英国新闻听力 生命可能存在于地球形成前

Scientists here in the UK have discovered a solar system with five earth-size planets dating back to the dawn of the galaxy¹.

近日，英国科学家发现了一个五颗行星的太阳系，其诞生时间为星系形成初期。

The star and its planets are billions of years older than our own sun.

它的恒星和行星比太阳诞生还要早几十亿年。

Life might be existed in our galaxy in the distant past.

我们的星系可能在遥远的过去就有生命存在了。

Our science correspondent Pallab Ghosh has the details.

本台科学记者帕拉博·高希详细报道。

This is the music of the stars.

这是行星产生的“音乐”。

It's the vibrations² of a 2.6 billion-year old star converted into sound,

是形成于26亿年前的恒星振动发出的声音，

while researchers now compare it with the sound of a star that's nearly three billion years older.

研究人员现在拿它与将近30亿年前形成的恒星发出的声音作比较。

Pro³. Bill Caplin who led the research discovered that he could establish the age of stars from the sound they make.

研究的领头人比尔·凯普林教授发现，他能根据行星发出的声音判定它们的年龄。

So as the stars get older, as their envelopes expand, and we get these changes to the structure of the deep interior,

随着行星“年龄”的增长，它们的包层也随之扩展，通过了解其内部结构的变化，

what we find is that the periods which the star resonates basically lengthen⁴.

我们发现恒星的共振周期也随之延长。

Pro. Caplin and his team were able to work out that a star with five planets orbiting it,

凯普林教授和他的团队成功计算出：该恒星形成于110亿年前，

that are about the same sizes as our own earth, was more than eleven billion years old.

由5颗和地球大小相当的行星环绕。

That's 6.5 billion years older than our own sun and the oldest star with such planets discovered to date.

这颗恒星比太阳的形成还要早65亿年，目前，在有这类行星环绕的的恒星中，它的形成时间最早。

It's thought that living organisms are more likely to thrive in worlds that are about the same size as the earth,

有人认为，体积近似地球、

as well as having the right temperature and having running water.

有适宜的温度和水源，是更加适合生物体的栖息地。

So the discovery raises the intriguing⁵ possibility that life might have existed in our own galaxy billions of years before our own earth had formed.

因此，该发现增加了一个有趣猜想的可能性，即在地球形成前十几亿年里，我们的星系可能已经有生命存在。

We left Damascus three years ago.

三年前，我们离开大马士革。

Then the war started.

之后爆发了战争。

Then we came to Turkey to a small village.

我们又来到土耳其的一个小村庄。

I started to take courses for piano.

然后，我就开始上钢琴课了。

What made you think about the piano?

你是怎么想到学钢琴的？

You know, before I played the piano, I played another instrument, the accordion⁶.

我弹钢琴前会另一种乐器——手风琴。

I was playing it like amateur like just with hearing. I wasn't professional.

它像是一个兴趣爱好，我凭耳力自学的，不专业。

But I was searching on YouTube about the pianists and about the classical music.

但我喜欢在YouTube上搜索钢琴家和古典音乐。

So I wanted to be, you know, like more professional, so I decided⁷ to take lessons and courses in piano.

因为我想变得更加专业，所以决定上钢琴课。

You hadn't ever sat at a piano in Damascus?

在大马士革，你从来没有在钢琴旁边坐过？

No. No. You know, in Syria in Damascus, it's really hard to have a piano in your own home because it's really expensive.

是的。在叙利亚，在大马士革，钢琴很贵，所以买钢琴放在家里是一件很困难的事。

1 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。

2 vibrations   

n.摆动( vibration的名词复数 )；震动；感受；（偏离平衡位置的）一次性往复振动

参考例句：

• We could feel the vibrations from the trucks passing outside. 我们可以感到外面卡车经过时的颤动。
• I am drawn to that girl; I get good vibrations from her. 我被那女孩吸引住了，她使我产生良好的感觉。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 pro   

n.赞成，赞成的意见，赞成者

参考例句：

• The two debating teams argued the question pro and con.辩论的两组从赞成与反对两方面辩这一问题。
• Are you pro or con nuclear disarmament?你是赞成还是反对核裁军？

4 lengthen   

vt.使伸长，延长

参考例句：

• He asked the tailor to lengthen his coat.他请裁缝把他的外衣放长些。
• The teacher told her to lengthen her paper out.老师让她把论文加长。

5 intriguing   

adj.有趣的；迷人的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的现在分词)；激起…的好奇心

参考例句：

• These discoveries raise intriguing questions. 这些发现带来了非常有趣的问题。
• It all sounds very intriguing. 这些听起来都很有趣。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 accordion   

n.手风琴；adj.可折叠的

参考例句：

• The accordion music in the film isn't very beautiful.这部影片中的手风琴音乐不是很好。
• The accordion music reminds me of my boyhood.这手风琴的乐声让我回忆起了我的少年时代。

7 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。