Text 5_新浪教育

Text 5

http://www.sina.com.cn 2006/09/25 20:10 东方飞龙

　　Directions:

　　Read the following text carefully and then translate the underlined segments into Chinese.

　　Text 5

　　Planetary science holds my interest and my passion. I was trained in the field of history, where I learned that what happened in the past has a direct influence on the present and future. Over the years I have endeavored to understand two more fields, geology and astronomy, both bearing directly on planetary science. (21)These fields are basically historical sciences—astronomy is like a time machine that tells us about the creation of our solar system and our universe, geology reveals the nature of our world in the past and helps us to understand Earth and its neighboring planets today.

　　I have concentrated my work on a search for comets and for planetcrossing asteroids capable of impacting Earth as a means to understand the effects in our solar system. (22)Impact cratering is a process that affects all life, which to me means that science and society cannot help but be intertwined. In 1993 I was fortunate to be part of the team with Eugene comet Shoemaker. Many scientific discoveries today are done as a team effort, and while I was the first to see this comet on our films, this was possible only because other members of the team had taken the photographs. (23)Observing at the telescope was among the hardest, most demanding work that any of us did and we were all in it together. While finding this comet was a fantastic discovery, the events that followed were not only exciting, but humbling. SL 9 was the first comet to be seen in an orbit around a planet, Jupiter—rather than in an orbit around the sun—the first comet to be observed so completely disrupted that there seemed to be a steadystate number of 21 fragments, and the first large object to be observed so completely disrupted that amateur astronomers sought to learn more about it and to find the best way to observe its inevitable impact on Jupiter. (24)The Internet made possible the exchange of huge quantities of information and beautiful images to the general public, as well. For 15 months there was enthusiastic cooperation between scientists, amateur astronomers, educators, and the media, who were witnessing an event that had never before been described in the historical record. Not since the days of Apollo and lunar exploration had science, technology, and the rest of society had such an affinity for each other. (25)Occasionally we are lucky to have a meeting of minds and events that makes the discoveries of science meaningful to all.［426 words］

　　-核心及超纲词汇

　　1.planetarya.行星的

　　2.cannot help but(+不定式)不得不，不能不，必然

　　3.be all in sth对……投入，专心；同心协力做

　　4.humblinga.令人羞愧的

　　5.disruptvt.使中断，使瓦解，使陷于混乱；破坏［同义］ collapse， disorganize

　　6.fragmentn.碎片，断片，片段［同义］ remnant, fraction, scrap, chip

　　7.affinityn.亲密关系；吸引力；契合关系［同义］ propinquity, analogy, resemblance