Small But Wise

　　On December 14,NASA1 blasted a small but mighty telescope into space. The telescope is called WISE and is about as wide around as a trashcan. Dont let its small size fool you:WISE has a powerful digital camera, and it will be taking pictures of some the wildest objects2 in the known universe,including asteroids,faint stars,blazing galaxies3 and giant clouds of dust where planets and stars are born.

　　Since arriving in space,the WISE telescope has been circling the Earth,held by gravity in a polar orbit4.Its camera is pointed outward,away from the Earth,and WISE will snap a picture of a different part of the sky every 11 minutes. After six months it will have taken pictures across the entire sky.

　　Radiation is energy that travels as a wave. Visible light, including the familiar spectrum of light7 that becomes visible in a rainbow,is an example of radiation. When an ordinary digital camera takes a picture of a tree,for example,it receives the waves of visible light that are reflected off the tree. When these waves enter the camera through the lens,theyre processed by the camera,which then puts the image together.

　　Thats a key idea to why WISE will be able to see things other telescopes cant. Not everything in the universe shows up in visible light. Asteroids,for example,are giant rocks that float through space 一but they absorb most of the light that reaches them. They dont reflect light,so theyre difficult to see. But they do give off infrared radiation, so an infrared telescope like WISE will be able to produce images of them. During its mission WISE will take pictures of hundreds of thousands of asteroids.

　　詞匯：

　　infrared adj.紅外線

　　dwarf n. 矮星

　　NASA 是縮寫詞，全稱是National Aeronautics and Space

　　the wildest objects ：任何你能想象得到的天體。wild 有未被人馴養(yǎng)的荒唐的離奇的意思。

　　 polar orbit：極地軌道。指軌道平面與赤道面夾角為90。的人造地球衛(wèi)星軌道。人造衛(wèi)星運行時能到達(dá)南北極區(qū)上空，即衛(wèi)星能飛經(jīng)全球范圍的上空。需要在全球范圍內(nèi)進(jìn)行觀測和應(yīng)用的氣象衛(wèi)星、導(dǎo)航衛(wèi)星、地球資源衛(wèi)星等都采用這種軌道。

　　infrared radiation：紅外線輻射

　　Brown dwarfs：褐矮星。褐矮星非常暗淡，很難發(fā)現(xiàn)它們，要確定它們的大小就更加困難。

　　練習(xí)：

　　A It is small in size but carries a large camera.

　　C Its digital camera can help astronomers to see the unknown space.

　　 Which is NOT the synonym for the word snap in the third paragraph?

　　B shoot.

　　D photograph.

　　A is no different from an ordinary camera.

　　C catches the infrared radiation while the ordinary camera does not.

　　Which of the following is NOT correct aboutasteroids according to paragraph 7?

　　B Asteroids do not reflect light that reaches them.

　　D The WISE telescope can take pictures of asteroids

　　A Brown dwarfs give off visible light.

　　C Brown dwarfs are power stars like the sun.

　　答案與題解：

　　A snap 是個多義詞，可以解釋為拍照，更為確切的意思是拍快照。這里shoot, take 和photograph 都是snap 的同義詞。

　 A 短文第七段第二句說并非所有的宇宙中的物體都會發(fā)出可見光，比如asteroids ，所以A是正確選項。其他選項的內(nèi)容都可以在該段中找到。

　　Small But Wise

　　On December 14,NASA1 blasted a small but mighty telescope into space. The telescope is called WISE and is about as wide around as a trashcan. Dont let its small size fool you:WISE has a powerful digital camera, and it will be taking pictures of some the wildest objects2 in the known universe,including asteroids,faint stars,blazing galaxies3 and giant clouds of dust where planets and stars are born.

　　Since arriving in space,the WISE telescope has been circling the Earth,held by gravity in a polar orbit4.Its camera is pointed outward,away from the Earth,and WISE will snap a picture of a different part of the sky every 11 minutes. After six months it will have taken pictures across the entire sky.

　　Radiation is energy that travels as a wave. Visible light, including the familiar spectrum of light7 that becomes visible in a rainbow,is an example of radiation. When an ordinary digital camera takes a picture of a tree,for example,it receives the waves of visible light that are reflected off the tree. When these waves enter the camera through the lens,theyre processed by the camera,which then puts the image together.

　　Thats a key idea to why WISE will be able to see things other telescopes cant. Not everything in the universe shows up in visible light. Asteroids,for example,are giant rocks that float through space 一but they absorb most of the light that reaches them. They dont reflect light,so theyre difficult to see. But they do give off infrared radiation, so an infrared telescope like WISE will be able to produce images of them. During its mission WISE will take pictures of hundreds of thousands of asteroids.

　　詞匯：

　　infrared adj.紅外線

　　dwarf n. 矮星

　　NASA 是縮寫詞，全稱是National Aeronautics and Space

　　the wildest objects ：任何你能想象得到的天體。wild 有未被人馴養(yǎng)的荒唐的離奇的意思。

　　 polar orbit：極地軌道。指軌道平面與赤道面夾角為90。的人造地球衛(wèi)星軌道。人造衛(wèi)星運行時能到達(dá)南北極區(qū)上空，即衛(wèi)星能飛經(jīng)全球范圍的上空。需要在全球范圍內(nèi)進(jìn)行觀測和應(yīng)用的氣象衛(wèi)星、導(dǎo)航衛(wèi)星、地球資源衛(wèi)星等都采用這種軌道。

　　infrared radiation：紅外線輻射

　　Brown dwarfs：褐矮星。褐矮星非常暗淡，很難發(fā)現(xiàn)它們，要確定它們的大小就更加困難。

　　練習(xí)：

　　A It is small in size but carries a large camera.

　　C Its digital camera can help astronomers to see the unknown space.

　　 Which is NOT the synonym for the word snap in the third paragraph?

　　B shoot.

　　D photograph.

　　A is no different from an ordinary camera.

　　C catches the infrared radiation while the ordinary camera does not.

　　Which of the following is NOT correct aboutasteroids according to paragraph 7?

　　B Asteroids do not reflect light that reaches them.

　　D The WISE telescope can take pictures of asteroids

　　A Brown dwarfs give off visible light.

　　C Brown dwarfs are power stars like the sun.

　　答案與題解：

　　A snap 是個多義詞，可以解釋為拍照，更為確切的意思是拍快照。這里shoot, take 和photograph 都是snap 的同義詞。

　 A 短文第七段第二句說并非所有的宇宙中的物體都會發(fā)出可見光，比如asteroids ，所以A是正確選項。其他選項的內(nèi)容都可以在該段中找到。