when it was whole.
Mister Weaver thinks the missing mass may be in pieces no bigger than fifty meters across. Hubble and other telescopes would not be able to see these pieces. 
Comet pieces of such size are unusual.  Scientists believe (15) gravity pulls together much larger objects to form comets.  Mister Weaver says the (16) existence of medium-size pieces may change that theory. 
This VOA Special English Science Report was written by Caty Weaver. This is Bill White.

(1)  frozen [ 5frEuzn ] adj.冻结的, 冷冰的, 冷酷的
(2)  Hubble Space Telescope n.哈勃天文望远镜
(3) comet [ 5kCmit ] n.彗星
(4) astronomer [E5strRnEmE(r)] n.天文学家
(5) Baltimore [ 5bC:ltimC: ] n.巴尔的摩
(6) Maryland [ 5mZErilAnd ] n.马里兰
(7) solar system n.[天] 太阳系
(8) tear [ tiE ]n.破处, 破缝, 泪滴vi.流泪, 飞奔, 被撕破 vt.扯, 戳破
(9) gravitational adj.重力的
(10) carbon monoxide 一氧化碳
(11) pressure[ `preFE(r)] n.压, 压力, 电压, 压迫, 强制, 紧迫
(12) mystery [ 5mistEri ] n.神秘, 神秘的事物
(13) estimate [ 5estimeit ] v.估计, 估价, 评估 n.估计, 估价, 评估
(14) mass [ mAs ] n.块, 大多数adj., 集中的 vt.使集合 vi.聚集
(15) gravity [ 5^rAviti ] n.地心引力, 重力
(16) existence [ i^5zistEns ] n.存在, 实在, 生活, 存在物, 实在物

1 comet   

n.慧星

参考例句：

• Recently they have discovered a comet.最近他们发现了一颗彗星。
• Halley's Comet is going to come back in 2061.哈雷彗星将于2061年回归。

2 linear   

adj.线的，直线的，线状的，长度的，线性的

参考例句：

• He's making linear measurements.他正在进行长度测量。
• Here are linear measures in millimeters.这是毫米方式的线性量度。

3 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

4 frozen   

adj.冻结的，冰冻的

参考例句：

• He was frozen to death on a snowing night.在一个风雪的晚上，他被冻死了。
• The weather is cold and the ground is frozen.天寒地冻。

5 astronomer   

n.天文学家

参考例句：

• A new star attracted the notice of the astronomer.新发现的一颗星引起了那位天文学家的注意。
• He is reputed to have been a good astronomer.他以一个优秀的天文学者闻名于世。