Exoplanets托福聽力原文翻譯及問題答案

Exoplanets托福聽力原文翻譯及問題答案

一、Exoplanets托福聽力原文：

MALE PROFESSOR:OK,we've been discussing the planets in our solar system,and how some of the ones farthest from the Sun were discovered.Well,today I'd like to turn to what are called exoplanets,and how researchers detect them.Maria?

FEMALE STUDENT:Exoplanets are planets that orbit around a star other than our Sun,right?They're not in our solar system…

MALE PROFESSOR:Right.They have different,what're called host stars.The study of exoplanets has been getting more and more exciting;hundreds of them have been discovered so far.This is quite remarkable in view of the fact that the discovery of the first exoplanets was confirmed only in the mid-1990s.Now we’re finding new ones every few weeks or so.

FEMALE STUDENT:So,uh—exactly why are we interested in these exoplanets,anyway?Is it to see if there's life on them?'Cause it seems to me like the only exoplanets we ever hear about are gas giants,like Jupiter and Saturn,that couldn’t possibly support carbon-based life….

MALE PROFESSOR:OK,well,let's talk about that.

First,as for discovering life…wellll,I think that sort of discovery is pretty far in the future,but it is an eventual goal.

For now,the focus is on locating planets within a host star's so-called habitable zone,a zone that's a certain distance from its star.Because only planets within this zone could conceivably support carbon-based life.

So what would such a planet need?

FEMALE STUDENT:Water?

MALE PROFESSOR:Yes,it'd need to be the right temperature to sustain liquid water.

MALE STUDENT:#And it would need to be a rocky planet….I mean,as opposed to a gas giant….

MALE PROFESSOR:OK,good.An Earth-like planet.

Now,as to that,there are some recently detected exoplanets that might actually be Earth-like.

For example,there's a red dwarf star—that's what most stars are—uh,that's called Gliese 581.

Gliese 581 is…well,it's a lot more interesting than that name makes it seem.This host star is considered a near neighbor of our solar system because it's only about twenty light-years away.That's pretty close,by astronomical standards.And being a red dwarf star,it's small and relatively cool,at least compared with the Sun.

And researchers have discovered planets orbiting Gliese 581.These exoplanets have been named—ready?—Gliese 581 b,c,d,e…in alphabetical order of their discovery.

Gliese 581d and e are the planets I want to focus on now.See,in 2009 a group of researchers made an announcement:these two exoplanets,Gliese 581d and e,do have some Earth-like qualities.Gliese 581d had actually been discovered a couple of years earlier,and when its orbit was originally calculated,it was thought to be too far away from its host star to be warm enough to support a liquid ocean,let alone carbon-based life.But then its orbit was recalculated,and now we see that Gliese 581d is within its host's habitable zone.

MALE STUDENT:#So it might have an ocean?

MALE PROFESSOR:Well,conceivably.

See,Gliese 581d weighs seven times what Earth weighs,and it's unlikely that it's made entirely of rocks…because it's so massive.The researchers studying it said that it could have a rocky core;an ice layer;a large,deep ocean;and an atmosphere.

OK,and there was another announcement,along with the recalculated orbit of Gliese 581d.That was the discovery of another planet in the system,Gliese 581e.Compared with other exoplanets,its mass is quite small—only about twice that of Earth's.

FEMALE STUDENT:So is Gliese 581e a more Earth-like planet?

MALE PROFESSOR:Well,we have to consider its orbit.Gliese 581e orbits its host star in a much shorter period of time than the other planets in the system,meaning it's very close to the star.And therefore too hot for water,for an ocean.

However,the fact that it's relatively close to the size of Earth—small,in astronomical terms—that was pretty exciting.It's impressive that we have the technology to detect it.And it bodes well for future research.Who knows what we'll find the more we search?

二、Exoplanets托福聽力中文翻譯：

男教授：好吧，我們一直在討論太陽系中的行星，以及一些離太陽最遠的行星是如何被發(fā)現(xiàn)的。今天，我想談?wù)勊^的系外行星，以及研究人員如何探測它們。瑪麗亞？

女學(xué)生：系外行星是圍繞太陽以外的恒星運行的行星，對嗎？它們不在我們的太陽系中…

男教授：對。他們有不同的，被稱為宿主星。對系外行星的研究越來越令人興奮；到目前為止，已經(jīng)發(fā)現(xiàn)了數(shù)百個。鑒于第一批系外行星的發(fā)現(xiàn)僅在20世紀90年代中期才得到證實，這一點相當(dāng)顯著?，F(xiàn)在我們每隔幾周左右就會發(fā)現(xiàn)新的。

女學(xué)生：那么，我們到底為什么對這些系外行星感興趣？是不是要看看他們身上有沒有生命因為在我看來，我們聽到的唯一的系外行星是像木星和土星這樣的氣體巨星，它們不可能支持碳基生命…。

男教授：好吧，讓我們談?wù)勥@個。

首先，關(guān)于發(fā)現(xiàn)生命，我認為這種發(fā)現(xiàn)在未來相當(dāng)遙遠，但這是最終的目標。

目前，重點是在主恒星的所謂可居住區(qū)內(nèi)定位行星，該區(qū)域距離恒星有一定距離。因為只有在這個區(qū)域內(nèi)的行星才能支持碳基生命。

那么，這樣一個星球需要什么呢？

女學(xué)生：水？

男教授：是的，需要合適的溫度來維持液態(tài)水。

男學(xué)生：#而且它必須是一個巖石星球…。我的意思是，相對于氣體巨人…。

男教授：好，很好。類似地球的行星。

現(xiàn)在，關(guān)于這一點，最近發(fā)現(xiàn)的一些系外行星實際上可能與地球類似。

例如，有一顆紅矮星，大多數(shù)恒星都是這樣的，叫做Gliese 581。

格利澤581是…嗯，它比這個名字看起來更有趣。這顆主星被認為是我們太陽系的近鄰，因為它距離我們只有大約20光年。以天文標準來說，這相當(dāng)接近。作為一顆紅矮星，它很小，相對較冷，至少與太陽相比。

研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)了圍繞格利澤581軌道運行的行星。這些系外行星已經(jīng)被命名為“準備好了嗎？”-格利澤581 b，c，d，e…按他們發(fā)現(xiàn)的字母順序排列。

Gliese 581d和e是我現(xiàn)在要關(guān)注的行星。2009年，一組研究人員宣布：這兩顆系外行星，Gliese 581d和e，確實具有類似地球的性質(zhì)。Gliese 581d實際上是在幾年前被發(fā)現(xiàn)的，在最初計算其軌道時，人們認為它離宿主恒星太遠，溫度不足以支撐液態(tài)海洋，更不用說碳基生命了。但后來重新計算了它的軌道，現(xiàn)在我們看到Gliese 581d位于其宿主的可居住區(qū)內(nèi)。

男學(xué)生：#所以它可能有海洋？

男教授：嗯，可以想象。

你看，Gliese 581d的重量是地球的七倍，它不可能完全由巖石組成，因為它太大了。研究人員說，它可能有一個巖石核心；冰層；大而深的海洋；和氣氛。

好的，還有另一個公告，還有重新計算的Gliese 581d軌道。這是在星系中發(fā)現(xiàn)的另一顆行星，Gliese 581e。與其他系外行星相比，它的質(zhì)量非常小，只有地球的兩倍。

女學(xué)生：那么格利澤581e更像地球嗎？

男教授：我們必須考慮它的軌道。Gliese 581e圍繞其主星運行的時間比系統(tǒng)中的其他行星短得多，這意味著它離恒星非常近。因此對于水和海洋來說太熱了。

然而，從天文角度來看，它相對接近地球的大小，這一事實非常令人興奮。令人印象深刻的是，我們擁有檢測它的技術(shù)。這是未來研究的好兆頭。誰知道我們搜索得越多會發(fā)現(xiàn)什么？

三、Exoplanets托福聽力問題：

Q1:1.What do the speakers mainly discuss?

A.Whether life could exist outside a star's habitable zone

B.Techniques used by researchers to detect exoplanets

C.Exoplanets that share certain characteristics with Earth

D.Characteristics of several recently discovered red dwarf stars

Q2:2.What does the professor say about the host star Gliese 581?[Click on 2 answers.]

A.It is larger than the Sun.

B.It is cooler than the Sun.

C.It is a relatively young star.

D.It is relatively close to Earth.

Q3:3.What does the professor suggest about life on other planets?

A.It most likely does not exist.

B.It probably will not be discovered in the near future.

C.It probably would not be similar to life on Earth.

D.It could possibly be found even on gas giants.

Q4:4.What did researchers discover about the planet Gliese 581d when they reexamined it?

A.It is made entirely of rocks.

B.It is not able to support an ocean.

C.It is smaller than previously thought.

D.It is closer to its host star than previousty thought.

Q5:5.Why is the planet Gliese 581e unlikely to support carbon-based life?

A.It is too hot.

B.It is too small.

C.It is covered in ice.

D.It is made entirely of gas.

Q6:6.What does the professor find most exciting about the discovery of the planet Gliese 581e?

A.It showed that some exoplanets have an atmosphere like Earth's.

B.It helped researchers better understand exoplanets'orbits.

C.It showed that the technology exists to detect small exoplanets.

D.It proved that some stars'habitable zones are larger than once thought.

四、Exoplanets托福聽力答案：

A1:正確答案：C

A2:正確答案：BD

A3:正確答案：B

A4:正確答案：D

A5:正確答案：A

A6:正確答案：C

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