Our Big Universe
浩瀚的宇宙 I-03 / 003

For many years, people have had questions about the universe. In ancient times they thought the world rested on the back of an elephant. When asked what the elephant stood on, they answered, “On the back of a turtle.”Most ancient people believed the sun, moon, and stars revolved around the earth. Some also thought that the earth was flat because to them it looked that way. They were afraid that if one went too far in any direction, he would fall off the edge.

These beliefs, in the forms of legends, myths, and stories, were accepted as facts when they really were opinions. Opinions are beliefs that people have without positive knowledge or proof.

The astronomers' eyes made about three hundred and seventy years ago were an instrument made to help scientists learn more about space. The story has been told about a Dutchman who made eyeglasses. His name was Hans Lippershey. One day, unknown to him, his children slipped into the shop where he worked. They began to play with some glass lenses. One of the children picked up two lenses and looked out of the window. He was surprised at what he saw. He noticed that a church which was far away looked much closer and bigger. He called his father. His father rushed in and was amazed at what he saw. By chance Hans' son had made a very important discovery. He had discovered that if he held a lens near his eye and another lens a little farther away, objects at a distance appeared to be much closer and bigger than they really were. A short time later an Italian scientist named Galileo heard about this discovery. He started at once to use two lenses and made a telescope.

Since the time Lippershey and Galileo made their first telescopes in 1608 and 1609, scientists have made larger and better ones. The telescope has opened new worlds in astronomy. With telescopes astronomers can see farther and farther into space.

Another instrument that has aided in space study is the spectroscope. A spectroscope measures light from heavenly bodies. When you see a rainbow in the sky, you are looking at a type of spectroscope. The light of sun shining on the drops of water is broken into the colors of the rainbow. A spectroscope works like the raindrops to break up the colors of light from faraway heavenly bodies. By using a spectroscope with a telescope, an astronomer can learn important information about the stars.

Astronomers use another important instrument called a radio telescope to study the universe. The radio telescope is used to receive radio signals from stars and other objects in space. These radio signals are called waves.

A machine attached to the radio telescope strengthens the signals and records them as wavy lines on a piece of paper. The wavy lines tell the astronomer the distance to the object and where it is located in space. In this way, the astronomer gets the information from stars that are so far away and so dim that they cannot be seen through a regular telescope.

From these instruments, astronomers can get the needed information to make maps of the heavenly bodies.

Words and Phrases

turtle [ˈtɜ:tl] 名 海龟

ancient [ˈeɪnʃənt] 形 古代的；古老的

revolve [rɪˈvɒlv] 动（使）旋转

fall off 跌落

legend [ˈledʒənd] 名 传说

astronomer [əˈstrɒnəmə] 名 天文学家

instrument [ˈɪnstrəmənt] 名 器具，仪器

slip into 悄悄进入

by chance 偶然地，意外地

astronomy [əˈstrɒnəmɪ] 名 天文学

spectroscope [ˈspektrəskəʊp] 名 分光镜

heavenly bodies 天体

rainbow [ˈreɪnbəʊ] 名 彩虹

break into 把……分成……

break up 分解

radio telescope 无线电望远镜

radio signal 无线电信号

wavy [ˈweɪvɪ] 形 波状的；起伏的；有波纹的

Practice

1. Many ancient people believed that the earth rested on the back of_________.

A. a dog

B. a bird

C. an elephant

D. a cat

2. This belief in Question 1 was accepted as__________ by many.

A. fact

B. proof

C. silly

D. unbelievable

3. An Italian scientist who improved upon the telescope and made it popular was_________.

A. Lippershey

B. Galileo

C. Marconi

D. none of these

译文

浩瀚的宇宙

长久以来，人们对宇宙一直存有疑问。古时候人们认为世界就在大象的背上。当被问到大象站在什么上面时，古人又回答“在乌龟的背上”。大部分的古人认为太阳、月亮、星星都绕着地球旋转。一些人还认为地球就如同他们看到的一样是平的。如果有人向任何一个方向走得太远，大家就会担心他会从地球边缘跌下去。

这些信念以传说、神话及故事的形式被那时的人们当作事实所接受，尽管它们真的只是观点而已。观点就是人们没有明确的知识或证据证实的信念。

大约在370年前，一种帮助科学家进一步研究太空的工具“天文学家之眼”诞生了。故事讲述的是一个名叫汉斯·利伯希的荷兰人，他制造眼镜。某天，他的孩子们瞒着父亲悄悄溜进他工作的商店，开始玩一些玻璃镜片。其中一个孩子拿起两片透镜朝窗外望去。他对所见非常吃惊，他发现远处的教堂看上去竟然那么近那么大。他便叫父亲来看。父亲匆忙跑来，对自己看到的感到无比惊讶。汉斯的儿子就这样在偶然间有了一个重大发现。他发现如果把一个镜片贴近眼睛，而把另一个镜片稍微拿远一点，那么远处的物体看上去就会比实际的近许多也大许多。不久之后，有一位名叫伽利略的意大利科学家听说了这个发现，就立即着手用两片透镜制作了望远镜。

自从利伯希在1608年和伽利略在1609年分别制造出他们的第一个望远镜后，科学家们陆续制造出更大更好的望远镜。望远镜开启了天文学新世界的大门。有了望远镜，天文学家就能在太空中看得更远。

分光镜是另一个有助于太空研究的工具，它能够测量来自天体的光线。当你看到彩虹在天空出现时，事实上你就是看到了一种分光镜。照在水滴上的太阳光被分解成彩虹的颜色。分光镜类似雨滴，它把来自遥远天体的光线分解成不同的颜色。通过运用有望远镜的分光镜，天文学家可以获得有关星体的重要信息。

无线电望远镜是天文学家研究宇宙的另一个重要工具。这种望远镜被用来接收来自太空的星体或其他物体的无线电信号。这些无线电信号叫作“波”。

一台与无线电望远镜相连的机器能强化信号，并将它们以波状线条的形式记录在纸上。通过研究这些波状线，天文学家可以知道地球与星体的距离以及确定它在太空中的位置。用这种方法，天文学家可以获得那些用普通望远镜看不到的、距离地球遥远而又黯淡的星体的信息。

有了这些仪器，天文学家们便能获取所需信息来绘制天体地图。

练习

1．古时候很多人相信地球是位于_________的背上。

A．一只狗

B．一只鸟

C．一头大象

D．一只猫

2．当时第一题中的这种信念被许多人视作__________。

A．事实

B．证据

C．愚蠢的

D．不可思议的

3．改进望远镜并促使它被广泛使用的一位意大利科学家是_________。

A．利伯希

B．伽利略

C．马可尼

D．都不是