考研英語報刊文章閱讀及剖析(11)

　　A distant, oversize world causes cosmic confusion

　　The discovery of planets around distant stars has become like space-shuttle launches--newsworthy but just barely. With some 50 extrasolar planets under their belt, astronomers have to announce something really strange to get anyone s attention.

　　Last week they did just that. Standing in front of colleagues and reporters at the American Astronomical Society s semiannual meeting in San Diego, the world s premier planet-hunting team--astronomer Geoffrey Marcy of the University of California, Berkeley, and his colleagues--presented not one but two remarkable finds. The first is a pair of planets, each about the mass of Jupiter, that whirl around their home star 15 light-years from Earth in perfect lockstep. One takes 30 days to complete an orbit, the other exactly twice as long. Nobody has ever seen such a configuration. But the second discovery is far stranger--a solar system 123 light-years away, in the constellation Serpens, that harbors one ordinary planet and another so huge--17 times as massive as Jupiter--that nobody can quite figure out what it can be. It is, says Marcy, a bit frightening.

　　What s frightening is that these discoveries make it clear how little astronomers know about planets, and they add to the dawning realization that our solar system--and by implication Planet Earth--may be a cosmic oddball. For years theorists figured that other stars would have planets more or less like the ones going around the sun. But starting with the 1995 discovery of the first extrasolar planet--a gassy monster like Jupiter but orbiting seven times as close to its star as Mercury orbits around our sun--each new find has seemed stranger than the last. Searchers have found more hot Jupiters like that first discovery. These include huge planets that career around their stars not in circular orbits but in elongated ones; their gravity would send any Earthlike neighbors flying off into space. Says Princeton astronomer Scott Tremaine: Not a single prediction for what we d find in other systems has turned out to be correct.

　　Last week s giant was the most unexpected discovery yet. Conventional theory suggests that it must have formed like a star, from a collapsing cloud of interstellar gas. Its smaller companion, only seven times Jupiter s mass, is almost certainly a planet, formed by the buildup of gas and dust left over from a star s formation. Yet the fact that these two orbs are so close together suggests to some theorists that they must have formed together--so maybe the bigger one is a planet after all.

　　Or maybe astronomers will have to rethink their definition of planet. Just because we put heavenly objects into categories doesn t mean the distinctions are necessarily valid. And as Tremaine puts it, When your classification schemes start breaking down, you know you re learning something exciting. This is wonderful stuff.

　　By Michael D. Lemonick Time; 01/22/2001, Vol. 157 Issue 3, p51, 2/3p, 1 diagram

　　1. The author believes that ____________.

　　[A] the discovery of planets is as important as the launch of space shuttles

　　[B] astronomers have been making a lot of discoveries of planets

　　[C] the public have no interest in astronomical discoveries

　　[D] there is little for astronomers to discover now

　　2.The two finds are remarkable in that ___________.

　　[A] the planets are far from our solar system

　　[B] the sizes of the plants are too huge.

　　[C] astronomers have never seen similar orbiting pattern and size before

　　[D] scientists can not figure out what they can be

　　3. By saying that our solar system may be a cosmic oddball, the author intends to render

　　the idea that ______________.

　　[A] other stars have planets more or less like the one going around the sun

　　[B] the orbits of extrasolar planets around their stars are elongated ones

　　[C] the way planets orbiting around the sun in our solar system is quite unique

　　[D] planets in other systems are generally huger than the ones in ours

　　4. The case of the giant heavenly body demonstrates that _________.

　　[A] conventional theory can not explain such astronomical phenomenon satisfactorily

　　[B] it is either a star or a planet

　　[C] it was formed like a star and orbits like a planet

　　[D] theorists give a wrong definition of planet

　　5. The best title for this passage could be ___________.

　　[A] New Planetary Puzzlers

　　[B] Two Remarkable Finds

　　[C] A Redefinition of Planet

　　[D] Hot Jupiters Challenging Conventional Theory

　　答案：B C C A A

　　篇章剖析：

　　本篇文章講述了安第斯山區的最新考古發現以及這一發現的重大意義。第一段想象了當年印加人參加活人祭祀前后的場景，引出話題;第二段簡要介紹考古學家萊茵哈德及他這次發現的三具印加兒童遺體。第三段、第四段描述了同時發現的陪葬品，最后一段則說明這次發現對于考古學家的重要意義。文章層次分明，結構清晰。

　　詞匯注釋：

　　semiannual: [5semi5AnjuEl] adj. 半年一次的

　　premier: [5premjE] adj. 第一的, 首要的

　　Jupiter: [5dVu:pitE] n. 木星

　　lockstep: [`lCkstep] n. 前后緊接, 步伐一致

　　configuration: [kEn7fi^ju5reiFEn] n. 【天】相對位置， 方位

　　constellation: [kCnstE5leiFEn] n. [天]星群, 星座

　　Serpens: [5sE:penz] n. [天]巨蛇座

　　oddball:[ 5RdbC:l] n. 古怪的人;古怪的事物

　　Mercury: [5mE:kjuri] n.〈天〉水星

　　elongate: [5i:lCN^eit] v. 拉長, 伸長, 延長

　　interstellar: [5intE5stelE] adj. 星際的

　　orb: [C:b] n. 球, 天體, 圓形物

　　難句突破：

　　Whats frightening is that these discoveries make it clear how little astronomers know about planets, and they add to the dawning realization that our solar system --- and by implication Planet Earth --- may be a cosmic oddball.

　　主體句式：whats frightening is that

　　結構分析：本句是個復雜句，包含主語從句，表語從句，賓語從句，同位語從句，插入語等，另外一些成語詞組的出現也增加了句子的難度，比如dawning realization，by implication等。閱讀本句的時候應該先看各個分句在句中的成分以及相互之間的關系，然后再看各部分具體的意義。

　　句子譯文：真正令人震驚的是，這些發現說明天文學家對于行星的了解十分有限，并且讓人們清醒地認識到我們的太陽---不言而喻，還有地球這顆行星---也許是宇宙中的異數。

　　考研英語報刊文章閱讀及剖析(11)

　　A distant, oversize world causes cosmic confusion

　　The discovery of planets around distant stars has become like space-shuttle launches--newsworthy but just barely. With some 50 extrasolar planets under their belt, astronomers have to announce something really strange to get anyone s attention.

　　Last week they did just that. Standing in front of colleagues and reporters at the American Astronomical Society s semiannual meeting in San Diego, the world s premier planet-hunting team--astronomer Geoffrey Marcy of the University of California, Berkeley, and his colleagues--presented not one but two remarkable finds. The first is a pair of planets, each about the mass of Jupiter, that whirl around their home star 15 light-years from Earth in perfect lockstep. One takes 30 days to complete an orbit, the other exactly twice as long. Nobody has ever seen such a configuration. But the second discovery is far stranger--a solar system 123 light-years away, in the constellation Serpens, that harbors one ordinary planet and another so huge--17 times as massive as Jupiter--that nobody can quite figure out what it can be. It is, says Marcy, a bit frightening.

　　What s frightening is that these discoveries make it clear how little astronomers know about planets, and they add to the dawning realization that our solar system--and by implication Planet Earth--may be a cosmic oddball. For years theorists figured that other stars would have planets more or less like the ones going around the sun. But starting with the 1995 discovery of the first extrasolar planet--a gassy monster like Jupiter but orbiting seven times as close to its star as Mercury orbits around our sun--each new find has seemed stranger than the last. Searchers have found more hot Jupiters like that first discovery. These include huge planets that career around their stars not in circular orbits but in elongated ones; their gravity would send any Earthlike neighbors flying off into space. Says Princeton astronomer Scott Tremaine: Not a single prediction for what we d find in other systems has turned out to be correct.

　　Last week s giant was the most unexpected discovery yet. Conventional theory suggests that it must have formed like a star, from a collapsing cloud of interstellar gas. Its smaller companion, only seven times Jupiter s mass, is almost certainly a planet, formed by the buildup of gas and dust left over from a star s formation. Yet the fact that these two orbs are so close together suggests to some theorists that they must have formed together--so maybe the bigger one is a planet after all.

　　Or maybe astronomers will have to rethink their definition of planet. Just because we put heavenly objects into categories doesn t mean the distinctions are necessarily valid. And as Tremaine puts it, When your classification schemes start breaking down, you know you re learning something exciting. This is wonderful stuff.

　　By Michael D. Lemonick Time; 01/22/2001, Vol. 157 Issue 3, p51, 2/3p, 1 diagram

　　1. The author believes that ____________.

　　[A] the discovery of planets is as important as the launch of space shuttles

　　[B] astronomers have been making a lot of discoveries of planets

　　[C] the public have no interest in astronomical discoveries

　　[D] there is little for astronomers to discover now

　　2.The two finds are remarkable in that ___________.

　　[A] the planets are far from our solar system

　　[B] the sizes of the plants are too huge.

　　[C] astronomers have never seen similar orbiting pattern and size before

　　[D] scientists can not figure out what they can be

　　3. By saying that our solar system may be a cosmic oddball, the author intends to render

　　the idea that ______________.

　　[A] other stars have planets more or less like the one going around the sun

　　[B] the orbits of extrasolar planets around their stars are elongated ones

　　[C] the way planets orbiting around the sun in our solar system is quite unique

　　[D] planets in other systems are generally huger than the ones in ours

　　4. The case of the giant heavenly body demonstrates that _________.

　　[A] conventional theory can not explain such astronomical phenomenon satisfactorily

　　[B] it is either a star or a planet

　　[C] it was formed like a star and orbits like a planet

　　[D] theorists give a wrong definition of planet

　　5. The best title for this passage could be ___________.

　　[A] New Planetary Puzzlers

　　[B] Two Remarkable Finds

　　[C] A Redefinition of Planet

　　[D] Hot Jupiters Challenging Conventional Theory

　　答案：B C C A A

　　篇章剖析：

　　本篇文章講述了安第斯山區的最新考古發現以及這一發現的重大意義。第一段想象了當年印加人參加活人祭祀前后的場景，引出話題;第二段簡要介紹考古學家萊茵哈德及他這次發現的三具印加兒童遺體。第三段、第四段描述了同時發現的陪葬品，最后一段則說明這次發現對于考古學家的重要意義。文章層次分明，結構清晰。

　　詞匯注釋：

　　semiannual: [5semi5AnjuEl] adj. 半年一次的

　　premier: [5premjE] adj. 第一的, 首要的

　　Jupiter: [5dVu:pitE] n. 木星

　　lockstep: [`lCkstep] n. 前后緊接, 步伐一致

　　configuration: [kEn7fi^ju5reiFEn] n. 【天】相對位置， 方位

　　constellation: [kCnstE5leiFEn] n. [天]星群, 星座

　　Serpens: [5sE:penz] n. [天]巨蛇座

　　oddball:[ 5RdbC:l] n. 古怪的人;古怪的事物

　　Mercury: [5mE:kjuri] n.〈天〉水星

　　elongate: [5i:lCN^eit] v. 拉長, 伸長, 延長

　　interstellar: [5intE5stelE] adj. 星際的

　　orb: [C:b] n. 球, 天體, 圓形物

　　難句突破：

　　Whats frightening is that these discoveries make it clear how little astronomers know about planets, and they add to the dawning realization that our solar system --- and by implication Planet Earth --- may be a cosmic oddball.

　　主體句式：whats frightening is that

　　結構分析：本句是個復雜句，包含主語從句，表語從句，賓語從句，同位語從句，插入語等，另外一些成語詞組的出現也增加了句子的難度，比如dawning realization，by implication等。閱讀本句的時候應該先看各個分句在句中的成分以及相互之間的關系，然后再看各部分具體的意義。

　　句子譯文：真正令人震驚的是，這些發現說明天文學家對于行星的了解十分有限，并且讓人們清醒地認識到我們的太陽---不言而喻，還有地球這顆行星---也許是宇宙中的異數。