SSS 2011-08-25
时间：2018-12-24 作者：英语课 分类：Scientific American(八)月
英语课
This is Scientific American’s 60-SecondScience. I’m John Matson, got a minute?
Say you need a diamond. You could go downto the jeweler, or you could put some carbon deep underground and let it sitfor a couple billion years. Or you could hop 1 in a starship and cruise 4,000light years over to a dead star called pulsar J1719-1438.
The pulsar is exotic on its own—it's a super-dense remnant of a star spinningat about 10,000 rpm. But far more curious is the world orbiting it, which mightbe called a planet if it weren't so strange.
It's about as massive as Jupiter, but much more compact. It may be the remainsof a carbon-rich white dwarf 2 star. But it's been mostly cannibalized by itspulsar companion, and is now just a shadow of its former self.
The object’s incredible density 3 makes it subject to great internal pressure.And that pressure, acting 4 on the carbon-rich makeup 5 of the white dwarf, mayhave crystallized much of it to the particular form of carbon we call diamond.That's according to new research in the journal Science. The next step forastronomers is to find out if the diamond planet has rings.
Thanks for the minute. For Scientific American’s 60-Second Science, I’m JohnMatson.
1 hop
n.单脚跳，跳跃；vi.单脚跳，跳跃；着手做某事；vt.跳跃，跃过
- The children had a competition to see who could hop the fastest.孩子们举行比赛，看谁单足跳跃最快。
- How long can you hop on your right foot?你用右脚能跳多远？
2 dwarf
n.矮子，侏儒，矮小的动植物；vt.使…矮小
- The dwarf's long arms were not proportional to his height.那侏儒的长臂与他的身高不成比例。
- The dwarf shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. 矮子耸耸肩膀，摇摇头。
3 density
n.密集，密度，浓度
- The population density of that country is 685 per square mile.那个国家的人口密度为每平方英里685人。
- The region has a very high population density.该地区的人口密度很高。