文字稿

歐洲航天局發(fā)布了超過十億顆恒星的位置和亮度的詳細信息。 2013 年發(fā)射的 蓋亞太空望遠鏡在過去的三年里收集了這些信息。這項研究將被用來測繪史上最精確的銀河系地圖。請聽  Phallab Ghosh  的報道。

Our sun is one of billions of stars in our galaxy, the Milky Way. According to the text books, it looks like a disc with two spiral arms, but that picture is based on informed guesswork, from the observations of just a hundred of our closest stars.

The Gaia telescope, which is a million miles from the Earth, in a quiet region of space, has been scanning the skies and has mapped the precise position of more than a billion stars.

According to Professor Gerry Gilmore from Cambridge University, who's the mission's principal investigator, in a few years' time, there will be a more accurate picture of what the Milky Way is really like.

'This Gaia data release is the first step towards a complete revolution in our knowledge of the structure, the origin, the evolution and what the universe is made of.'

It would take five years to gather all the data needed for the map of our galaxy. Astronomers also expect Gaia to discover completely new objects in the cosmos in that time that are completely beyond our imagination.  

詞匯表

galaxy 星系
the Milky Way 銀河系
spiral 螺旋形的
informed guesswork 有根據(jù)的猜測
observations 觀察
region 區(qū)域
scanning 掃描、搜索
mission 任務(wù)、使命
principal 主管、首席
investigator 調(diào)查員 
origin 起源、開始
evolution 進化
cosmos 宇宙

測驗

請聽報道并回答下列問題。

1. Which galaxy is the Gaia telescope taking pictures of?

2. How far is the Gaia telescope from Earth?

3. True or false? It would take five years to plot an accurate map of our galaxy.

4. Which word in the text means 'the gradual development of something'?

答案

1. Which galaxy is the Gaia telescope taking pictures of?
The Gaia telescope is taking pictures of the Milky Way.

2. How far is the Gaia telescope from Earth?
About one million miles from Earth.

3. True or false? It would take five years to plot an accurate map of our galaxy.
True, according to the report.

4. Which word in the text means 'the gradual development of something'?
Evolution.