文字稿

欧洲航天局发布了超过十亿颗恒星的位置和亮度的详细信息。 2013 年发射的 盖亚太空望远镜在过去的三年里收集了这些信息。这项研究将被用来测绘史上最精确的银河系地图。请听  Phallab Ghosh  的报道。

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.  

词汇表

galaxy 星系
the Milky Way 银河系
spiral 螺旋形的
informed guesswork 有根据的猜测
observations 观察
region 区域
scanning 扫描、搜索
mission 任务、使命
principal 主管、首席
investigator 调查员 
origin 起源、开始
evolution 进化
cosmos 宇宙

测验

请听报道并回答下列问题。

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.